End of the V8 in USA
01-22-2008, 06:03 PM
#1
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End of the V8 in USA Another story this week, this time a headling article in the leading UK weekly, Autocar entitled "America ready to kill off the V8". It goes on to say that hybrids, biofuels and turbochargers are poised to replace cubic inches to meet the CAFE figures and that GM have already canned the Northstar V8 replacement.
Last week it reported that Chevy and Dodge pick ups will only be available with a V8 diesel and no petrol V8 from 2009.
Looks like it's enjoy the V8s while you can before we are all forced to drive around in motorized cookie tins.
Maybe in the near future cars wilth V8s will be fought over like the gas in the Mad Max movies 
Last week it reported that Chevy and Dodge pick ups will only be available with a V8 diesel and no petrol V8 from 2009.
Looks like it's enjoy the V8s while you can before we are all forced to drive around in motorized cookie tins.
Maybe in the near future cars wilth V8s will be fought over like the gas in the Mad Max movies 
01-22-2008, 06:36 PM
#4
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This hysteria is getting out of hand.
CAFE - Corporate Average Fuel Economy, is an average of all the models produced, and it's weighted by sales, so low volume cars will impact it less than high volume cars.
There is absolutely no need to be promoting this hysteria. There are countless ways to increase mpg in all vehicles, including V8s, and they don't even have to impact things much anyway.
Furthermore, diesel is a viable option. The fuel it runs on it almost irrelevant, you can still have a big displacement V8 that just happens to burn diesel. Gale Banks is road racing a Duramax diesel and ran a Cummins diesel for truck land speed record on the salt (and it pulled it's own trailer, changed tires, made the run, and pulled it's own trailer home). Diesel is showing up in drag cars now too. GM has a 4.5L turbo diesel V8 that is packaged to fit in place of the LSx engines, and Gale is working on aluminum block diesel technology and spining them faster. The power that can be made is staggering. They are not just for pulling 18 wheelers or old naval vessels and tugs.
CAFE - Corporate Average Fuel Economy, is an average of all the models produced, and it's weighted by sales, so low volume cars will impact it less than high volume cars.
There is absolutely no need to be promoting this hysteria. There are countless ways to increase mpg in all vehicles, including V8s, and they don't even have to impact things much anyway.
Furthermore, diesel is a viable option. The fuel it runs on it almost irrelevant, you can still have a big displacement V8 that just happens to burn diesel. Gale Banks is road racing a Duramax diesel and ran a Cummins diesel for truck land speed record on the salt (and it pulled it's own trailer, changed tires, made the run, and pulled it's own trailer home). Diesel is showing up in drag cars now too. GM has a 4.5L turbo diesel V8 that is packaged to fit in place of the LSx engines, and Gale is working on aluminum block diesel technology and spining them faster. The power that can be made is staggering. They are not just for pulling 18 wheelers or old naval vessels and tugs.
01-22-2008, 07:49 PM
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Exactly. This isnt the first time CAFE regulations went up, and it wont be the last. Look what happened in the early 70's and even late 70's. Cars were dog *** slow- so slow that the late 80's and early 90's cars were fast. Now look, our current cars are faster than anything you could imagine back then. Cars MAY slow down for a little while, but technology will catch up. They may not slow at all, just the fast cars may be in lower production. The imports have some quick 4 cylinder cars, and the turbo Ecotecs are no joke either. And I also believe that you will be able to get a V8 Corvette, Camaro, Mustang, etc for a long time coming since they are lower in production than their more fuel friendly counterparts and dont affect the CAFE average as much.
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01-22-2008, 08:20 PM
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01-22-2008, 10:30 PM
#11
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CAFE standards are a joke - they have been increasing fuel economy in the US for years now, and yet our demand for fuel has gone up, not down. People just drove more because they got better mileage. CAFE is a pathetic attempt by the lawmakers to control consumer and market forces, nothing more.
01-22-2008, 11:24 PM
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That these new measures start their slow roll into effect in 2011 is disgusting. Our government and its PEOPLE needs to be thinking strategically and not just for their own ******* re-elections and self-interest. We do not need to be spending 850 million a day on foreign oil when we could make a good deal of our energy at home...and create jobs for the poor, endangered, American worker.
Ppl should be mad about how ******* long this thing will take to be fully enacted...not mad that we are doing something about it.
W
Ppl should be mad about how ******* long this thing will take to be fully enacted...not mad that we are doing something about it.
W
01-23-2008, 12:23 AM
#14
That's an afirmative! Theres more options to optimize the mileage our v8's. Cylinder on demand, lean cruise, lighter weights, tighter combustion chambers, optimized gearing, etc. Ive had 4 cylinder cars that got worse mileage than some of my v8 cars just because you have to tip into them harder to pull into fast moving traffic, driving through the mountains and any other condition that requires having to put the pedal to the floor to get the darn thing moving.
01-23-2008, 08:42 AM
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That these new measures start their slow roll into effect in 2011 is disgusting. Our government and its PEOPLE needs to be thinking strategically and not just for their own ******* re-elections and self-interest. We do not need to be spending 850 million a day on foreign oil when we could make a good deal of our energy at home...and create jobs for the poor, endangered, American worker.
Ppl should be mad about how ******* long this thing will take to be fully enacted...not mad that we are doing something about it.
W
Ppl should be mad about how ******* long this thing will take to be fully enacted...not mad that we are doing something about it.
W
01-23-2008, 10:07 AM
#18
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An American multinational corporation such as GM will maximize profits. The present design constraint is achieving 35 MPG fleet average.
The centerpiece of the bill remained the requirement for automakers to increase their industrywide vehicle fuel efficiency by 40 percent to an industry average of 35 mpg by 2020, compared with today's 25 mpg when including passenger cars, SUVs and small trucks.
01-23-2008, 10:38 AM
#19
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No newbie, the CAFE regulations begin fazing in in 2010-2011, in small increments. CAFE doesn't have to reach 35mph untill 2020.
The v8 isn't going anywhere. They will likely get new technology and become more expensive to help susidize the small cars that will have to be fitted with more expensive gas saving technologies, but must be sold cheaply. GM has the Volt that will eventually come to light with near tripple digit fuel economy, and rumor is Ford also has a small car slated for some time after 2010 that can achieve the saem tripple digit fuel economy. IIRC there are also incentives for selling e85 capable vehicles, as the goal of the new CAFER mandates are to reduce dependancy on foreign oil.
01-23-2008, 10:41 AM
#20
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I really dont understand why we dont have more Diesel vehicles on the road. Europe has small diesel cars getting close to 60MPG on the freeway, sign me up for one of those for the DD and keep my V8 for the weekend/track.