Lost opportunities, engines and stuff.

[Patrick]

It's a shame that because something is made out to be unpopular it eventually is discarded. I'm thinking, (for instance) about the Skoda 130/Estelle. By the time it finished production, having sorted out the suspension etc, Car Magazine called the Rapd "More fun than a Porsche 911". what a shame therefore that upon the take over by VW they couldn't have replaced the Rapid with another rear engined coupé/cabriolet in a prettier frock, and really push the "Mini" Porsche idea. Similarly you wonder how what we could have achieved if research and development had continued with air-cooled engine technology? I hear that the big air cooled engines that Tatra used in their "luxury" saloons were very refined. Had Citroen remained Independent would they have carried on improving the GS engine one wonders? The Visa was supposed to have the GS's as well as the Dyanes. Would DAF have worked on/with theirs for any longer.

When Ford designed the first "Ka" - they went back to basics and designed a two stroke engine for it! As it was - new emission legislation meant they had to scrap the idea in favour of the old Fiesta engines - Was that another "lost opportunity"?

[pauldaf44]

I recently attended a lecture led by the chief engineer at LTI Coventry. They were talking about how they could make the traditional black cab more internationally desirable, there were several ways they were considering to do this.

1. Air cooled Engines.
An air cooled engine in a taxi would be a great advantage as water cooled models have a tendency to be less reliable in city's and hot conditions, an air cooled engine is also by nature a lot smaller and lighter than its water cooled equivalent both advantages in a taxi. Low weight means more efficient, smaller size means more passenger space in a smaller vehicle.

2. 2 stroke Engines.
These were brought up in this lecture and are being developed they can be made more efficient than a 4 stroke equivalent however it is much more difficult to make them pass emissions laws, when this problem is cracked expect to hear a lot of 2 strokes on the road.

3. Petrol or Diesel.
LTI want to use petrol engines as they are more powerful and cleaner despite what the government says, but a diesel engine is far more economical.

4. Alternative Transmissions.
All LTI TX4s are currently Front engine front wheel drive automatics and this is probably how they will stay, at the moment they don't want to use a CVT because of the extra space it takes up in the vehicle. London Taxi legislation says that all black cabs must be wheelchair accessible, so must have low and flat floors this at the moment is not achievable with a variomatic. It is very difficult to link a CVT to the same end of the car as the engine.

Sorry about lecturing but theres some very interesting stuff here.
Paul
(2nd Year BEng Automotive Engineering)