VLich

I've been speculating a bit on what the (near) future holds for the auto industry, in particular the midrange performance segment. In the last few years, there has been plenty of competition on the horsepower front. I'm especially curious about what the car companies will do on the engine front.

What do people see Honda using for engines 5 years from now? I can't see them remaining competitive without either going to larger displacements or forced induction, neither of which seems to be their preferred strategy. Do you think that Honda can make the small displacement motors continue to perform?

Rumors are that the corvette will get a displacement boost to 6+ liters... Ford have a 5.0 motor that could replace the 4.6 in the mustang... Audi have gone to a bigger motor for the S4 replacement... M3 engine size and power has been climbing over that last few incarnations... The other japanese manufacturers seem to be favoring turbocharged motors, and Toyota also have a high output V8 they could bring down from Lexus...

So what do Honda have up their sleeve?

SECRET AP1

I think you're going to see:

Displacement on Demand engines
GM is doing this, but it's still a bit new. I think Honda's philosophy of saving fuel until power is really needed falls in line with this technology as well. Imagine an inline-6 running 4 cylinders under 50% throttle. At 50% the other two cylinders come into play. The powerband is something VTEC fans could only imagine.

Camless engines
There's a couple of fellows down at UCLA and over in Michigan working on fine tuning this technology. The main problem right now is the soft/quiet landing of the valves. The control system would allow for almost infinite variability so long as the issue of rough landing of the armature is resolved. This system is very promising.

Performance hybrid electric engines
Right now it seems like most manufacturers are still trying to get people to even buy these things. They are economical in every way possible, but the power available is insufficient for the average consumer demand. I think that's going to change as the engines become cheaper to manufacture.

chenpin

Didn't some NSX prototype or something (not sure of the name) have electric and gas motors? The system is suppose to deliver great performance and economy...Can anyone verify this?

eyescream

Yeah it's the Dualnote you are talking about, it has 400 hp; 300 at rear wheels, 100 at front wheels. And it goes 40 mpg.

chenpin

Now all they have to do is change the body and I'd give the car a shot. Some might still prefer "all engine" but I think I can get use to 400hp @ 40mpg.

Nobody

The Lancer Evo and the WRX prove that you can have high hp and awesome handling & brakes in a ~$30K package. Hell, a good percentage of members on this board with FI S2000s prove that you can REALLY have it all - reliability (at least with the Comptech), awesome handling, incredible brakes AND ferocious acceleration.


So for now Comptech and Vortech are making up for what Honda isn't doing.

ASIMO

I don't think Honda will be putting turbos on their engines, unless they find a way to make them more envirmental friendly. Honda has a high priority of maintaining their status of being the greenest automaker.

Honda was looking for a way to crank out more power without increasing displacement and came up with VTEC. So Honda's turbo, in a way, is VTEC.

Honda will probably be increasing their engine displacement as they always have, just as any automaker. Ummm....so five years from now I think the majority of engines will be, for the most part, the same with i-VTEC and all. There'll probably be more hybrids as well, with improved and more powerfull hybrid systems.

Those camless engine that Secret Ap1 was talking about sounds very cool and promising.

Roku_F20C

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nobody
[B]The Lancer Evo and the WRX prove that you can have high hp and awesome handling & brakes in a ~$30K package.

LittoDeViL

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Roku_F20C
[B]


Honda isn't doing because Honda doesn't want to do.

If you want a Turbo Honda buy their jet ski.


Hybrid is a huge part of the future for Honda because of the amount of money they have invested in this technology.

Roku_F20C

very nice!!!!! can I borrow it?