Accord V6 bites the dust

The car could be sold either way; OEM pack you own or rental pack. That way, if you start out renting a pack, you don’t have to surrender your brand new one and get a beater in exchange.

Yeah, I agree the range is improving but there will always be people that forget to plug it in at night or leave unexpectedly on a long trip.

I’ve been thinking of building an electric motorcycle to ride to work. They want $10k+ for one that can hit expressway speeds, last for 50 miles (based on my usage profile) and recharge in around 2h. However, there is no place to plug it in when I get to work… But I can bring the pack in to recharge or better yet, keep a spare pack at work and exchange it when I’m ready to leave…

I’ve been toying with converting my MR2 to electric. The engine leaks oil and at nearly 200,000 miles is tired anyway. It’d cost 5 grand+battery. I haven’t pulled the trigger yet, but I keep looking at the kit. The plus side is that it’d be a lot faster than it is now. The downside is putting probably 10 grand or so into a 24 year old car.

Yours would recharge in 2 hours on regular 110v? That’s not bad.

And I posted some time ago a battery with liquid electrodes would allow the spent material to be pumped out and fresh pumped in almost as fast as filling with petrol.
Then the spent electrode liquid could be rejuvenated at the “gas” station with electricity, eliminating most of the need for truck distribution to the stations.

If EV carmakers can’t even come up with a common standard for charging systems (Tesla is different), no WAY they’ll come up with interchangeable batteries (not that I think they’d be a good idea).

The aftermarket is already taking care of that. https://longtailpipe.com/2015/11/09/new-ev-charging-adapter-lets-j1772-car-owners-use-tesla-hpwc-charging-stations-cool-or-theft/

New product that adapts normal EV chargers to Tesla’s outlets.

It should be noted that there is a common standard for charging systems, and for reasons that are frankly somewhat baffling, Musk has chosen to develop his own rather than use it.

In that and similar issues I can easily agree with assessments that consider Tesla to be the Apple of car manufacturers.

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Was it based on any established technology or just an idea you had?

I agree with Honda’s move. I’m much more interested in horsepower and torque than the mere number of cylinders. Personally, I’d rather have a four cylinder 2.3-liter engine than a six cylinder 2.3-liter engine, for a variety of reasons, mostly related to ease of maintenance on a four cylinder engine.

Regarding the idea of being “relegated to appalling right-lane submission to faster cars,” I find that is only a problem for those who don’t exploit the full acceleration lane, and wait to accelerate until they’re trying to merge. The only time I have a hard time merging onto a highway with my 1.6 liter four-cylinder car is when I get stuck behind some idiot who doesn’t accelerate in the acceleration lane. The only reason anyone “needs” a 3-liter engine on a car is if they drive like idiots. For everyone else who knows how to drive, more displacement and more horsepower are about “want,” not “need.”

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Honda’s new four is more powerful than the V6 it replaces.

You said in the Civic Type R it is more powerful, but it isn’t clear that the exact engine (same power) will be used in the Accord, is it? Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it will be powerful. As I mentioned, my son in law bought a 2016, and there is enough power to get you down the road. If I buy an Accord, it will likely be with the base 4-cyl engine. The Type R gets V6-like fuel economy (22/28 mpg) and the base 4- cyl gets 26/34; even better with the CVT.

You’re right, final hp hasn’t been announced. But I bet the 2L turbo beats the 3.5L, maybe not by much, but it’ll let them brag “Better mpgs AND more power!”

The Type R also has higher torque. They never show a power curve, just the maximum torque and RPM. Both HP and torque could easily be higher than the V6, and you won’t have to deal with that stinkin’ timing belt anymore.

I understand that the turbocharged TYPE R is inevitable. But what I don’t understand is why turbo and high redline are mutually exclusive. F1 engines can rev past 10k and they have to last for one season.

There were rare occasions that I had to merge onto freeway via ultra short on ramps by revving the engine to the redline in second gear. What I really wish was a 2nd gear that’s good for 70 mph as I really didn’t want to dip the clutch and coast between 2nd and 3rd at around 50 while traffic is coming up from behind

Back to the Accord, I wonder what kind of highway mileage it would get compared to the TYPE R, as it wouldn’t be dragging that huge wing in the back.

Redline in 2nd vs 5k rpm in 3rd? max torque is usually 4500rpm. So you accelerate faster when you are past the torque curve?

Like I said, the best thing to do in that situation is stay in 2nd and keep going instead of dipping the clutch and coast between gears. Besides the multiplication you get in 2nd is likely higher than the peak torque you’d get in 3rd

maybe you should practice shifting till you get it right.

I think we need to go to two stroke engines. A friend had a DKW in the early 1960s. It had a three cylinder two stroke engine. The DKW insignia on the hood read 3=6. The implication was that with two strokes on a cylinder, the two stroke cylinder did twice the work of a cylinder in a four stroke engine.

Earlier, the DKW used a 2 cylinder, two stroke engine, and the first Saabs (the model 92??)–which were essentially just more highly-developed DKWs–also used that engine. Later, DKW enlarged that engine to a 3 cylinder design, and in 1955, Saab did likewise.

Interesting bit of trivia:
DKW originally stood for Damp Kraft Wagen, because their first cars were powered by steam engines. After they quickly switched-over to 2 cycle gas engines, consumers were told that the initials stood for Das Kleine Wunder (the little wonder).

DKW, along with Horch, Audi, and Wanderer, banded together during the economic crisis of the '30s to form Auto Union, and the symbol for the joining-together of these 4 makes was 4 interlocking circles. Now, Horch, DKW, and Wanderer are gone, but the 4 interlocking circles remain as the symbol for Audi.

@VDCdriver. Thank you for the information about DKW and what the letters mean. I share rides every week to a band rehearsal with a tuba playing retired German Professor who also is a car.fanatic. I can’t wait to spring this tidbit of knowledge on him next Thursday as we head to a band rehearsal.
Just as one should hold onto the wooden nickels because the South will rise again, it is wise to hold onto your cans of non-detergent oil to mix with gasoline because the two stroke engines will rise again.

I am confident that he knew DKW as Das Kleine Wunder.
I am much less confident that he knew of its earlier meaning as Damp Kraft Wagen.

Staying on the theme of German car history from the 1920s, you should ask him if he is familiar with the Hanomag Kommisbrot (literally, “Quartermaster’s Loaf”), which was an ultra-cheap, incredibly boxy car from that era. Those who were critical of the flimsy Kommisbrot used to say that, “As only tin and paint is used, this car is quickly produced”.

This car had a single cylinder, rear-mounted engine, and little else, so the forum members who yearn for an extremely basic car with no creature comforts might want to try to resurrect a Hanomag Kommisbrot from the 1920s.

Clearly, the absence of modern features, power assists, and electronic systems MUST mean that it would be extremely reliable!
:smirk:

When I worked at a Citgo station in the late '60s, I used to wonder why we had a pretty large stock of non-detergent oil (as well as a stock of spark plugs for Ford flathead V-8s). One day, a guy driving a Rolls Royce from the late '50s drove in and asked me to check his oil.

When I announced that the dipstick showed him to be very low on oil, he asked if we had non-detergent oil, as that was all that he used in his car. Yes sir, we do have it, I responded!

I was able to sell him 3 qts of our “finest” non-detergent oil, thereby depleting our stock to some extent. Unless someone cleaned out the storage area after I departed, I suspect that the spark plugs for Ford flathead V-8s are still sitting on the shelf.