





Sources: VW Vortex, Autoblog

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remove the bloat
By undummy on 4/3/2012 11:49:28 PM , Rating: 2
Its about time that automakers quit making cars heavier from year to year. Newer models are getting lighter.

The new Altima is 50-100lbs lighter when compared to similarly equipped earlier versions.
The CVT has a wider gear range. That alone will improve MPG if they can keep the RPM down when cruising on the highway. The CVT also has reduced friction from previous years. I hope that the tech is adapted across the product range. I haven't seen a really good MPG Sentra since the early 90's.
That composite intake is variable. This should help improve the low end torque since the CVT will be lugging that 2.5 as much as possible.
The newer Altima will have less wind drag also.

So, 36mpg highway is no big deal. I get that from my '99 Altima and '04 Camry. We're finally catching up to MPG from the past, before most vehicles turned into overweight slobs.

Even though I want manual transmissions, the gearing in the past decade for 4cylinder vehicles has been absolutely HORRIBLE. Bring back the gearing from the late 80's and early 90's when the overdrive actually was an overdrive.

Mazda, Hyundai, Toyota, Subara.... and most automakers are putting their vehicles on DIETS. Its about time.

RE: remove the bloat
By macca007 on 4/4/2012 3:36:07 AM , Rating: 2
They are getting heavier because they have to comply with silly safety standards which are on the verge of becoming overkill, Who knows maybe our grandkids cars will have a collision sensor that inflates an airbag that encircles the entire car just before impact! o.O
The more saftey features they add the more sense of false security it gives to some drivers out there, Which means some will take a little more risk each time. Now if we all had flimsy cars AND trucks that would likely kills us on impact like a motorbike, Maybe we would all be too shit scared to be zooming around everywhere thus saving petrol two fold by not speeding and flimsy light weight cars!
I could be wrong, See so many temporary citizens out there hooning on bikes.
But yeah totally agree with you, Time to reduce weight on cars some more, I would say last BIG improvement was moving from cast iron engine blocks to alloy blocks which was about a 40% reduction in weight and also improved handling(less weight on front wheels). I wouldn't say moving from metal panels to plastic bumpers/panels is an improvement so I won't mention it for weight reduction even though it would also contribute. lol

