with a little innovation, and thoughtfulness, anything is possible.

Look at the upcoming 2010 Cayenne hybrid. Porsche borrows the Audi's supercharged V6 (from the S4), with direct injection and thus an unusually high compression ratio, adds an electric motor (in parallel), and borrows the Japanese 8speed auto transmission.
a complex setup, BUT, in the end u got close to 400hp and 26mpg!! and as far as price, they promise similar $ as their own V8 model

Porsche can come up with something semi-radical, or at the least, innovative, why cant others ?

 

Really? You don't think there are other radical ideas in the car world? Do you have any links of this car? I would rather wait until the car is here and undergoes third party testing to see if it meets their claims. But I also think cars like the Chevy Volt and Mitsubishi i MIEV are also very innovative, and both will be relatively affordable. Innovation like that is usually a lot easier when you have the radical price point most Porsches have. But I think, like the big Lexus hybrids, it "sounds" good, but in the end its just a high dollar vehicle that doesn't really save much gas.

I think, more series hybrids will show up and cars will become like mini-locomotives and will be diesel/turbodiesel hybrids.

 

glad to see companys beginning to shift to more fuel efficient options that still put out good power... I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a turbo-diesel motor from Toyota to be an option for Tacoma/FJ/4Runner platforms.... 400tq + 30mpg + Toyota reliablity would be killer

 

yes the Chevy Volt is promising to be a great car, but simply putting an electric motor into an economy-size vehicle is neither radical (Japs have been doing it for years), nor exciting.
however, making a large SUV get 26mpg, while still giving it the power we expect and are used to, and doing it by borrowing complex technology from several other companies, thats radical.
but yes, we must wait for real-world results, before we celebrate

now, as far as Porsche having a large budget, and the cayenne being an expensive model, well that doesnt always lead to great results. Look at Lexus' LS600h. its a $115,000 vehicle, that is heavy as hell, has no trunk at all b/c of the batteries, is not any faster or better performing than Lexus' own LS460, and doesnt even give u any gas mileage advantage. so u r paying the extra $40,000 over the base LS460 for absolutely no reason.... other than to say u got the "big boy car"

 

Well, yeah, that's exactly the car I was referring to when I said:
To me, its more impressive to do it where you might actually see a boost in mpg, with a car that meets todays crash standards and performs reasonably well with air conditioning that stays cold and a radio and so on - that really hasn't been done yet, so I can't compare it to older electric car efforts from anybody. The Volt at least is promising something that hasn't ever been done.

With unlimited resrources and a huge motor, I think of the Porsche as like the Lexus, not really green and not really earthshattering, unless it really does deliver - which I suspect, like the Lexus - it probably won't offer much if any real world gains. But I see where you are coming from, and on paper it does sound very exciting.

 

I don't see whats so fuel efficient about that. Hell a stock LS3 corvette with 436hp gets 28mpg on the highway and 20 around town. Thats with a huge *** engine and push rods. I think they can do better than that. I think the approach is good but in this day 26mpg isn't that great. I get that in my AWD shoe box evo.

 

This, though the BMW steam system is interesting as a technological curio.

I don't think you can directly compare the mpg of a big suv with a sports car, especially a 2 seater. If the corvette also could cary 5 people in comfort and haul all your junk in the trunk, then it would be pretty impressive.

 

i think u missed the part where the Cayenne weighs as much as 2 corvettes

 

I think you would be right on that. For some reason I forgot about their suv. My mistake

 

[QUOTE=CaliMR;7042377]This, though the BMW steam system is interesting as a technological curio.


BMW only made the Hydrogen 7 for bragging rights./ public relations.
BMW has no intentions of going to hybrid/hydrogen/electric cars.
Instead they are producing turbo deisels with the wild idea that Americans want diesels...............
(no one I know would want one. especially for the bmw price tags )

 

u r right that bmw did the Hydrogen 7 as a publicity stunt, but u r wrong that no one would want a diesel!
as is being said over and over these days, diesels arent what they used to be 20y ago. now, u cant smell them, hear them or feel them.
bmw's new 3 series diesel (335d) is more powerful, is faster, and gets much better mpg, than the top of the line 3 series model (the 330i) of just 3 years ago. at roughly the same price-tag. so if u were going to get a 3 series anyway, why not look at the diesel ?? just 1 example

 

Well good point. I suppose if somone was inclined to research/ test drive those engines they may be suprised.

I guess I was trying to say that Diesels still carry a negative stigma in the minds of buyers. (kind of like the quality of hyundais and kias........... it took a good 15 years to start selling them like how they wanted. )

 

Hydrogen is not a feasible fuel for large scale transport. Novel for small environments, maybe a good solution for somewhere like Hawaii.

I love diesel. Easier to drive (more torque), more economical. I've been drooling over the R8 TDI (RIP) since it was announced. A Touraeg V10 TDI is the only SUV I've ever considered owning. When Ford announced the new Fiesta, I nearly cried when they said no diesel for the US.

 

yes the Touareg V10 Tdi was insane. but a bit too insane - very expensive
either way, too bad, cause it never made it to NY State (emissions).... btw, Touareg now offers a V6 Tdi, as do X5 and ML... there was a great comparo test in Car&Driver last month.

 

But you gotta admit, even without the diesel, the new Fiesta is a nice little car.