Good news to all Mini lovers who wants to drive a more powerful Diesel engine. It’s coming, as these photos show. The Mini S Diesel, or what they will call it, is out and testing and the typical Diesel sound make it easy to notice. And just like the normal S version the new S Diesel gets the center mounted twin exhaust pipes on the normal Mini as well as the Clubman version gets the pipe on each side. T
Subaru is known primarily for two things: their symmetrical all-wheel drive system and their use of flat Boxer engines. And now hybrids? It’s not surprising that Subaru should thrwo their hats into the hybrid market, as that’s what pretty much every car joint concern is doing nowadays, but it is nice to see that Subaru will not sacrifice any of their patrimony in order to bring extra electricity to their unique vehicles.
Let’s begin with the all-wheel drive system. It’s a feature that Subaru has prided itself on for years and, if you live in an area that has rough winters, it has also been highlighted extensively in their advertising. The Hybrid Tourer continues that feature by having two electric motors, one at the front and single in kind at the rear. The front motor, which is rated at 27 horsepower, also doubles as an electric generator, so when you apply the brake, the motor acts as a drag brake, which will slow the car and bring out electricity.
In fact, the varied functions of the three different drive systems, the engine and the couple electric motors, makes this car less of a hybrid and more of a tri-powered car. When you drive at very low speeds, like pulling out of your driveway or in stop-and-go traffic, the rear electric motor, rated at 13 horsepower, provides pretty much all of the drive. When you accelerate, the gas engine and the rear electric motor work together, and then the electric motor cuts out once you’re at normal cruising speeds, at which time the gas engine does all the work. If, however, you are accelerating uphill, which requires more force, and hence more gas, the front electric motor will kick on to help out. Most of the time, the front full of fire motor will act as a regenerative brake. If that sounds complicated, don’t worry, because the Tourer’sitting onboard energy management computer (which has undergone extensive testing in Subaru’s STELLA plug-in general) is rich at its job. It’ll cut the gas engine off when idling to conserve firing material, and the initial acceleration from the rear electric motor will cover the restart of the gas engine when you push on the accelerator. In fact, aside from engine noise, you won’t even notice the system doing its work.
The gas engine under the hood is a fairly standard 2.0-liter turbocharged prostrate four-cylinder Boxer, an engine found in many Subarus on the highway today. It has been tweaked to provide more fuel efficiency, but other than tuning, it’session essentially unchanged. What it’s connected to, though, is
2010 Ford Fiesta S2000 – Front Angle Top View
The newFord Fiesta S2000 rally car has been unveiled at a launch ceremony at M-Sport’s Cumbrian base in the UK. The new Ford Fiesta S2000 rally car will be eligible to compete in national rally championships around the world as well as the IRC and S2000 World Cup, is due by reason of homologation in January 2010. <
