I remember when they had the DoD trucks on Car and Driver when that gun guy used to do the show. He was driving the car, and besided a little LED, he didnt know that the engine went to 4cyls.

As an option only on low end cars. I dont think that having the ability for DoD on hi-po cars would be money lost. On low end cars, and if Chevy advertises it and says

"250hp V6...6spd autostick or manual... stylish looks... seats for 4... kicking XM and MP3 stereo pushing 400watts of sound... and it gets 37 mpg. All for around 24k
Welcome to the Revolution. Chevy Camaro."

 

40 mpg? Isn't that a bit of a stretch? I thought the improvement with DoD was only worth about a 5-10% increase... tops!

 

Honda S2000 <--- "Hp per liter not relevant here"

That was the best part of the picture.

 

Is it? The EPA rated the LS1/6M 2002 Camaro @ 19city/28hwy. The 2004 LS1/6M Corvette is rated the same. I was hoping to find the ratings of the 2005 Vette to see how much more efficient the non DoD LS2 is in the lighterweight car, but haven't been able to. I have no doubt that they are getting at least 20/30.

Now I'm seeing that the 2.0L Civic Si gets 26/31mpg and the S2000 gets 20/25. Heck the Evo gets 18/26 and the STi gets 18/24.

So let's say the 5th Gen er... Chevy RWD Sports Coupe follows the Corvette like the previous Camaro. Then with a non DoD LS2 it would probably also get 20/30 However, we know that DoD only activates when the engine doesn't need full power which would be occasionally around town and probably full time while cruising at a steady state on the highway. So, would 21/33 be a reasonable estimate?

Let's look at some other gas (non hybrid) vehicles that get similar ratings. MR2, Mini, Celica, Beetle, Focus, Civic, a few Hyundais, Kias, Saturns, Daewoos, Mazda3, RSX, TSX, Sebring, Stratus, Golf, Lancer, Sentra, Grand AM, Sunfire, ION, Swift, Camry, Corrola, Echo, Malibu, Accord, Vibe, Impala and few others got 31mpg highway or better.

I don't see anything with V8 power or over 300hp

 

40mpg wouldnt be too hard to imgaine in a V6 model. I say it would get a good 34mpg in non-dod form with low gears and 6spd. add DoD and you have a high-30's car. It would depend on who and what your driving situation. There are people getting 30-32mpg if they keep control of the loud pedal, so a mid 30's isnt all to hard to think if you control yourself.

 

I don't know what these new HV/HF V6's are like so I'm not going to pretend like I do...But the current 3.8 got 31 highway MPG with 19 in the city (for a M5) in the Camaro. Assuming the new V6's get similar fuel economy since their increasing considerabley in power, I think its a stretch to think of them getting 40 MPG. With DoD, maybe 34 or 35 on the highway, with 20 in the city.

Who are these people getting 30-32 MPG? Late model V6 Camaro owners? I haven't heard of any V6ers getting that except STRICTLY on the highway. So these vehicles are still only averaging 25 MPG total. I would personally like to see GM give the V6 model an electric engine option or across the board as long as it didn't cost an obsene amount over non-electric. These customers are the people that buy a Camaro based on looks and economy and not pure performance.

 

It isn't just us V6ers, one of my friends who has an SS got 32 MPG twice going to Missouri. Did he nurse the hell out of it? Yeah even told me that he was driving like a little old lady and everything. BUT the proof was there.

It we're not going to be cutting into gas consumption BIG TIME then don't put DoD on my sports car. If I'm only saving 2 or so gallons of gas between fill ups then keep DoD off my sports car.

 

I read this weekend that the Hemi's cylinder deactivation feature helps gas mileage by about 15% With the way gas prices are going now, it would be really nice to get 15% better gas mileage IMHO.

This also makes me wonder how bad the gas mileage in the Hemi vehicles would be if they didn't have that feature!