I'm glad you're not the one making any decisions at GM. I'd venture to say that most people who buy V8's would like the power AND they would like fuel economy too. Next time you go on vacation, leave your TV on, and your lights on, and the A/C on in your house. I mean someone might pass by on the street and they might want to come inside and get comfortable. So why do you turn them off? Because it's totally wasted resources and there is absolutely no need for it. Just like there is no need for full V8 power cruising along on the highway at a steady 70mph. Later on when you're taking off at a green light, all cylinders are firing and you'd never know the difference. It just so happens that GM was the first one to realize it and to come out with a clever design to minimize the inefficiency of running all cylinders all the time.

 

I'll take this a step further and say that this technology may get people to buy V8's who would never consider them before, because they were worried about the fuel economy. The only drawback I could possibly see with this setup is the exhaust sound as Mr. D*** Head said but in all high-throttle situations it's going to be a V8 with a V8 note anyway.

Why do I get the feeling that GM-bashing has been so en vogue on this site lately that if Ford developed this system it'd be praised to no end and we'd hear "why can't GM do leading-edge, innovative stuff like this!!!"

 

True, but we don't really know what a 4-out-of-8 will sound like anyway. I doubt it'll sound like a normal 4 cylinder. Same with XV16-8-4 or any other motor. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt till I can hear it myself.

About the GM bashing.. heh seriously, there are some double standards floating around on this site. w/ GM 2002 I think was the start of a turnaround so I'm more hopeful than I used to be.

 

Have you ever driven an LS1 compared to a 350? They're hardly even in the same league. The LS1 not only pulls cleanly through all 6000 rpm, but can return 30 mpg at the same time. Show me a 350 that is both quicker and more economical than an LS1 while meeting all emissions standards.

BTW, what's piston slap got to do with this debate? It's annoying for some owners, yes, but it does not affect the performance or reliability of the engine.

 

Richard Cabeza, don't be afraid of new tech. Did you cry this much when fuel injection came out??? are you still mad that there isn't lead in gas anymore??? More HP and better gas mileage, sounds good to me.


what is the right way to build them, like they did in 1982? 195HP out of a 5.0L V8?? I'll take a 405HP LS6 any day.

 

1982 didnt have 195hp it was MUUUUUUUUUUUCH less....

 

I know you were being sarcastic about that, Richard, but I am sure that some company will come up with a chip or programmer to allow all the cylanders to run at once as time goes on. In the future, I can see people taking the big CID DOD V8 or V10 engines and disabling the DOD so all cylanders run at once for race use.

I hope this DOD concept takes off successfully, and I hope there isn't a Cadillac 4-6-8 fiasco like before. If DOD fails, this will leave a black eye on GM, as people who own the DOD cars will be driven away by bad reliability.

Good luck GM, I'm pulling for you on this idea!

 

Actually, I wasn't being sarcastic...

As far as GM trucks go, I'm just glad I got one while the getting was good. My next one is a Ram Hemi or a p-stroke SuperDuty

 

You wouldn't even consider a Gen IV V8 because it gets better gas milage and puts out more HP??? They say you can't even tell when it is running on half cylinders on the highway. I hate to see you turn your back on Chevy's because of that. You should be able to get a chip to disable DOD so when you have the cuise set to 55 you can waste all that extra gas.

In cars I would imagine DOD would be a switch like ASR is. will even affect racing? probably not since your foot will be on the gas most of the time the other cylinders will never get a chance to shut off

 

I personnaly wouldn't see the benefit, I drive too fast. I get 10 miles to teh gallon in my Avalanche! Isn't it just the same difference to be running on four cylinders then it is to have a V-8 idling down the highway at 1500 rpm's? I get the same gas mileage in my Saturn SC2 as I do in my SS, It's just the way I drive while trying to drive through traffic. My friend's lame BMW 325i (I for fuel injected, yea) gets the same gas mileage my SS does. You have to floor it to get on the
freeway.

Although, Lamborgini's and Ferrari's get 8-9 mpg, maybe big V-12's like those could benefit.

 

cast my vote for DoD. i love the idea. big rumbling v8 to cruise around town in, and great gas mileage while going down h**l's highway (Florida's Interstate 4). also it would help GM to get some distance on the CAFE standards.

 

If what you said is the case---DOD would not save any gas and GM wouldn't do it.

Obviously they are doing it becuse it does work.

 

Why do I get the feeling that the people opposed to this have no idea how this system works?

It doesn't matter how fast you drive!

You could average 110mph on the freeway, but once you get up to 110, I doubt you need to be firing all 8 cylinders to maintain the speed... that is where the savings is... and that is where most driving time is spend... at cruising speed... not accelerating.

 

My '94, in sixth gear, would be turning approx. 2700rpm at 110mph. At that rpm, the engine is making maybe 150hp . Deactivate 4 cylinders, and its down to 75hp. Probably not enough hp to maintain 110 mph. At 80mph, with 4 cylinders, aprrox. 57 hp. This might be reasonable. At 60mph, on 4 cylinders, approx. 43 hp. No problem.

BTW, both Ford and Daimler Chrysler are trying to catch up with GM's D.O.D. The new Hemi 5.7 was originally going to be a OHC version of their 4.7, but because D.O.D. was more expensive to apply to their OHC design, they dropped it in favour of a pushrod design. What will Ford do? They seemed to have embraced OHC on most if not all of their V8 engines.

 

I really want to see a DOD engine in action.