enkidu wrote:Ok the Pontiac gives out 365 CO2 in g/km. My car standard gives out 214 rant etc snip
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not really interested in CO2 stats as the be all and end all of emissions regs.... there's more to exhaust emissions than CO2, which isn't regulated anywhere anyway (EU included).
not least that a car is good for what emissions regulations it needs to pass. a given emissions level from a vehicle is not a reflection of the powertrains' country of origin, the manufacturer, whatever. it's a reflection of what's legally allowed on road. if regulations degree they've all got to be under 100g/km CO2 tomorrow or they won't be sold, guess what every manufacturer will have at launch. it might take fuel additives, larger cats closer to the engine, the technical measures and development might add cost and that might have to be passed onto the consumer, but if it means selling cars or otherwise, then guess what happens.
if you have a real bitch with what a given car puts out, take it up with a government that regulates that it's OK. or maybe ask the EU why it's been years that some US states have adopted CARB regulations - and actively, progressively promoted ultra low emissions vehicles - whilst the EU has no similar initiative.
CO2 levels aside, there is NO predominant link between your fuel consumption and your exhaust emissions. for all we know you could be running leaner, running up your combustion temps and increasing NOx and CO. wildly.
your mapping was probably done through OBD2. OBD was purely US driven. it's since been adopted everywhere as the US is the world's largest automotive market. the point isn't to standardise fault codes, it was to maintain the emissions system's running, to test it where possible, to track and log faults and to provide a standardised interface for inspection. there's a hell of a lot more to it than some oxygen sensors. between 25-40% of your engine's ECU processing power is dedicated to running OBD-II compliance. US clients might not want small cars yet but their government pushed though one of the key emissions containment technologies which added cost in significant cost in development and production to every vehicle sold in effectively every market. automakers don't like being told and the lobby groups are powerful up around motor city. you can imagine it was like pushing --- up a brick wall in the US more than anywhere but it got done there before it got done anywhere else, as with many other bits of important vehicle emissions legislation that have since been adopted in part or whole the world over.
OBD-II was ratified in the US for MY96. that's over 10 years ago when the development tools and the production hardware cost a shitload. the same happened in the europe FIVE YEARS later.
and yes, just look at what honda do. there's some great points in their engines. massive specific power. catalytic converters the size of small dustbins. which is also why their engines are complicated, costly, and weigh a lot for what they do. so a small carbon footprint gets traded off for ecological costs in production, disposal and other means. you can't have it all. an s2000 engine is a prick to package FWIW; you'd be surprised how comparable in size an LS1 is. you REALLY can't have it all.
a lot of good engines and emissions technology has come out of the US, just as it has out of the EU.
your little car would not sell in the US, that's all there is to it. learn how the other side lives. may people really do believe they're safer in a SUV; using that logic if you witnessed a head on between a hummer and a hatchback it doesn't take a ph.d in physics to realise which you'd rather be in. when fuel costs what it does in the US your two+ tonnes mass is not such a cost sensitive issue. you if you can convince the average US consumer that they're better off in a small car imported or otherwise, or if you can convince the US government to peg petrol prices at current european levels, you might see demand for a different type of vehicle. this has happened where i live over the last three years particularly, with a profound effect on the local automotive industry in my country.
(which, by the way, is australia not the US. and i drive a car with a much smaller engine than yours.)
i sympathise with your intentions even if i have some misgivings about your points. you went in with some key assumptions that wouldn't impress anyone remotely interested in automotive issues stateside - not least because they're occasionally wrong.
so back on topic if your posts were to represent a european, f1-centric attitude to what's good in the automotive world with the US on the receiving end... draw your own conclusions as to how palatable that might make f1 to the "other side"....
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PS so... always argue the devil's defense before stating your own!
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