Weather condinition influence on car equipment

[dragvorl]

I couldn't find an exact answer to my question.Do manufacturers modify cars according to extreme weather conditions? For example, is the radiator system identical on cars made for Australian, Dubai, German or Norwegian markets? I guess the manufacturers don't really want to have large numbers of different parts on stock, they want the minimal number of different parts. So maybe they overdimension the cooling system and then later they modify it by software or other means to meet the requirements of certain markets?

[SectorOne]

I´m sure there´s some companies that do have different parts for different countries but i think the vast majority has one part, then takes that up to northen Sweden and all the way to Dubai and places like Death Valley in United States to make sure it complies with the goals set up.

[Ganxxta]

I know for a fact that BMW used/uses specific Hot/Cold weather packages for their cars which are region specific.

Mostly its just slightly adjusted air inlets in the front bumper like recently on the M235i.



But for example I know that the E46 with the N42/N46 Engine had some specific different engine parts for cold weather areas, as the normal ones would just freeze over.
(Oil aerosol separator in that case, if I correctly translated it to English.)

[Lycoming]

I suspect heated seats may not be offered as an option in Dubai, does that count?

[dragvorl]

Not really, that doesn't have much to do with the essential equipment of the car like the powertrain.

[NTS]

BMW has a different front bumper, different oil and coolant recommendations and some extra isolation and heating on a few parts when you order the cold-weather package. Usually done on the 3-series x-drive for colder areas of North America. But any normal model will survive the same circumstances, just with a bit less comfort and slightly higher wear because of the oil not being of optimal viscosity for example.

I don't think a special hot weather version exists. Cooling on normal road cars should survive fine with normal driving conditions and 40 C outside temperature. I do know that my 130i for example has a warning for insufficient cooling which uses the idrive screen to tell you to drive slower and avoid high revs. Had it show up once when stopping after track driving because the fan to cool the radiator was broken. Not a problem when moving, but stationary it reported a high temperature. I think it shows when the coolant temperature (which under normal conditions is always 108 C on this car) is over 130 C.

This happened at a 35 C outside temperature and quite long track driving at high revs. So Dubai with just road driving should be no problem at all.

[marcush.]

yes there are Special hot climate and super hot climate Equipment variants as the bean Counters at the OEM logically shy away from equipping a car with an expensive extra Radiator ,stronger fan or bigger Radiator when the car simply does not need it.
So it is more the balance of getting a better price if you place a big order of the same or not putting more into a car than really necessary to have a happy customer.This decision is not a engineering driven -or better said it is cost engineering .
Some companies -those with the big production numbers like VW -do not even shy away from specifying individual wiring harnesses for each and every car according to the Options ordered..so of course they also put in the coolinng package necessary to do the Job -just.
smaller companies Need to design for the worst case and may even Need to improvise a Little bit for Dubai ...adding an auxilliary cooler for that market -look no further than Porsche who actually mount identical cooling packages for the Boxster and 911 currently -the difference in cooling demand is simply blocked off inlet area for the boxster/cayman (just look at the differences in power Output and you get an idea how much less area they they Need for the small powerunit)...only the Turbo with ist small production volume receives a Special bigger capacity Radiator +stronger fan package module-resulting in much worse buying conditions -one of the reasons why the Turbo models are so rediculously more expensive...it differs in Detail and is carried by very low production numbers