Visiting an old friend

The 2005 - 2006 Ford GT is an instant classic.

The manufacturer-claimed 550 horsepower from the truck engine-based supercharged V-8 did not have much exotic technology, the GT is Ford's permanent stamp in sports car history.

Priced at the time at $150,000, the car was expensive but not exotically so. The big Ford accelerated like a car with more power for its price. Back then, other cars costing $150k consisted of a luxury car super-expensive edition:
the tuned BMW Alpina B7 sedan,
rough price of any tractor-trailer truck (requires a CDL),
stock Mercedes Benz S55 AMG,
and, if memory serves, different variations of the Porsche 911 Turbo, probably the Turbo S, which back then made somehow made less power than this big Ford.

Acceleration wise, the big Ford did the 0-60 time in 3.6 to 3.7 seconds, apparently depending on the weather and skill of the test driver who was testing it. Even today, that is still very fast.
Zero to 100 took around 12 seconds. Today, the Ford amazingly still does not have a confirmed and verified top speed -- Motor Trend tested 200.1 mph in late 2004. The car's 6 gears are extremely wide, almost like that of a truck - still thundering along in 5th gear around 200 mph.

A decade later, the car saw a careless revival, a V-6 powered car with nearly 650 hp -- car magazines cared but Ford fans, truck fans, and obviously V-8 fans didn't pay attention: they cared about preserving and treasuring the memory, stats, times, and great value that the 2005 and 06 Ford GT cars presented to the world.

Retro "Need for Speed" pleasant pastime decades later

Retro racing games can be a harmless pastime

February 2017

            You can learn a lot from retro, cheap, and forgotten racing games. For me, I have learned they have cars, toys, and a fun time burning off some steam from an otherwise long month in the life of this blogger.

            I traded the cute but glitzy Need for Speed: Underground 2 for one of its predecessors, Need for Speed: High Stakes. The fourth road racing game from EA, my copy has the green “Greatest Hits” signification on the side; denoting one million or more sales.

            I found myself thinking of the game for months beforehand, even requesting it at my local retro game store.

            Since I have loaded into my PlayStation 2, I have found myself falling in love with those sports cars from the 1990s, which reads like a modern cast of “The Cannonball Run”: Porsche 911 Turbo, Lamborghini Diablo SV, McLaren F1 GTR, Ferrari F50, . . . the list goes on for a total of eighteen. That may be less than some other games, but it’s enough to get your gears going.

                                                           Pic credit: Wikimedia commons

            Starting the game up in test drive mode, the cars accurately reflect real-life features. Neither Diablo nor the F50 have traction, braking, or stability systems to keep them on the road (the other cars have such systems). The F50 zings and misbehaves a lot an old PS1 game; oversteering at will as if to anger the player.

            After watching some videos of the previous (but not immediate predecessor) Need for Speed II, I can say that this iteration portrayed itself as a fine balance of simulation and classic arcade game. The cars of the late 90s are all here, and while some of them handle pretty much identically, some of them oversteer strongly. The engines snarl, whine, growl, shriek, bark, and dance to redline; cars roll and crash in spectacular wrecks, other traffic cars honk at you, and the player can even see the driver's avatar move the steering wheel turn in accord with the player’s steering input. It’s these small details that make up a crescendo of a driving experience.

            At the end, I’m energized to go about the next day. Sliding this game into the disc tray and playing it is very much participating in a retro digitization of seeing people do the very things that young men dream of doing with beautiful sports cars. Those things are speed and dance through corners. 
            Thanks for the retro ride, High Stakes. It was nice meeting you again.

4 Great BMW Engines

August 2016

4 Great BMW engines

            A few weeks ago, I saw the new BMW M4 crackle and whine by, its exhaust an interesting compromise of BMW high revving and air-ish sound as it drove. I wrote an editorial last year for my automotive purposes to explore why I did not like the M4's turbos. Call me close-minded, but I thought the higher revving M3 of yore was the life of the BMW party. 
            It hit me though.

            BMW is a carmaker who resorts to whatever it needs to make raw power, just now in a bit more responsible, buttoned-up, fuel efficient way.

        

           1. All normal BMW Inline Sixes—late 1970s to present day (not counting M3 engines! see #4)

            Applications: nearly all BMW's cars and sport utlities

Yielded anywhere as little >200 hp to nearly 500 (1970s M1 race car prototype).

            I can relate with hardcore Bimmer fan’s love of the company’s long running product, the inline six. The most epic example comes from the classic M1, sporting a strong-for-its-time 300 horsepower in 1978 road car spec, to nearly 500 for the prototype spec.

All this, plus strong torque, from 6 normally aspirated cylinders. Still defined as an engineering marvel for its time, the more basic-equipped sixes have been entertaining BMW owners for decades. The long time standard issue engine in several cars, the I-6 is now optional on many models including those cars just mentioned.

BMW’s other longtime selling point was the availability of the six with a manual, and in the 2 and 3 Series cars, that is something it continues to offer its customer base to this day.

In recent times, the engines have revved high, been equipped with as many as 3 turbos, and adopted hybrid drive systems.

2. 5.4 liter V-12

Applications: 1990s 750i/iL, 1990s 850i Coupe (limited production)

OK, so the old 5.4-liter V-12 was not high on power, but it was a bold effort from the engineering team to create its first V-12. This brand new engine signaled the turning point for an ultimate engine that would very mildly share of the same architecture and cylinder count as the McLaren F1 road car would—just much smaller, weaker valves) and half the power (320-hp instead of 627). The big Seven was and is a great sporting luxury cruiser, and paved the way to its faster, more respected 438-hp successor: the 760i V-12.

As for acceleration for the Seven with the 5.4? Slower than any of the today’s generation cars, but still packing more a bit more juice than the base V-8 did. My point is that although this was not a powerful car, it had the beginnings of the engine block for the McLaren F1, as well as the lush Rolls-Royce Phantom.

3. 5.0 liter high-revving V-10

            Applications: 2005-10 M5 sedan and M6

            While applied to what some call an overly technological car, the racing-derived replaced the venerable V-8 from the 2000 M5. Sporting an awesome 500 hp rating, this V-10 redlined at 8250; possibly the highest of any luxury sedan for its time. Although electronically limited to 155 mph, a YouTube search for the cars shows what appear to be 200-mph attempts with the limiter deactivated. Note: Deactivating the limiter on your car  voids the warranty.

            4. 3.2 liter M-engineered 24-valve inline six

            Applications: 2001-04 M3; Z4 M Roadster and Coupe; Z3 M Roaster

            This snappy, zingy, torquey, and downright fantastic driver’s engine was strictly employed within a variety of M products, including the great 2001 – 2004 generation M3. That car that is still mentioned in a variety of car blogs, forums, magazines, German tuner mags since its introduction.

            Basically a teched-out, stroked, and higher-performance version of the 3.0-liter six, the car revved high, much like the V-10 also in this article: nailing hitting 333 hp at 7900 rpm in the M3, losing only 3 of those horses for the Z4 M coupe and roasters.

            It helped the American market M3 hit 0 to 60 in a fast 4.9 seconds, making a racket all the way there. Lighter-weight CSL cars did the deed in closer to 4.7, but BMW has always been conservative in their performance numbers.

            The best part? A used copy of these preferably with the stick makes for a great used car bargain, dipping as low as under $15,000 for a higher-mileage example with some dings and scrapes.

2016 Mopar RAM Rebel to hit dealers soon

For truck enthusiasts, Chrysler's SRT and Mopar parts division have been there for truck guys and gals through the years: Ram 2500 V-10, the Cummins engines introductions, Ram SS/T of late '90s, and then the 2005-06 RAM SRT-10 sport truck, with all the goods of the Viper sports car. 

But now, there will be a limited edition of the new RAM Rebel truck, the Mopar edition. Tested to be tough with its 5.7-liter HEMI engine and small ducts on the hood for the Mopar edition to assist with cooling the hot HEMI.

According to FCA US Replay, only 500 examples of the truck will be made for North America. Of those 500 units, 100 will be sold in FCA Canada.

All Mopar RAMs come standard with the 8HP70 fancy 8-speed automatic transmission.

It is an exciting time for the RAM truck brand, as research and development continue to impress new truck buyers.

Cool Viper Engine Ideas

Source: enginelabs

As I learned last year, Fiat Chrysler killed the SRT car brand--leaving the one of a kind Viper back to its Dodge division.

So what?

Well, Automotive News announced last week through their Web site that the UAW union voted on not continuing to produce the Viper after 2017.

So, a replacement then? Or something? Anything?

No. No replacement for the V-10 powered sports car.

After first being introduced at an auto show by Carroll Shelby in 1989, the car began production not entirely long after in 1992. It ran steady until 2010, after Chrysler basically got divorced and screwed over by Mercedes-Benz's parent company, then picking back up again for 2013.

Other than its Dodge Ram-based, Lamborghini-modified V-10 engine, the car never really took off. Here, I would love to include some fun engine ideas for the car as a Last Hurrah of sorts.

1. current Supercharged "Hellcat" V-8. Output: 707 horses

The Hellcat 6.2 is a mean but logical engine that is probably a lot cheaper to build than the Viper's literally unique, variable timing V-10 engine. It even eclipses

2. Base 6.4 liter Hemi. Output: 485 horses

Well, the mighty SRT Hemi engine from the Challenger, Charger and Grand Cherokee I also thought would be an excellent idea for under the hood. Cheap, too!

3. Pentastar 3.6-liter V-6, fully modified, turbos, direct injection, variable valve timing lift and control

Ok, so this engine does not really exist. But it would be frugal, interesting, and probably make it competitive something like the $80,000 Mercedes-Benz SL400, which as a base car, also has a twin turbo V-6.

Volvo T6 four cylinder nabs Wards Engines

Volvo T6 wins Wards Engine Award

By Zach Filtz for BOTFG

Posted 7 January 2016

For those of you who think your classic BMW straight-six is the royalty of premium cars, Volvo has put your mindsets on high alert. Volvo Cars’ T6 Drive-E engine has been named one of Ward’s 10 Best Engines.

Editors called it “arguably the new benchmark for high-output 4-cyl engines.”

For those unfamiliar with Volvo Car’s engine, the T6 Drive-E is a lightweight 4 cylinder engine that uses both a turbocharger and a supercharger to not only boost power, but to bring up its gas mileage. In other words, a performance and environmentalist’s dream brought to reality.

The T6 Drive-E engine can be found in the all-new XC90 SUV and S90 luxury sedan, which has not started production.

“Achieving an effective level of balance across comfort, efficiency and power has been the ultimate goal for our creation of the Drive-E engine family across our global model range,” said Michael Fleiss, Vice President of Powertrain at Volvo Car Group.

“The T6 Drive-E’s use of both supercharging and turbocharging, which is also being utilized in the new XC90, delivers a lively, compelling result,” Fleiss said.

WardsAuto editors selected the winners after spending October and November studying and driving all 31 nominees. There is no instrumented testing for their competition, per se. 

Editors score each engine based on horsepower, torque, comparative specs, noise attenuation, fuel economy and the application of new technology. The guiding principles: Does the engine or electric propulsion system truly sell the car or raise the bar for its competitive set?

While this is not an enthusiast-minded engine, it does produce a healthy 316 horsepower.

While the T6 has won the award now, this raises the question if the new T8 Drive-E—a super-hybrid powered version of the T6—would also win the Hybrid category for engines.

Truck choice post! Chevy or Chevy!

Hello, Filtz Guy car blog readers! As always, thanks for reading.

I have not been paying as much attention to this blog in recent months, because I had (past tense) picked up a blogging gig with another site.

Without further adieu, I have a truck choice for you: Chevy trucks against each other!

I am sure it is no secret that, since the full-size Silverado 1500 USA market truck was redesigned for the 2014 model year, Chevrolet upgraded their big V-6 all the way to 285 horsepower. That is quite a bit for a basic engine, thanks to all the technical doodads and new injection system that the engine received.

Credit: edmunds.com

And of course, Chevrolet brought back the Colorado back with 305 horsepower and $34,000, which is only a few thousand away when you compare it to fairly base Silverado V-6 (at $31,000 long bed 4x4). Check out the trucks!

What is your favorite Chevy truck--midsize or full-size?