Engine Design

[Splatt]

MB do not seem to have gone this route yet but I wonder if they will ? I have been looking to buy a car, the television ad for which depicts the designer chap beating himself up for the want of competition What has grabbed my attention is that they do an engine which they call Double charger, a supercharger at the front to blow combustion charge in and a turbocharger on the back to suck spent gas out. The net result of this together with a lot more injection and combustion technology which is beyond me is to achieve a 1.4 petrol nugget producing 170 PS (168bhp) and a petrol consumption of 39 mpg combined. A few years ago you would have needed a 2.1 or 2.2 engine to get that power and not got 25 combined.
My lingering worry is how long will an engine stressed to this extent stay working ? We started off many years ago with engines that were starting to knock at 60,000 miles and engineers have gradually progressed so that 150 to 200K is not abnormal. Can we expect these new engines to be so long lasting or is the quest for economy going to be offset by the expense of engine replacements.

 

[television]

What makes the engines very long life is the improvement of the accuracy of the engineering and modern lubricants, I dont think it matters about what they add, they are all getting cleaner and cleaner, just the electronics that could do with being a little bit simpler

 

[roofless]

i had a turbo diesel car made by them with well over 200k with no probs i love them. still have a mk1 1.8 gti a wee gem

 

[mattsurf]

I am not sure that smaller capacity means shorter lifespan. A small engine can be engineered with high grade materials and tollerance designed to cope with high power outputs, and it should last as long as large engine with similar power output.

Small engines tend not to be able to cover the same mileage a large engines as they are manufactured to a lower price, and not designed to cope with large power output - however this is a function of engine design not size

Diesel engines are actually much harder on engines and components than petrol, this is factored into the design, the engines are built to cope with the additional wear and tear as a result they tend to last much longer than a petrol engine