So what does iVTEC do better than our VTEC? Will this be incorporated into newer models?

 

This is not a bad idea. Imagine another 50hp or so for acceleration.
Electric motors and batteries are heavy, though.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bieg
[B]

It was a V-5.

 

This is just what I was thinking.....

It is like saying I want a four seat convertile... why doesn't Honda make it a four seater??

Sorry, just MHO

 

Hey Bieg,

Welcome back. I always wondered why Honda didn't like turbos in their street cars. After all, they use them in their race cars all the time with great success. Inf act, isn't one of the reasons Honda left F2 was because of their switch to NA engines???

If turbos are good enough for their race cars, they should be good enough for their street cars.

By the way peterpan - are you asking about a V6 because you were one of the people in Dallas that got beat by the Altima???

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bieg
[B]Honda does not like to use turbos (in their street cars).

 

Given the choice Honda would rather race a NA engine. They wanted to race in F1 and that was the Formula at the time. Originally when they first entered F1 in the 60s it was NA and it is NA now.

You must remember the whole reason Honda races is to develop their young engineers and further their technological frontiers. Developing HP with a turbo is almost too easy for them and does not challenge their engineers enough. Pushing the boundaries of a NA engine is much more of a challenge and therfore a much better learning experience for them.

 

Maybe they had different versions because quoted below is from my Road test archives
By Paul Fr

 

Not true...F1 reqs. are so much different than street car reqs., that what works for F1 cannot be assumed to work for the street. Would you really want to have to search out methanol fuel and rebuild your engine on a weekly basis? Also, I think it's safe to say that S2000 owners are somewhat deficient on driving talent compared to F1 drivers. Skyrocketing insurance rates have killed many sports cars in the past, and I'm already concerned about future rate hikes on this car based on how many of y'all are wrecking them.

My last car was a turbo. It made a tremendous amount of power (480 hp and tq), but here are the downsides:
- variable performance depending on the weather (mainly temp)
- very steep power hike at onset of 2nd turbo boost => throttle control is very important in corners (VTEC is nothing after this!)
- sucked gas like an Excursion
- much more complex....more to go wrong, and more to diagnose when it does. Blown intercooler hoses stranded me twice.
- need to keep car running until turbos spin down, either via turbo timer or conventional means

on the other hand...
- it made unbelievable power for a car
- turbos sound so cool. I'd blip the throttle just to hear the turbos spool and de-pressurize

 

>>>I don't do this often, but on a whim I have tried not down shifting purely to see how easily the car will pull. The results are great. Uphill, top down, A/C on and two people in the car my S pulls cleanly from 30 MPH in 4th. No hesitations, nothing. Just pulls away. <<<

Well a cocktail napkin analysis sez that if 4th gear takes you as high as 116 MPH, and if that is about 9000, then 30 MPH would represent around 2300 RPMs in 4th. I'm not sure this strengthens your case.

Sure you're saying it didn't lug. But the in-gear times at revs like that are not competitive with cars the S2K can run with when it's in vtec. A torquey car like the new M3 can pull in 5th from 500 RPMs smoothly. That is below the idle rpm. Some of the Euro car mags test and report on engine elasticity at revs starting at around 1500 RPM.

I think that i-vtec would help the car, along with a gearing change and more cubes. It shouldn't be that hard for H to do this if they wanted to cuz the i-vtec head and the S2K head are like brother and sister. If you could just add more cubes safely and with the same rev limit, the car would run about the same in vtec due to the head remaining the same and yet have bags more low and midrange. Ther are many different engines produced in two or more different sizes showing this effect. But then Honda would potentially lose the Hp/L crown. Perhaps they went for the crown over off vtec driveability. Consumers don't really have a displacement limit....

Stan

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Bieg
[B]

Given the choice Honda would rather race a NA engine.