Interesting loan car...

[mpbarrett]

Had our Golf GTE in for a service and its first MOT. 
I had a loan car which was a  2022 mk8 Golf (eTSI) with  a 1 Litre 3 cylinder Turbo engine and 'mild hybrid' ie very small battery and motor built into the drive train.
Amazing little car, reasonable acceleration, as usual the engine cuts out when stopped but by having the hybrid system you start moving off on electric and then the engine is started so very smooth transition and none of that hesitation you get as the car starts (or the worry if trying to do a fast start out of a junction).  
Coming up the M11 doing 70 along it would shut down 1 cylinders, but was still very smooth if there wasn't a message on the dash I don't think you would know it was running on 2 cylinders! Overall it was reporting that it was doing 50mpg.
Really interesting combination of electric and internal combustion technology. 1 litre 3 cylinder engine, 108bhp, seven speed dual clutch auto and 0-60 of 10second. Very impressive. Its amazing to see how far engine and car development has come since my Herald's 1950's technology!

Mike
 

[Nick Jones]

Hmm….. all that tech for fairly modest efficiency gains. Would hope for better than 50mpg average with all that smart tech.  Don’t see it lasting more than 10-15 years at best either. Too complex, too hard to fix when it goes wrong (which it will!). 

To actually be remotely “green”, cars need to be simple, light and have a long working life.

Interesting that it’s described as a “mild hybrid” as the Panda we hired recently had the same description and certainly wasn’t able to move under electric power only.  That managed a bit better than 50mpg while we had it, but it was very slow.

Cylinder shutdown on a 3-pot sounds like overkill. Will be interesting to see what effect this has on engine life - historically cylinder shutdown has been an engine killer……

[mpbarrett]

Quite agree, lots of technology but I think it will be unrepairable, unsupported, in 5-10 years time.
The software wont be updated or  supported (and the manufactures will keep it as a closed system), the sensors and systems will start to break and will not be replaceable as by then they will be obsolete. Already happening when car ECU's dies and its not possible or too expensive to repair or replace. 
Still it was quite interesting car to drive..... 

BTW On our old campervan the airbag ECU failed, almost impossible to get a replacement and if it was new ECU then a Fiat dealer had to access Fiats database to get the build sheet  settings to reprogram the ECU. On campervans this is a common problem and an enterprising company in Liverpool will repair the ECU by unsoldering the surface mount memory chip, holding the ECU setting, and then soldering  it into a working similar model ECU. thus avoiding getting Fiat to reprogram it! 

 

[zetecspit]

Interesting tech, but as Nick says, not much (any?) gain 

Our little Suzuki 3 cylinder does similar mpg, maybe better if I didn't sit at 80+ a lot of the time. But has what I hope is a simple and robust engine. Timing chain too. I know wet belt engines can be horrendouisly complex (therfore expensive) to change. Ford ecoboost is about £1000, Honday a lot more. Apparently the Peugeot is a bit more simple. I expect belt changes (or lack of) will see many cars see a premature death, who wants to spend £1000 or more on a 10 year old car?

[thebrookster]

2 hours ago, zetecspit said:

Our little Suzuki 3 cylinder does similar mpg, maybe better if I didn't sit at 80+ a lot of the time.

SWMBO's transport of choice is a 1.3l 3cyl Fabia (diesel). Sounds like a tractor, but even at "motorway" speeds I struggle to reach 50mpg! Last I saw it the average was in the 80's (though I'll be the first to confess that SWMBO has the very opposite of a lead foot, I don't think my average would so high  )

[Nick Jones]

Could have mentioned that the long term average mpg for the Sootmonster is 52mpg. Not a lot of in-town in the mix though and it is a dirty dizzle….

Is the the 1.2 or 1.4 TDI Phil? Pretty sure there isn’t a 1.3?  Zero personal experience with the 1.2 but the 1.4 is surprisingly grunty even in the lesser 75bhp form (not tried the 90bhp one) and astonishingly economical - though no one will ever accuse it of being refined!

5 hours ago, mpbarrett said:

but I think it will be unrepairable, unsupported, in 5-10 years time.

Yes…. This. I was being too generous with my 10 - 15.

[thebrookster]

33 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

Is the the 1.2 or 1.4 TDI Phil? Pretty sure there isn’t a 1.3?

Errrrr, ahummmmmmm.

Okay, after a 10 minute search for a photo of the offending vehicle (to do a vehicle check lol), it's the 1.4 Nick!

34 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

though no one will ever accuse it of being refined!

Indeed, this one even more so! I tend to avoid whenever possible, I simply cannot fathom how people can use vehicles without cleaning them every so often!!

[Nick Jones]

1 hour ago, thebrookster said:

I simply cannot fathom how people can use vehicles without cleaning them every so often!!

Well, yeah. I’m possibly more than averagely tolerant of a dirty exterior, but I do require a clean and tidy interior. No sharing digs with a hobo!

[thebrookster]

40 minutes ago, Nick Jones said:

Well, yeah. I’m possibly more than averagely tolerant of a dirty exterior, but I do require a clean and tidy interior. No sharing digs with a hobo!

This.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

On 9/26/2023 at 9:55 AM, Nick Jones said:

Interesting that it’s described as a “mild hybrid” as the Panda we hired recently had the same description and certainly wasn’t able to move under electric power only.  That managed a bit better than 50mpg while we had it, but it was very slow.

Mild hybrid... a bit like putting an extra piece of lettuce on a Big Mac and calling it healthy

[Nick Jones]

Limp lettuce at that…..

It was better than walking and the AC, though feeble, was also better than nothing.