How Do You Make A Nissan Sentra 35% More Efficient?
Rated at between 21/28 (2.5l, manual) and 27/34 (2.0l, auto), the Nissan Sentra is a fairly efficient car, albeit rapidly falling out of contention with its new 40 MPG competitors. Using a computer simulation, the developers of the “split-cycle” Scuderi engine showed that their unique, downsized, turbocharged engine can improve up to a 35% improvement in a “stock” Sentra’s fuel economy, when paired with the firm’s AirHybrid system. It’s not clear, even after listening to a podcast with VP Steven Scuderi, which engine-transmission combination was simulated as the “stock” baseline, but for practical purposes the best-performing Scuderi engine (tuned to match the “stock” engine’s power) achieved between 40 MPG and 32 MPG combined (around 50 MPG CAFE combined, or approaching the 2025 standard). Or, not. The EPA city test reportedly does not show improvements with idle fuel shutoff (stop-start), but Scuderi’s simulated stop-start system shows a 14% improvement over the non-start-stop “stock” Sentra on the same FTP-75 test. Was Mazda bluffing (it’s since said it would bring stop-start to all its cars), or is Scuderi’s simulation off? Scuderi (which has nondisclosure agreements with 11 OEMs and is in discussions with 4-5 more) says it will release more information next week at the Engine Expo 2011 in Stuttgart, Germany.
More by Edward Niedermeyer
Comments
Join the conversation
Wouldn't it be better to just not buy a Nissan Sentra? It's always been a second-rate economy car, at best.
it escapes me that we talk about a computer-simulated test (if I read correctly). A computer simulation always has certain assumptions and inaccuracies, especially if the engine in question doesn't have a track record. I've simulated Rankine cycles etc., which are fairly well understood and applied all over the world with 100+ years of experience how efficient they actually are. It is possible to predict efficiency and power output of a power plant very well. but for a car (which has changing operating conditions to begin with) and an unknown engine that doesn't really exists and in a car that never actually had that type of engine??? I don't think that engine is bad, it looked interesting and feasible. but show me an actual engine in that car and test then.
When you read the words "Using a computer simulation, the developers of [whatever] showed", be sure to keep your hand on your wallet. Smile thank them for the information, and tell them you eagerly await the real world prototype.
Show me 40MPG in an F-150 pickup, and maybe I'll stop yawning.