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While You Were Sleeping: March 13th, 2015
by
Derek Kreindler
(IC: employee)
Published: March 13th, 2015
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The next Honda Civic is going turbo – and not just the Type-R
Derek Kreindler
More by Derek Kreindler
Published March 13th, 2015 9:47 AM
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Not enough yet to write a fourth installment on the Truth About Oil, but WTI prices dropped like a rock this week. Almost all of the 21-1/2% gains in February have been given back, trading under $45 a barrel, down 4-1/2% today and 10% for the week. RBOB Gasoline short contract (April 15) has backed off almost 20 cents a gallon this week. The crude storage crisis is a global problem, and there has been a realization in the oil industry that there are 3,000 wells today that are basically ready to turn on, but are sitting idle. These wells are effectively "storage," so the glut is far worse than most people thought. I'm monitoring and will be writing a fourth piece when there is enough action in one direction. I dont' agree with $10 a barrel and Gary Shilling, but this is a good interview. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-03-09/getting-ready-to-see-next-leg-down-on-oil-shilling
Well, I like some turbo engines, but I'm also a fan of naturally aspirated engines. I really like the Civic Si even though it's outgunned by all of it's competitors. Even with the 2.4L, it's still a screamer of an engine compared to the turbo competition. Yeah, the turbos have the torque down low, but they run out of juice up high and they just don't have the throttle response. Turbo lag has been reduced tremendously, but it's still there, I don't care what anyone says. There's just something about a good naturally aspirated engine that pulls harder and harder as the tach climbs. I like it, and I'll miss it if Honda goes all turbo.
Another thing, I just can't see these new turbos doing 300K miles like a good ol' port injected Honda 4.
The Kansas City F-150 plant might be able to augment some more numbers to the 10 000 or so a month F-150s currently coming out of the Henry Ford plant in Detroit. If Ford want to sell significant numbers of these they will have to look at ramping up production. Or, like last month the Colorado/Canyon will continue to outsell the aluminium F-150. Ford has employed thousands more people for the production of F-150s on top of what the "older" F-150 required. Is this good for Ford's bottom line?