UK va USA Petrol

Honest John Back Room » Motoring discussion
View Threaded
Mon 13 Sep 2004 21:56
UK va USA Petrol - somebody
My wife has a Lexus ES300 here in the US. (It's basically a Camry). From new, I have been amazed by how gutless and slow it is.

Another post on this board got me thinking, is it to do with the petrol over here? They have three grades, 89, 91, and 93. I seem to remember in the UK the grade is 98. Someone mentioned the RON measure used in the UK versus that in the US.

Does the lower grade petrol over here at least partly account for why practically every car I've driven over here, foreign or local, seems slow and unresponsive?
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 13 Sep 2004 22:01
UK va USA Petrol - Adam {P}
No it's probably that the 4.6 Crown Victoria isn't a match for the 1.8 Mondeo :-)
Adam
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 13 Sep 2004 22:25
UK va USA Petrol - somebody
You're right there - good job high speed pursuits over here, aren't.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 13 Sep 2004 22:27
UK va USA Petrol - SjB {P}
It's all a matter or MON, RON, or PON

www.btinternet.com/~madmole/Reference/RONMONPON.ht...l
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 13 Sep 2004 22:30
UK va USA Petrol - Adam {P}
I remember reading your last post about how unstable the CVs were at high speed. Presumable they're very smooth and torquey at lower speeds.

In my holiday away from Uni I've been watching "WORLD'S SCARIEST POLICE CHASES" hosted by Sheriff John T Bunell (what a guy) and it's rare you'll see a chase go over 80. The cop usually screams "We're at 90! We're at 90!" as if they were running over a line of school kids.

How come they're so bad? Given the same company makes the car, my Focus will happily go along at 90 (so I'm told) yet the CV would appear to explode at anything over 80!

THanks
Adam
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 13 Sep 2004 22:37
UK va USA Petrol - Altea Ego
Is that why american racing drivers can only go round in circles?
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 13 Sep 2004 23:24
UK va USA Petrol - somebody
The motorsport here is a joke. Didn't Nigel Mansell win his first Indycar race despite starting at the back of the grid and having to carry a 'novice' warning sticker on his car? I wonder what the likes of Bobby Rahal thought as they saw Nige disappearing into the distance!
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 13 Sep 2004 23:00
UK va USA Petrol - somebody
The Crown Vic apparently is based on a design which has changed little since it was introduced in 1979. I think that generally the culture over here, particularly the government, is very conservative, in that people like what they know. And even with discounts, I'm sure Ford make a decent profit selling CVs to government departments, making them reluctant to tamper with a winning formula.

There are signs of change. The Chevy Impala is now gaining traction particularly as an unmarked unit. And in Hawaii believe it or not I actually saw the local Police Dept using *gasp* Japanese cars, again as unmarked vehicles.

The CV version sold to government and law enforcement is actually a special version, grandly titled 'the Police Interceptor'. It has its own website at www.cvpi.com

Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 13 Sep 2004 23:07
UK va USA Petrol - Adam {P}
Can't argue with that - he caught up with that Volvo :-)
Adam
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 13 Sep 2004 23:58
UK va USA Petrol - Civic8
Sorry to correct 1985/6
--
Was mech1
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Mon 13 Sep 2004 23:56
UK va USA Petrol - Civic8
Whatever grade you use. engine needs to be tuned to grade of fuel used.IIRC toyota was one of the first to introduce lead free use engines. I may be corrected here. But think around 1995/6. I am not certain whether it is used in USA.But could well be the problem?
--
Was mech1
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 15 Sep 2004 12:55
UK va USA Petrol - THe Growler
>>>>>>>>Whatever grade you use. engine needs to be tuned to grade of fuel used.

Right. The Sportster we just shipped in from California is jetted per the maker's manual, but yesterday on taking the plugs out after running a while on local gas were sooty black. Maybe because of the higher octane in use here (manual says 91 is right, but our lowest is 93) or just the difference in temperature/altitude. Anyway, we've gone down a size on the idle jet and she runs more evenly too, with less black smoke. Also gave it a dose of Wynne's with the last fill-up. Will pull the plugs in a week or so to check if there's any difference.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 14 Sep 2004 10:51
UK va USA Petrol - Cardew
My wife has a Lexus ES300 here in the US. (It's
basically a Camry). From new, I have been amazed by how
gutless and slow it is.


We had this discussion on another thread. Depending on the year it should have 185bhp plus. Are you sure there isn't something wrong with your wife's car?

I have driven the SUV version with 5 adults and that had loads of grunt.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 14 Sep 2004 11:04
UK va USA Petrol - Aprilia
HAving driven a range of cars in the US (Camry, Fords/Mercurys, and GM cars) I can't say I've found them especially slow weight-for-weight. Obviously the big heavy ones (like a Chrysler New Yorker I had) are a bit sluggish.

This time last year I drove Albany-Rochester and then on to Buffalo via backroads and was surprised at the relatively high cruising speeds. Not unusual to see cars doing a steady 70-80mph on the back roads. Don't forget that there are lot of European cars around too - Jags, BMW's, Mercs., and they have similar performance to the Euro-market versions.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 14 Sep 2004 21:25
UK va USA Petrol - Kevin
Somebody,

what altitude are you at? Normally aspirated engines can lose a significant amount of power at higher altitudes.

Kevin...
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Tue 14 Sep 2004 23:53
UK va USA Petrol - Miller
According to Ford the Crown Victoria's 4.6l engine puts out 239bhp - ok not fantastic for an engine of that size but surely it still should be good for at least 130mph. Also as it probably weighs half as much again as your average Mondeo it should be rock steady at this speed??

Funny though it ain't got a rev counter even though most 1 litre Corsa's over here have them!
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 15 Sep 2004 09:39
UK va USA Petrol - Adam {P}
I'm going to ask a silly question but why do you need a rev counter on an automatic? My Fiesta had one but I changed it to manual and I can't see much use for it on an auto car.
Adam
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 15 Sep 2004 11:01
UK va USA Petrol - StuW
I'm going to ask a silly question but why do you
need a rev counter on an automatic?


Because it looks cool! ;-)
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Wed 15 Sep 2004 21:42
UK va USA Petrol - Civic8
IIRC it was standard fit. ie you got it whether you needed it or not.
--
Was mech1
Reply | Report as offensive | Link
Thu 16 Sep 2004 01:22
UK va USA Petrol - Arty
The problem you see with fuel ratings is that US cars dont need a high RON grade fuel to operate at optimum unlike Euro cars. Japanese cars for example can run on both types of fuels with no visible difference. So types of fuels dont really matter.

Large engines with relativeley low power output are simply designed for the motoring culture ie. comfortable cruising (unresponsive perception). Big blocks gives you the flexibility when overtaking on the high way without having to rev it like a mototrcycle. Also helps when coming off the line as evident by the non-neccessity of having a lot of gears.
Reply | Report as offensive | Link