Category: Engines

How Does a Rotary Engine Work?

How Does a Rotary Engine Work?

Photo from MazdaUSA
If you’re familiar with the Mazda RX-8 (or RX-7,) you know it’s one of the only cars on the road using a rotary (Wankel) engine. But have you ever wondered exactly how a rotary engine works? Why is Mazda the only manufacturer to still use this design? What are its advantages and disadvantages?
First, [...]

VW's 2.0L TDI Engine Named a 2010 "Ward's 10 Best Engines"

VW’s 2.0L TDI Engine Named a 2010 “Ward’s 10 Best Engines”

At last month’s Detroit Auto Show, Ward’s Automotive Group named Volkswagen’s 2.0L TDI Clean Diesel engine one of their “10 best” for 2010. The 2.0-liter TDI engine is now featured in the Jetta TDI sedan and SportWagen, as well as the 2010 Golf. The engine complies with all the excessively strict Tier 2, Bin 5/ULEV [...]

Manhart Racing BMW Z4 M V10

Manhart Racing BMW Z4 M V10

“These crazy bastards dropped a V10 into the Z4. Nice.” That’s what head Automoblog dude Christopher said to me in an email moments ago. Yeah, nice AND crazy all at the same time. Our kind of people these folks from Manhart. I (and I’m assuming Chris) love people that do things like this; V12s into [...]

Hefley Motor Company: Reinventing Internal Combustion

Hefley Motor Company: Reinventing Internal Combustion

We have had the same conventional internal-combustion engine for over 100 years, and it hasn’t changed much in the last 50 years. Up until this point, the increases we’ve managed to achieve in fuel economy within a conventional gasoline or diesel engine have come from one of two sources:

Computer-controlled fuel-injection, which allows a computer inside [...]