New Top Gear (2011) BBC 2 8PM!
- Thread starter Andr3w
- Start date
Soldato
Someone at Aintree running the race track (old British GP circuit) has a Yeti, I was actually quite impressed with it's potential capability. He used it as a family car/van/car to go in and marshal rally stages.
The engine is disappointing though, 1.8 turbo petrol and 160bhp. Either the engine is half a litre too big or the turbo is there to keep the spare wheel inflated.
The engine is disappointing though, 1.8 turbo petrol and 160bhp. Either the engine is half a litre too big or the turbo is there to keep the spare wheel inflated.
Soldato
Peak torque is 1500rpm.
I guess your glovebox location for it was so crap even you changed?
Soldato
What I thought was strange was that the specs of the Atom V8 are close to the Caparo T1 specs which was deemed very dangerous by Clarkson, why is the Atom any different?
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Or perhaps its there to avoid the fact that in order to benefit from 160bhp in a 1.8 N/A petrol engine, you need to thrash it to death?
I'm sure you know the difference in power delivery between a normally aspirated engine and a turbocharged engine and can thus understand why turbocharging without big power gains might be desireable for a normal everyday car.
The power in a 1.8 N/A engine with 160bhp will be towards the top of the rev range. This is undesireable in a car like the Yeti, where power lower down the rev range is more suited. Therefore, to acheive this driveability, the engine is turbocharged.
Soldato
The modern petrol turbos that generate ~110bhp/l also have similar torque characteristics low down to that of the Yeti. It's missing a chunk of power, plain and simple. They're probably spilling the "it's there for economy" line, because snails and associated gubbins are cheap to maintain.
It doesnt need to have 220bhp. It's a practical family car not a performance car. It could quite easily have a 2.0TFSI with 260bhp if they wished, but the market requirement isnt there.
Why does half this forum think every car made should be super fast or something? Do known of you understand how market segmentation actually works?
It isn't missing any power at all, 0-60 in 8.7 seconds is, if anything, quicker than a car like that needs to be.
Soldato
Why not just have a bigger motor and 8 valves or something, they did that with the Fabia. Only reason I can see is that Joe Public considers mpg above all else, which is probably ture, which means Skoda's doing their marketing right. Sigh...
Bet they're costly 5 years down the line for subsequent owners (I know this is of little concern to most manufacturers).
Bet they're costly 5 years down the line for subsequent owners (I know this is of little concern to most manufacturers).
Man of Honour
Emissions y0 are better and all that?
Soldato
its most likely the smallest turbo ever, so its spooled up at 1.5 and is out of puff at 4k. Just like fox says, to give nice power down low. Sure you could get a bigger turbo and have it spool up at 3k, give power all the way to 7k and have 220bhp.... but why would they want to?
Soldato
I'd want a big turbo that spools at 1k and runs through to 6.8k (modern turbos rock). But as Fox is saying: I don't want a mini-MPV/mini-4x4, I want a saloon. People who do want a mini-MPV do want the mpg and a low tax band, and don't often consider the running cost.
I want to love the Yeti and I also want to hate it. Would recommend, wouldn't own. It's an anti-Alfa.
Last edited:
Soldato
[TW]Fox;18301253 said:
Interestingly the two vocal ones around your post are both still textbook engineers so real world application is yet to strike them down.
Soldato
Interestingly the two vocal ones around your post are both still textbook engineers so real world application is yet to strike them down.
Because market segmentation has little to do with engineering and is something that marketing people invent.
If you can design a good package that does things correctly, why create a sub-par version of it that does not do things as well?
If you only want 160hp and torque from a turbo petrol engine, why design a 1.8L when you can achieve the same figures from a smaller, lighter, 1.2 or 1L?
Why would you want big power?
Is it not better to design cars that suit the market they are aimed?
Market segmentation is crucial! Normal people don't buy cars from an engineering perspective, they buy cars which satisfy perceived needs and wants.
Last edited: