Quote:
Originally Posted by serialk11r
Aside from safety regulations, there's nothing really stopping cars from having good performance. A large engine needs not be significantly thirstier. Good example would be the BMW 328 (with N52, Valvematic and double VANOS), which gets great fuel economy for a car that's not exactly lightweight. Throttling loss is the biggest reason why bigger engines are bad fuel economy wise. Now if the displacement is too high like the Nissan VQ37VHR then it'll have a bit of trouble naturally, but extremely tall gearing can almost fix that, as the Mclaren MP4-12C proves.
The benefit that increased efficiency provides is that manufacturers can afford to tune the engine more aggressively at max power since the better fuel economy/emissions at lower loads will offset the less efficient operation at high power. Lighter cars are no doubt better for performance, and better aerodynamics help as well.
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I think sports cars are exempt from having the more stringent CAFE numbers since most of them sell in small numbers like the 370Z you just referenced. It actually gets good mpg for its weight which is 27 mpg highway and that's without D/I. I think the next Z should be like the FR-s where Nissan goes down to 2700 lbs in weight and ditch the 3.7l for a 2.0-2.5l D/I turbo motor with 300hp/300tq even though I love 6's more than 4's.