Random Car Facts

[Famine]

The Mazda MX3 used one of the smallest V6 engines available for a production car at a Blistering 1.8 litres.

In fact the smallest for a car sold in the three main markets (US, Europe, Japan). The only smaller was a 1.5 V6 in the Mitsubishi Lancer, sold only in Japan.

And it's a cracking little engine, powering one of my MX-3s. The other's in the middle of a light upgrade.

 

[ImmalovemaGTR]

In fact the smallest for a car sold in the three main markets (US, Europe, Japan). The only smaller was a 1.5 V6 in the Mitsubishi Lancer, sold only in Japan.

And it's a cracking little engine, powering one of my MX-3s. The other's in the middle of a light upgrade.

1,5 l V6... Is that made for ants or wut?

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

Okay, I'm not good with car facts, but I'll keep trying.

The Holden VE Commodore was sold as a Pontiac G8 in the US, Vauxhall VXR8 in the UK, and in the Middle East as a Chevrolet Lumina Sedan. I still don't get why GM had the commodore stopped being sold in the US after dropping pontiac when it could've been still sold as a Chevrolet.

 

[Vic Reign93]

It crippled American horsepower for a very long time and when GM brought a 5.7 V8 diesel into the fray, it got bad for the Cadillac de Ville with the V8 making 105hp and 205 ft-lb of torque.

 

[motortrend]

1,5 l V6... Is that made for ants or wut?

 

[Famine]

1,5 l V6... Is that made for ants or wut?

You'd be surprised. After all, Ferrari made 1.5 V8s for road cars back in the day.

Speaking of Ferrari... In F1, engines used to be 3.0 V10s (300cc/cyl), then the 2.4 V8s we've got now (300cc/cyl). The MX-3's 1.8 V6... 300cc/cylinder. Also it's oversquare (like an F1 engine) with a ludicrous rod:stroke ratio of 2:1 (like an F1 engine).

Doesn't rev to 20,000rpm, like

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

It crippled American horsepower for a very long time and when GM brought a 5.7 V8 diesel into the fray, it got bad for the Cadillac de Ville with the V8 making 105hp and 205 ft-lb of torque.

And the ridiculous EPA standards were introduced and that made things worse. I can't have an Escort Cosworth or Nissan Skyline GT-R because of the stupid standards.

The Opel Astra H was rebadged 3 times in 3 other countries and was still called the astra in each of them (Vauxhall Astra in the UK, Chevy Astra in Brazil, & Saturn Astra in the US).

 

[Vic Reign93]

You'd be surprised. After all, Ferrari made 1.5 V8s for road cars back in the day.

Speaking of Ferrari... In F1, engines used to be 3.0 V10s (300cc/cyl), then the 2.4 V8s we've got now (300cc/cyl). The MX-3's 1.8 V6... 300cc/cylinder. Also it's oversquare (like an F1 engine) with a ludicrous rod:stroke ratio of 2:1 (like an F1 engine).

Doesn't rev to 20,000rpm, like

Not only did they make über small V8's but their first road car had an equally small V12.

 

[Joey D]

And the ridiculous EPA standards were introduced and that made things worse. I can't have an Escort Cosworth or Nissan Skyline GT-R because of the stupid standards.

It's more to it then the EPA, safety standards are also a reason you can't import them legally. But I do believe after 25 years the vehicles are considered classics and therefore exempt, at least in some states.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

It's more to it then the EPA, safety standards are also a reason you can't import them legally. But I do believe after 25 years the vehicles are considered classics and therefore exempt, at least in some states.

I'm aware of the safety aspects too, I still think it's stupid. The 25 years can't come soon enough though.

 

[Vic Reign93]

It's more to it then the EPA, safety standards are also a reason you can't import them legally. But I do believe after 25 years the vehicles are considered classics and therefore exempt, at least in some states.

Next year is good for 89' Skylines due to them being officially 25 years old.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

Next year is good for 89' Skylines due to them being officially 25 years old.

Yup, I'm looking forward to next year. Oh yeah, I guess I could get a Sierra Cosworth imported now since some of them are at least 25 years old now. That's cool, now I just need the money.

Polyphony Digital helped a bit with Nissan in making the R35 GT-R.

 

[Joey D]

I'm not 100% sure all cars are covered under the 25 year time span though, I'm sure there are a ton of exceptions. If you are seriously considering importing a car, and assuming you have enough money, you probably would need to check customs officials.

 

[Vic Reign93]

The first 4 door Porsche had made was a prototype for Studebaker called the Type 542 in 1952.

 

[homeforsummer]

My random fact: when Porsche released the Carrera RS 2.7 in 1972, the first to have the ducktail spoiler, the german government barked at the possible risk this part involved for people, so when the 3.0 RS came about the next year, wich featured an even larger rear wing, Porsche provided the new happy owner with two boot lids, one with the big-ass wing and a wingless one for the street.

That reminds me of a similar fact. Three similar facts, in fact

In 1994, the cars used in the British Touring Car championship had to feature the same silhouette as the road car. That meant if your road car had no spoiler, your race car wasn't allowed one either.

Alfa Romeo had no problem here - the 155 had a small boot spoiler. But they wanted to improve upon this, so fitted a much taller version part way through the season. Rival teams complained, because it wasn't on the road car. Not the case - to get around that regulation, every 155 Silverstone road car came with blocks to raise the factory spoiler by the same amount.

In 1993 in the same series, Ford decided it wanted extra front brake cooling for its Mondeo. The Si-based model they raced with had no way of doing this without changing the factory silhouette. So in 1994 they used the Ghia. The Ghia came with front foglamps (though without a spoiler, clearly less of an issue for Ford) which could be removed under the regulations. Voila - brake cooling ducts.

In 1994 (again), Renault also wanted to tackle the aerodynamics issue. Its answer? The Laguna 'Airflow' road car. Basically a bog-standard Laguna fitted with a huge curved rear wing, with enough units to homologate the race car:

They ruined all this sneaky loophole-finding in 1995 by allowing actual aerodynamics...

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

The Ford Mondeo in the late 90s was sold in the US as the Contour.

 

[Badasp5.0]

The Ford Mustang II is the least powerful Mustang in history as one of the Models has under 100hp. Part of the overall reason why this car was a failure.

HUH? it sold very well and infact sold almost as well as the orignal.
remember the oil crisis happened around the time of the II so it was the right car at the right time

Both the Ford GT and Dodge Viper SRT10 share have an engine that is also used in a pickup truck.

The Truck 5.4 and Ford GT 5.4 share only displacement.
the Ford GT block is aluminum, dry sump oiling and has DOHC 32v heads
The truck is iron wet sump and SOHC 16v heads.

The only non car application that has the DOHC 5.4 is the Lincoln Naviagator.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

HUH? it sold very well and infact sold almost as well as the orignal.
remember the oil crisis happened around the time of the II so it was the right car at the right time

It's a failure in terms of performance (to me). There should be no mustang that has less than 100hp.

 

[Sertsa]

According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, for 2009-2011 models, the vehicle with the lowest claims for medical payments and bodily injury is the Chevrolet Corvette.

The highest? the Hyundai Accent.

Source: http://www.iihs.org/research/hldi/composite

 

[Badasp5.0]

It's a failure in terms of performance (to me). There should be no mustang that has less than 100hp.

the 79 to 93 Fox body 2.3 was rated any where from 86 to 105 hp. The V8 IIs were fun cars and their light weight helped a lot.

 

[RandomCarGuy17]

the 79 to 93 Fox body 2.3 was rated any where from 86 to 105 hp. The V8 IIs were fun cars and their light weight helped a lot.

Oh, I didn't think the Foxes had power figures that low. Well, I learn something new everyday.

 

[Vic Reign93]

The side mirrors on the Phase 2 Citroen CX were also used on the Lotus Esprit and the Jaguar XJ220.

 

[Slash]

the 79 to 93 Fox body 2.3 was rated any where from 86 to 105 hp. The V8 IIs were fun cars and their light weight helped a lot.

I can attest to this. My buddy has a II with a 302 and that bitch flies.

 

[Cano]

That reminds me of a similar fact. Three similar facts, in fact

Those are really cool, too 👍

 

[Badasp5.0]

Another fact The US 25year import car ban has alot more to do with Mercedes Benz lobbying than any relevent safety conserns. MB was losing money due to "grey market" MBs coming to the US that were cheaper than the dealers imported cars so they lobbyed till the import laws were changed.

 

[Giygas]

During its developmental stages, Mclaren considered a small 14 cylinder engine instead of the current BMW V12.

The Saleen S7R produces less downforce than the road going version.

If Dodge produced the GTS-R concept exactly as it was, you would only use 4 gears during fast driving. 4th gear tops out at around 200MPH.

Tetsuya Tada, the product chief of Toyota, hoped for a sedan and wagon version of the 86 GT. When Toyota's head bosses heard of this, they told him "What are you doing? Will you please focus on the coupe."

NASCAR stock cars suffer from bad depreciation. While it costs up to $200,000 to build one, people have sold the out of season cars for around $25,000.

 

[Slash]

NASCAR engines are not built buy the company they use. Instead they are rented from Roush who builds them for the intent of using it for one and only 1 race.


NASCAR engines, and GM's LS1 engines are carbon copies of Ford's 351 Cleveland engine.

 

[Vic Reign93]

The Monocoque on the Ford GT was so strong that when Ford did the Roof Crush test, It broke the crushing machine.

 

[Slash]

The Monocoque on the Ford GT was so strong that when Ford did the Roof Crush test, It broke the crushing machine.

That was already posted 👍


The McLaren F1 prototype was tested with a Chevy 454 V8 paired to the experimental gearbox.

An Egyptian president once helped build an Arab car called the Frisky.

 

[Badasp5.0]

NASCAR engines are not built buy the company they use. Instead they are rented from Roush who builds them for the intent of using it for one and only 1 race.


NASCAR engines, and GM's LS1 engines are carbon copies of Ford's 351 Cleveland engine.

Nope the heads on the NASCAR Ford V8 are close to Cleveland but the block is a Windsor based peice.

NASCAR V8

Cleveland V8

Notice the difference in the timing cover/waterpump mounting area.

The LS1 does look alot like a Windsor V8 as well.