Model-Year Advances: New Tech for 2015 Including Super-Turbos, Huskier Hemis, and A lot more!

Highlighting the engines, chassis advancements, and a lot more that will mark this automotive year.

Adaptive Steering

Ford and supplier Takata have packed the hardware required to offer widely varying steering ratios into a traditional-looking steering wheel. A DC electric motor slows down or speeds up typical steering-wheel commands by way of a 48:1 reduction gear. Steering quickened by up to 35 % is utilized for low-speed, intense-lock parking maneuvers. At cruising speed, the steering ratio is slowed by a like amount to remove spasmodic lane adjustments. In addition, a selectable sport setting keeps the ratio quick at highway speeds for these uncommon drivers who hold their eyes on the road and hands on the wheel. Ford will start providing its Adaptive Steering program this year, with future applications planned all through its vehicle and light-truck lineup.

20/20 In Hindsight

Each year, far more than 200 fatalities and 15,000 injuries outcome from back-over accidents. Add to that thousands of vehicle-to-auto crashes triggered by blind reversing. Rearview cameras, the most powerful countermeasure (in addition to turning your head), are now in wide use as common or optional gear. Buick is the most current brand to add them across the board at no extra charge for 2015. NHTSA has mandated that all vehicles weighing significantly less than 10,000 pounds be so equipped by 2018, though the expectation is that 70 percent of new models will have them prior to then.

Huskier Hemi

The aptly named Hellcat is the most effective street-legal V-8 ever made by Chrysler. Optional in only the Dodge Challenger SRT trim level of the exact same name, this supercharged and intercooled Hemi delivers 707 horsepower and 650 pound-feet of torque. An IHI blower pumps 11.6 psi of increase via 2 liquid-to-air intercoolers. The cast-iron block supports a forged-steel crankshaft, powder-forged connecting rods, and forged-aluminum pistons. The aluminum heads are heat-treated and fitted with sodium-cooled exhaust valves. The port-fuel-injection system is capable of draining the 18.5-gallon tank in 13 minutes of complete-energy operation.

Burnout Button

Strangely, this one particular wasn’t invented by Tire Rack: Each and every new Ford Mustang GT comes with a hassle-free feature that enables bodacious track and street burnouts. When its driver selects “line lock” in the Track Apps menu, front brakes stay firmly engaged following pedal pressure is released nailing the throttle lights the rear tires. Whole intersections can be filled with smoke, and it’s feasible to burn tread rubber down to the cords, if that is your issue. Just do not ignore the fine print in the owner’s manual: Racing your vehicle will void its warranty.

Belted Suspenders

Dual-clutch automatic transmissions usually dispense with the torque converter to diminish slippage. But Acura’s new front-drive TLX sports sedan combines a 206-hp 2.4-liter inline-4 and an 8-speed dual-clutch automatic with a torque converter positioned in between the engine and the transmission’s clutches. Chief engineer Mat Hargett explains that this arrangement eliminates the jerky really feel identified in some dual-clutch transmissions while also multiplying the torque available at launch. He adds that the TLX’s mileage betters the outgoing model’s by 2 mpg in the city and 4 on the highway in EPA tests.

Lean Machine

In a radical break from suspension convention, the Mercedes-Benz S-class leans into curves like a motorcycle. The car’s Active Body Manage (ABC) camera scans the road up to 49 feet ahead, watching for deviations from a straight path. When a lateral accelerometer confirms enough severity of a turn, the ABC method pumps hydraulic fluid into plungers connected in series with the springs, tilting the physique as significantly as 2.65 degrees into the bend. Slippage across the seat is diminished as if the car have been sweeping through a banked turn. Drivers who prefer typical lean can choose the option comfort- or sport-driving modes.

Superturboexpialidocious

Volvo’s T6 Drive-E 2.-liter engine delivers an exemplary 302 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. Beneath 3500 rpm, a supercharger supplies up to 23.2 pounds of increase. Above that engine speed, the supercharger’s drive clutch disengages, an intake butterfly valve opens, and a turbo requires more than. Made and developed in-house, this light, compact, and fuel-efficient 4-cylinder will surely spread from the S60 and XC60 throughout Volvo’s lineup.

Diesel Do It

VW’s new EA288 2.-liter 4-cylinder turbo-diesel (offered in the Beetle, Golf, Jetta, and Passat) makes use of an unusual architecture to save weight, expense, consumption, and emissions. A new arrangement of the valves in the combustion chamber implies each overhead camshaft operates half the intakes and half the exhausts. The swirl of air flowing into each and every cylinder is thereby elevated, and only one particular cam phaser is needed to alter both intake- and exhaust-valve timing. VW also managed to cut friction by 15 %. Peak output for the new TDI is 150 horsepower (up 10). Manual and automatic Golfs both achieve 31 mpg in EPA city tests, a obtain of a single mpg over the prior diesel.

We Didn’;t Order That Slush

Soon after experimenting with dual-clutch gearbox designs, GM equipped its hottest 2015 model—Chevy’s 650-hp Corvette Z06—with a conventional torque-converter, planetary-gear automatic. Comprised of 4 gearsets and 5 clutches inside an aluminum and magnesium housing, the new 8L90 Hydra-Matic is no bigger than the old 6-speed but is 78 pounds lighter and 5 percent far more fuel efficient. An electronic controller concerns commands 160 instances per second, enabling management of a number of clutches throughout successive downshifts. Variable-force solenoids administer clutch pressure far more accurately than GM’s prior automatics, and shift paddles supply complete manual handle. GM claims this transmission beats the Porsche 911’s dual-clutch upshifts by .08 second.

Free Gas

Nine California filling stations will dispense hydrogen totally free of charge to drivers who lease a Hyundai Tucson fuel-cell vehicle. A 38-gallon tank at the rear of this crossover retailers 12.4 pounds of hydrogen gas at 10,000 psi. The Hyundai-constructed proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell at the front of the car draws in air to react with hydrogen, making electrical energy that’s stored in a .95-kWh lithium-ion battery for use in a 134-hp AC motor. According to Hyundai, the squeaky-clean Tucson will accelerate to 60 mph in about 12 seconds, prime out at 100 mph, and provide 265 miles of range when driven sanely.

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Model-Year Advances: New Tech for 2015 Including Super-Turbos, Huskier Hemis, and A lot more!