Quote:
Originally Posted by cosmick
So much to comment on there. The Prius is a lousy reference because it's 1.5L is an old design that was relatively inefficient even when new.
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How so? The Prius,
and the scads of other cars that use late-valve-closing, simulated-Atkinson cycle, are not actually Atkinson cycle engines (four strokes in one crankshaft revolution) or Miller cycle engines (
which use a supercharger), and function on exactly the same principle as the Hot Rod article engine you're searching for. Someone above asked why this technology didn't "go anywhere"--the answer is, it
did.
It is even used in high-performance cars today.
Also, the 1NZ-FXE was a clean-sheet design in the mid-90s, and efficient enough that Toyota still uses it in the current Prius C.