Hyundai Santa-Fe
Following on the news that Hyundai is returning
to Thailand, and that the Santa-Fe SUV will be in the line-up, I
researched this model through GoAuto in Australia, who began their
test writing, “The new 3.3 liter V6 Santa Fe provides more evidence
the South Korean brand must be taken seriously.”
 Hyundai
Santa-Fe
On its own, the 3.3 Santa Fe is an impressive machine. This engine
is a big step forward from the 2.7 V6, which will meet the needs for
many on a budget, but effectively has power and torque levels of
smaller capacity four-cylinders which use less fuel. The new 3.3
works well with the standard five-speed automatic, with subtle gear
changes going largely unnoticed.
The 3.3 engine is very quiet at idle and remains quite composed even
when revved fairly hard. The 3.3 Santa Fe we tested at last week’s
launch also rode and handled quite well. It provided a quite
comfortable ride and although it will never be confused with a
sportscar, didn’t lean too much in the turns either. Steering is
well-weighted and there is no sign of rack rattle that can sometimes
spoil a front-driver.
 Santa-Fe
rear
The seats are comfortable and supportive and there is plenty of head
and legroom, though it is quite cramped in the optional third row of
seats, which Hyundai advises are best only used for pre-teens.
All in all, this looks as if it could gain a sizable following in
this country; however, it will be up against the Chevrolet Captiva,
which has been around now for the past few months and does have a
head start. There is also a diesel engined version of the Santa-Fe
and I think it would be a good move to bring this one in as well.
The Fortuner diesel variant has shown the popularity of the diesels
as the price of petrol continues to go up.
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Autotrivia Quiz
Quiz Car
Last week I wrote that in 1901 an enterprising British
manufacturer built a four wheeled car with one wheel at the front and one at the
rear and one on each side. I asked what was this car called? Clue: think Japan!
The answer was a Sunbeam, and the connection with Japan was that the
manufacturer of the Sunbeam marque, John Marston, started off making enamel and
tinware goods (called ‘japanned’ in those days). The lozenge layout was not
successful!
So to this week. Look carefully at this car. What is it? Clue: 1978, so it is
not a smart.
For the Automania FREE beer this week, be the first correct answer to email
automania@chiangmai-mail.com.
Good luck!
The Wankel story
When Dr. Felix Wankel began his development of his revolutionary rotary
engine in 1951, he was not to envisage the lasting effect his engine would
have in world engine technology history. From passenger cars, to racing
cars, planes and motorcycles and even snowmobiles, the Wankel rotary has
made its mark. However, even though he was the originator, he was not the
one to make it work.
 Dr.
Felix Wankel
Dr. Wankel began development of the engine at NSU, where he first showed his
rotary engine in 1954. The first working prototype was running on February 1,
1957 at the NSU research and development department, and despite this head
start, NSU were not the only manufacturers to use it. In actual fact, the number
of manufacturers that have used rotaries will amaze you.
In 1959, Curtis-Wright in the US started building Wankel rotaries under license,
but the development was slow, because the market did not immediately take to
this departure from conventional design. In Britain, in the 1960s, Rolls Royce
Motor Car Division at Crewe, Cheshire, pioneered a two-stage diesel version of
the Wankel engine. Also in Britain, Norton Motorcycles developed a Wankel rotary
engine for motorcycles, which was included in their Commander and F1. However,
it was Japanese motorcycle manufacturer Suzuki which is most remembered for a
production motorcycle with a Wankel engine, the RE-5. In 1971 and 1972 Arctic
Cat produced snowmobiles powered by 303cc Wankel rotary engines manufactured by
Sachs in Germany. John Deere Inc, in the US, had a major research effort in
rotary engines and designed a version which was capable of using a variety of
fuels without changing the engine. The design was proposed as the power source
for several US Marine combat vehicles in the late 1980s.
However, returning to the automotive market, it is often thought that the first
mass production vehicle with Dr. Wankel’s engine was the NSU Ro80 in 1967, the
car that really finished NSU! The Wankel engine did everything it was supposed
to do, as far as smoothness and power was concerned, but it was hopelessly
unreliable, compared to a normal reciprocating engine. In most instances, it was
the rotor tip seals that gave way, and the Ro80 sank into obscurity, and sank
NSU as well, with NSU being gobbled up by VW in 1969.
What happened with the Wankel engine was that the tip seals would wear, thus
lowering the effective compression, just like very worn piston rings do in a
normal reciprocating engine. This was occurring around 25,000 km, with owners
complaining of lack of power and difficulty in starting and then becoming very
smokey. NSU did honor their warranty and supplied new engines as the seals wore
out. Popular rumour has it that when Ro80 owners saw each other, they didn’t
wave, but held up fingers to indicate the number of engines they had replaced.
NSU built 37,204 Ro80’s, and goodness knows how many engines!
There were other cars and manufacturers as well, including Citroën with the M35
and GS Birotor, using engines produced by Comotor, and abortive attempts by
General Motors and Mercedes-Benz to design Wankel-engine automobiles (including
the record breaking C111 concept), but the only company that really took the
Wankel and made it work was Mazda. In fact, Mazda brought out their rotary Cosmo
sports car in 1966, before the NSU Ro80, despite that popular notion that NSU
were the first.
Mazda progressed with the design and in 1991, the Mazda four rotor 787B made
motor sport history when it became the first Japanese car to claim victory at
the Le Mans 24 hour endurance race. In recognition of this outstanding
technological development, the FIA promptly banned rotary engines from competing
at Le Mans! So much for the level playing field approach!
In 2003, Mazda introduced the RENESIS engine with the new RX-8. The RENESIS
engine relocated the ports for exhaust and intake from the periphery of the
rotary housing to the sides, allowing for larger overall ports, better airflow,
and further power gains. The RENESIS is capable of delivering 250 hp from its
1.3 liter nominal displacement at better fuel economy, reliability, and
environmental friendliness than any other Mazda rotary engine in history. In
fact, Britain’s specialist technology magazine, Engine Technology International,
awarded the RENESIS its coveted International Engine of the Year award in 2003
as well as successive awards for its engine class in 2003 and 2004, to show its
high regard for this engine.
The twin rotor Wankel designs are now becoming very popular in the private
aviation field, with small aircraft which used to use reciprocating engines,
such as the ubiquitous VW, turning to 12A and 13B Mazda rotary engines. It was
the pilots of the rotary engined planes that dubbed the piston engined flyers as
‘reciprosaurs’!
Dr. Felix Wankel certainly gets the kudos for the original design, but it took
Japanese technology to make the thing work!
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