"Robert J. Bradbury" wrote:
> On Sun, 9 Dec 2001, James Rogers wrote:
>
> > It is a lot cheaper to own a
> > truck that can do everything reasonably well that I would want a truck for
> > than to own two or three that are optimized for every task. >
>
> Actually, didn't one manufacturer at one point have a V8 that turned off
> two cylinders when the power was not required? (BMW?) Robert
GM experimented with this too. They had a V8 which turned off
4 cylinders under light loads, then would add in 2 more then the
remaining 2 under high demand. Kinda sounds good but did not
work out well in practice. Thermal equilibrium must have been
illusive for such an engine.
A more promising approach is hybrid technology and variable
valve timing. spike
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