SKYACTIV-X

When this thing goes into regular production Mazda is going to dominate the automotive industry right?

youtube.com/watch?v=RBlBrxT-Xy4

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motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/ID/4611/Nerd-Alert-Mazdas-Skyactiv-X-Engine.aspx
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Oh god it's rotary all over again. Mazda makes the best engine and somehow all the other manufactures do some magic thing that makes them useless. Fuck.

>tfw SKYACTIV-R

To be fair other than Apex Seals and reliability issues the main problem with the Rotary was emissions and fuel economy in the backdrop of US regulations and rising oil prices. Specifically the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo was the primary catalyst and this also caused GM to abandon their plan to build their own rotary, which in turn cause the AMC Pacer team to panic as they rushed to fit an existing engine into a body built ad hoc for a nonexistent motor.

Skyactiv-X is less radical than the rotary, it's just a standard ICE that Mazda claims to be dramatically more efficient in every aspect. Assuming there are no major drawbacks or reliability issues, Mazda's biggest competition going forward would be EVs if you ask me.

>brock donuts
>not dorritos

Pretty sure it'll sell more in fly over states if they relabel it as "Inver-HEMI", that might save them some yen when the recall notices start piling up.

So what are the tradeoffs? Will the next Miata be a godmachine when they put this engine in it?

>Mazda 6 with a properly nice engine in it

I love that mazda is innovating like this, but the thought of working on one of these scares me about as much as most germanshit

These are issues Mazda has supposedly solved but the big one is ensuing that hand-off from spark plug to compression ignition is seamless so the gas doesn't fail to ignite, compression ignition requires a small temp range. Too hot, engine knock as the cylinders can fire out of sequence, too cold and you get ignition problems. Other than that there might be some added complexity in the engine design itself as well as the ECU programming.

Mazda says it's absolutely going into production in 2019, as part of the "Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030" road map which is quite possibly the most amazing name for anything. In theory there are no major downsides assuming the compression ignition is solid and reliable.

If it's successful we'll most likely see the current ND or a 5th gen NE Miata get the upgrade treatment. Same displacement and engine size but with higher compression ratios, leaner Air/Fuel mixtures meaning the engine is more efficient while putting out more power.

Are there any current production cars from the last 5 years that aren't a total pain in the ass to work on? I'm sure something repair friendly exists but most newer cars are approaching human circulatory system complexity.

>Are there any current production cars from the last 5 years that aren't a total pain in the ass to work on?
I'm honestly not sure, I've never even had fuel injection on any of my cars let alone compression ignition doo dads

This is what's under the hood of a 2017 Ford Fiesta, one of the cheapest and most basic economy cars you can buy in America. While this may be an overly broad generalization the mainstream automotive industry as a whole is not concerned in the slightest with user serviceability of their cars beyond a few brands that build in space for tuners on specific models. Modern fuel injected engines are incapable of functioning properly without computers, while the primary design concerns after the basic things like performance and economy is efficient packaging for design and manufacturing, but not necessarily for serviceability, especially for the end user. It just simply isn't a priority.

Even stripping out all the modern convinces along with anything not running the engine you are still left with an extremely complicated setup to navigate if you intend to work on it. Almost every single commercially produced anything is done in CAD these days, meaning everything is hyper-optimized for space/weight efficiency, which isn't a bad thing per say but we live in a very disposable culture that has been dramatically exacerbated since the 50s, almost to the level of Brave New World if you ask me.

By far the biggest problem with these cars is everything you have no hope of fixing yourself. Imagine you're in a design shop with a team of professionals and every manufacturing system known to man, you can practically fabricate anything. However, what you can't replicate is the proprietary software that runs a lot of aspects of modern cars, though the extent varies by brand. In computer terminology these systems are black boxes, walled gardens that are encrypted and only accept software that was produced by the original manufacturer, and even if their security is easy to bypass, some manufactures may choose to come after you legally by claiming you're violating copyright and IP laws by modifying, copying, or accessing software that is necessary in part or full to operate an appliance you own outright.

This is going to be a big upcoming fight down the line as more and more of these systems continue to fail with no manufacture support. That culture of disposability permeates; ask any auto maker what their long term support plans are for infotainment and software based control systems are and they'll tell you they have none, and these systems are increasing more integrated into the cars basic functions.

As a personal example my family has a 2004 Odyssey with nearly 260k miles on the clock. It has a GPS navigation system that while amazing at the time is horribly outdated in the age of smartphones. However it functions as the controls for the HVAC direction, manual A/C on/off, and manual fan speed. That system runs off of a DVD reader under the passenger seat, and uses a disc for the actual static road maps. Honda made newer versions for updated maps but we were informed by the dealer there was a possibility that could brick the whole system and we decided against bothering.

Fast forward and the player itself has failed, I can't eject the disc or make it do much of anything really. So what the screen does now is display a big yellow annoying warning message telling you to take the car back to the dealer. But even if you bothered there's a problem made evident by a recent event where all Acuras and Hondas with this specific Nav system has their clocks hit 0:00 earlier this year with no way to fix them or even troubleshoot on the user end. Even the dealers had no fix because the programming and design team was long gone by this point, and while I think Honda originally figured out a fix, I don't know if there's anything to do about ours since based on the info they want the system has to be functional in some capacity to rectify this issue.

The most annoying part is that yellow notice overrides a manual shutdown of the screen, the only way to get off of it is to stay on the A/C controls screen. While not having a clock isn't the end of the world, it's a omen of things to come. All of these systems are ticking time bombs of entropy and obsolesce.

A great example of "free complexity" fucking consumers over.
For the designers, making the complex system they did was not any more difficult than making an old school setup with separate controls - the low-level stuff doesn't cost them any effort because they can work with pre-made abstractions for communication and control.
But the consumer, who does not have the original design data, is liable to get shafted when something goes wrong because one bad component can lead to the failure or impairment of a bunch of systems.

Imagine the sound...
>WHUMWHUMWHUM of a diesel
>BRRRRRRRRRRRR of a gas engine

Only until fhere's open source Freevalve. Now that shit will truly make an impact
>add E-charger
>HCCI when on cruise control / autonomous mode
>lower friction materials
>50/60%+ thermal efficiency
My body is ready

>other than Apex Seals and reliability issues the main problem with the Rotary was emissions and fuel economy

Er, those are 4 pretty big issues. Just sayin.

The biggest problem will be public perception, as the average pleb still sees electric cars as cleaner and "the future"

What's the difference between freevalve and solenoid controlled valves?

I honestly cant wait for this to become a thing. Mazda also said they are working on a diesel engine. I never though Id be considering a Mazda for my next car.

Its coming in either the 2019 or 2020 model year Mazda 3. No word about other models, or the 2.5L yet.

Who would buy the first models of this? Don't know about you, but I don't want to be the beta tester of any first gen engine tech.

Thats basically what Free Valve is. They're just electrically controlled solenoids that they have total control over the timing of.

Some good, and likely, accurate speculation on how all the Skyactiv X stuff works. Great read.

motoiq.com/MagazineArticles/ID/4611/Nerd-Alert-Mazdas-Skyactiv-X-Engine.aspx

>"Sustainable Zoom-Zoom 2030"

Kawaii sugoi Japanese desu
Its even funnier when you hear their president speak in English, hes the epitome of the adorable little businessman.
The 2030 date is noteworthy though. Around 2025 they're going to be releasing another newer Skyactiv iteration which they seem to think will achieve peak thermal efficiency of a gasoline engine. It'll be the last hurrah of ICE before absolutely everything on the market is a hybrid.

This is why I like Mazda.

freevalve + HCCI + variable geometry twin-scroll w/ external wastegates = my dick

I believe they're using a supercharger on upcoming models. I'm really curious as to just how much power they can make. The new 2.0L is going to be 190hp in the Mazda 3, and its been tested independently just shy of 40mpg in that 3,000lb car. The figures of the SPCCI 2.5L could be really impressive, the 2.5L turbo is already very respectable.

I wonder how long it will take them to get a super fast gear box like the high end PDK.

Bruh they fuckin supercharged it. No need for turbos.

Superchargers are literally nigger-tier American little dick trash. Why has Japan failed so bad?

Modern twin screw compressors are fucking incredible.

Isnt this the same thing as a hemi?

Not even remotely.

you sure?
Im just talking about them having a round cylinder head

The supercharger is how they achieve their dynamically variable compression ratio, dickhead.

I sure hope they start developing electric cars or they will the meme car manufacturer that still bets on ice.

AND AND AND DIRECT DRIVE FOR LESS POWER LOSES

>YWN own a rotary pacer

>It'll be the last hurrah of ICE

Hot vapor engine or riot.

No because majority of consumers are badgewhores and Mazda isn't muh perceived premium.

Just look how VW swindles idiots with audi, Mazda needs to learn some tricks.

I wish. Seems Mazda is going to be stuck as a niche brand, even though they are more popular these days with their new Kodo cars

The human circulatory system is actually pretty straight forward

why would they

Dude electronics are more reliable than older systems. They may be more complex but they hardly ever go wrong, not unless the manufacturer is full retard
They look complicated, but plug a computer in and a sensor will tell you exact what's wrong. No more hunting for vacuum hose leaks
Another part is having the right tools, but even those can be had cheap. Just read the service manuals. You can get then from techs at a dealership

Source: I work on a newer S class with literal miles of wiring

the 6 is getting an optional 2.5l turbo. Its a shame that they only make 4 cylinders engine but I think that lexus use something similar to skymeme in their v8s and GM tried to make engines with 17:1 compression but they couldn't pass emissions.

Infiniti has a new engine coming out with variable compression, it can change from 8:1 to 14:1.

>not unless the manufacturer is full retard
That’s exactly the problem.

I would love to see you have a chat with Scotty Kilmer.

but people who buy mazdas don't want plastic waterpumps if they did they would just buy a VW since the golf is apparently a straight upgrade to the mazda 3.

Kek he's a boomer who thinks a warning telling him that a bulb burned out is a bad thing
Shit I think my 1998 Lexus Camry did the same thing

You have a point there

the only nissans worth owning are the ones that eat oil

Context was
>Mazda makes the best engine and somehow all the other manufactures do some magic thing that makes them useless.

Pre-73 Mazda's Rotary was a serious competitor to the inline and V engines of that era despite it's problems. Mazda and the tuners were able to fix almost all the reliability issues down the line but by that time fuel economy and emissions regulations killed the RX-8.

It's important to remember that between the rising gas prices along with safety and emissions regulations every automaker struggled in some capacity to keep up, and it's for this reason early 70s cars are not remember that fondly.

The Miata ND is a dream car of mine and if I could afford it by the time this engine made it into the roadster I'd seriously consider it as long as Mazda had a serious power train warranty.

It's part of their roadmap. Assuming Fisker and the other firms working on Solid state batteries will licence and/or sell stable tech soon that's where Mazda should be, bypassing Lithium Ion batteries altogether.

they're going to lose their ass with recalls.

who knows

Actually being garbage is what killed the rotary.

>new Mazda Connect
Please let it be android auto/apple Carplay

Somehow I doubt that