Mazda’s keeping ICE on the road – Fleet Voice
Wednesday 7 December 2011. Fleet Voice Column.
What do you reckon will be the fuel of the future? Hydrogen, electricity, hybrid power plants, pixie dust? Well, if you’re one of Mazda’s gifted boffins, the future looks quite similar to the present.
Before anyone gets up a posse to go a witch huntin’ for environmental change deniers, Mazda’s engineers and scientists have a very compelling argument. They firmly believe, and have plenty of evidence to back it up, that internal combustion engines (ICEs) have a great deal more to give.
At present, the best ICEs manage is about 20% efficiency. This means only one fifth of the energy created by the engine goes to driving the wheels, which means the rest is wasted in one way or another as noise, heat or friction.
If any of our businesses worked at a mere 20% efficiency, we’d all be out of a job toute suite. This is why Mazda has been looking at ways of improving the ICEs before sloshing it out with the bathwater as many other companies seem to want to do as they pursue other energy avenues.
We’ve spoken before in this column about Mazda’s Skyactiv programme that seeks to combine as many energy-enhancing ideas into one package as possible. However, I don’t think many of us have yet truly grasped what a significant shift this represents in car design.
Massive achievement
Back in 2007 when Mazda first announced its intention to lower the weight of every car in its range by 100kg, we all thought it was a nice goal and then moved on to the next news story.
Think about, though, and shedding 100kg from every new model is a massive achievement when existing cars were already being built to be as light as possible to counter ever increasing demands from safety, comfort and luxury items. When BMW or Ferrari shave 100kg from a high performance model, add a catchily sporty title and jack up the price, we all coo and say how clever they are and how weight is the enemy of performance.
Well, what Mazda is not just trying but achieving is all the more impressive because it doesn’t have the get-out clause of extreme performance to excuse increased noise and poorer refinement. To drop 100kg and still retain or even improve refinement is a much greater ambition, and one Mazda is meeting.
The evidence for this is neatly wrapped up in one car: the CX-5. This is Mazda’s all-new SUV-cum-crossover competitor to take on the likes of the Nissan Qashqai and Toyota RAV-4, and it incorporates all of Mazda’s Skyactiv tech so far.
From it i-Start automatic stop/start through to lightweight engines that have world-beating compression ratios. This latter might sound dry and technical, but it’s worth remembering the Mazda CX-5′s petrol engine has the highest compression ratio, at 14:1, of any petrol engine in the world.
Such a high compression ratio allows the engine to burn its fuel more efficiently and cleanly, and release more power from the fuel. Mazda says it has now achieved a 30% efficiency from the engine, an improvement of 50% in one stroke over most other petrol motors.
To do this and not need any post-combustion treatment for harmful nitrogen oxide gases and comply with EU6 emissions regulation is nothing short of a spectacular engineering achievement.
Nothing short of superb
In the same vein, Mazda has also lowered the compression ratio of its new diesel engine for the CX-5 to 14:1, which again makes it the leader in its field by being lower than any other turbodiesel motor. Again, it helps the engine to be more efficient and cleaner, which is all good news for consumers.
The 2.0-litre petrol engine in the CX-5 produces 162bhp and offers 163bhp and 155lb.ft of torque to comfortably put it ahead of most rivals. Opt for the 2.2 turbodiesel, as most UK customers will, and you’ll benefit from 148- or 172bhp versions that offer 62.6mpg in the less powerful engine and 119g/km. Figures for the more powerful diesel are yet to be confirmed.
These economy and emissions figures would be impressive in a small hatch and decent for a supermini, but in a compact SUV they are nothing short of superb. It means company drivers will be able to enjoy all of the style and practicality of a crossover vehicle with none of the financial penalties many of us have to suffer for the use of these cars.
Best of all, the Mazda CX-5 is not just worthy but also very good to drive. A brief spell in some pre-production models tells this columnist that refinement is among the best in class, the handling is every bit as sharp and agile as we’d hope for from a Mazda, and the new engines are not just eager, but smooth and quiet.
‘Soul of Motion’
While they’ve been at it, Mazda’s engineers have also made the CX-5 massively spacious, given it a large boot and made the driving position brilliantly comfortable.
Naturally, this would not be a Japanese car if there wasn’t a name for all of this design philosophy and Mazda has hatched the name ‘Kodo’, which means ‘Soul of Motion’ in Japanese. The idea is to bring together every element of the car and harmonise it with every other factor. On the strength of the CX-5, Mazda is hitting its mark with great clarity and accuracy.
Just as importantly for us company car drivers, Kodo design is being used to inform every part of the design of the new Mazda6, a car that is crucial to Mazda’s continued development as a relatively small car company competing with the world’s largest auto makers.
After seeing the Takeri concept car at the Tokyo Motor Show last week [that swanky red thing up there], I can confirm it is not only breathtakingly pretty, it’s also very close to the finished article. Mazda insiders say the Takeri is all but the production-ready new Mazda6, other than some of the glitzy addenda fitted to give it a suitably concept car feel for the motor show stand.
We have no reason to doubt this information, so we are in for a real treat when the new Mazda6 appears in 2012. Not only will it be stunningly good looking, it will also use the same technology at the CX-5 to slash emissions and fuel consumption to put the Mazda6 at the very top of its class. We already know Mazda builds cars that are great to drive, so the signs are the Mazda6 could well be in contention for class best honours.
All of this and not a hybrid or electric motor in sight. It’s all managed with the good and not at all old fashioned internal combustion engine. Mazda is to be warmly applauded for mentioning the huge elephant in the design and development room by reintroducing the concept of a car with an accepted form of propulsion brought bang up to date.
It bodes well for all of our futures and shows there is considerable life in the ICEs yet. The future of the engine may look similar to the present at Mazda, but you can bet there is plenty more to come from this innovative firm.
Alisdair Suttie
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