High End Luxury Cars

24700 messages, Last post on Dec 01, 2009 at 12:24 PM

You are in the Sedans Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens

What is this discussion about? Audi A8, BMW 7 Series, Jaguar XJ-Series, Lexus LS 460, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, Volkswagen Phaeton, Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes-Benz CL-Class, Sedan

Let's try to define this forum as being limited to luxury performance vehicles where the mainstream version in a typical configuration has an MSRP of at least $60k.

A luxury vehicle with a base price of $59k qualifies because it would typically be bought with some additional equipment, bringing the MSRP over $60k.

Vehicles like the E, 5, A6, M, or GS, even if available in certain versions over $60k, don't qualify because they are cars from companies that have higher end cars in their lineups.

Outline

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#4412 of 24700 by merc1 Mar 11, 2004 (5:56 am)
Don't forget that a Buick is more technically advanced and has controls that are much easier to operate than all of that German junk. Buicks rule. M
#4413 of 24700 RX400h by syswei Mar 11, 2004 (6:07 am)
I got an email, and Lexus is saying only 270hp (vs 230 for the RX330). I presume that they are tuning more for torque and mpg in the RX400h, as compared to the Italdesign sportscar shown at Geneva. They do talk about "4-cylinder family sedan fuel consumption figures combined with ultra low CO2 emissions for a SUV". Lastly, they say it is CVT, which is news to me. I thought it was technically difficult to do CVT with a heavy vehicle and more than a 2 liter or so engine, so this seems impressive.
#4414 of 24700 syswei by shipo Mar 11, 2004 (6:11 am)
Audi has been doing CVT for several years in heavier cars with larger engines. Best Regards Shipo
#4415 of 24700 shipo by syswei Mar 11, 2004 (6:17 am)
Thanks, I guess my info was very dated!
#4416 of 24700 CVT? by lexus0622 Mar 11, 2004 (11:21 am)
OK, let's help out the uninformed a bit. What does CVT mean?
#4417 of 24700 CVT info by prattster Mar 11, 2004 (11:36 am)
http://www.nissan-global.com/GCC/Japan/NEWS/19991001_0e.html This should explain it somewhat. Basically the trans. gears are gone and replaced with a much smoother belt shift. The new Murano has it currently and some Audi's. Honda first had in the 96' Civic but the new units are high torque units that Nissan debuted first in the article.
#4418 of 24700 CVT by shipo Mar 11, 2004 (11:40 am)
CVT = Continuously Variable Transmission = No Gears Gear ratios are approximated by running one or more parallel "V" belts between paired grooved wheel sets, two on the powered side and two on the driven side per belt, which can independently and dynamically change their amount of separation, thus allowing infinite gear ratios between two preset extremes. For simplicities sake, I will attempt to illustrate how it actually works using only one belt and wheel set. Picture how the gearing works on your typical multi-speed mountain bike; three gear rings in front, and anywhere from six to nine gears in the rear cluster. Using the smallest front gear and the largest rear gear gives the greatest power at the expense of speed. Using the largest front and the smallest rear yields the greatest speed at the expense of power, everything else is somewhere in the middle. With a CVT, the front and rear wheel sets are cut on a bias forming a "V" groove. Both the front and rear wheel sets can change their distance from each other, which forces the "V" belt to ride higher or lower in said grooves, thus changing the gear ratio. I hope this helps. Best Regards, Shipo P.S. It looks like Prattster beat me to the punch as it were.
#4420 of 24700 Ok, who hacked in to Merc1's user? by mfullmer Mar 11, 2004 (12:51 pm)
Did something drastic happen or are you jibing us with that "German junk." statement? On the other hand, Buick is doing something different than other GM makes. I had a 1998 Buick Century that I put 56k miles on over 3 years and never had one warranty related dealer stop. Yes, the car was nothing to be admired for but then again, I couldn't have cared less about what people thought about my vehicle. Great, great vehicle. If it came with things that the higher end cars come with I'd be driving an '04 right now.
#4421 of 24700 CVT Challenged No More! by lexus0622 Mar 11, 2004 (3:21 pm)
prattster/shipo: Thank you, both, for the newly found information. shipo: Your bicycle analogy was right on until I got to the "cut on a bias forming a 'V' grove" part. That stopped me for a few moments while I tried to visualize the wheel sets going from defined gears to something more akin to a gradient, so that changes in the distance between the wheel sets resulted in the belt sliding up or down the V groove. Well, I was able to see that dynamic eventually. It may not reflect the reality of what happens mechanically, but I think I got the idea, and can see how a smoother "gear shift" results. Thanks again, folks!