You have probably heard the old line about there being no replacement for displacement. It meant that f you wanted more power – and more performance – you wanted a bigger engine. The muscle car thing was based on this idea.
Things change – and for interesting reasons.
Hybrid drivetrains were developed chiefly as compliance systems. The hybrid system made it possible to put what would otherwise be an engine too small for a given size (and weight) vehicle into a vehicle and also to turn it off as often as possible. The hybrid’s battery pack and electric motor (sometimes, two) added the power – on demand – that would otherwise be lacking due to the downsizing of the engine and powered the vehicle’s secondary systems, such as the AC and electrical accessories, when the engine wasn’t running. This boosted the vehicle’s fuel economy and that helped ease compliance pressure. Specifically, the pressure applied by the federal regulatory apparat to eke ever-higher-fuel-economy out of every type of vehicle manufactured. This is a very important point that deserves a little elaboration.
It is not enough – for the government – that a vehicle manufacturer manufactures fuel-efficient vehicles. As in some of them. Compliance pressure is applied to all of them, which is why there is this ridiculous business of putting hybrid drivetrains in high-priced luxury vehicles (viz, the Lexus LX700h I reviewed recently) as well as trucks and other such vehicles that are so expensive to buy that any assertion that money is being “saved” on account of the higher-mileage of the hybrid drivetrain is preposterous. A person who want to save money buys a less expensive vehicle, which will save him money even if it uses more gas than a more expensive hybrid.
Is it necessary to italicize this to make the point? Oy vey!
But this has created a dilemma for vehicle manufacturers, especially the high-end brands. How to justify the added cost of the hybrid drivetrains that they’ve pretty much had to resort to in order to ease compliance pressure? The answer is as simple as it is ingenious:
Use the hybrid drivetrain to increase power and performance without increasing displacement!
Here the italics are worth using.
I’ll use the LX700h mentioned already to make the point. This full-size SUV is Lexus’ top-of-the-line model; it’s base price is well into the six figures. Anyone who can afford to spend $100k-plus on an SUV does not care – more finely, does not have to care – about what he’s spending on gas. If he does, then he’s innumerate; a kind of moron, too. It would be like fussing over the cost of the liquor in the mini-bar in a $500/night hotel room.
But people who can afford to spend $100k-plus on an SUV do like getting more power/performance. The problem there – insofar as the vehicle manufacturers are concerned – is that the old expedient, offering a larger (and so more powerful) engine isn’t tenable anymore, even in high-end/high-priced vehicles, due to the compliance costs. Not just the costs imposed on that particular vehicle – which could be absorbed by the people who buy expensive vehicles – but generally.
Every “noncompliant” vehicle a given manufacturer offers for sale drags down the fleet average fuel economy of the entire line of vehicles that manufacturer offers for sale and that – via fines for this “noncompliance” – raises the cost of selling all the vehicles a given manufacturer offers for sale. Just one 12 MPG Lexus LX570 – the V8-powered predecessor of the current LX700h – is a liability for Lexus (and Toyota) generally. That is why Lexus nixed the 5.7 liter V8 that was formerly standard in the LX570 and replaced it with a 3.4 liter V6, augmented by hybrid drive.
The hybrid significantly increases the power output of the drivetrain without resorting to a bigger-engined drivetrain; there’s also a slight fuel economy boost, but it’s trivially small (a 2 MPG gain – in “city” driving). The sell, therefore, is not fuel efficiency but power and performance without incurring compliance costs.
Of course, it still costs – in the sense that hybrid-augmenting any drivetrain adds several thousand bucks to the buy-in cost of the vehicle. But that was also true – back in the day – when the way to get more power and better performance was to pay extra for a bigger engine.
Put another way, speed is still a question of money. How fast do you want to go?
. . .
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“Ucon jack” you recently recommended “No More News.” I think Adam Green is a double agent. For a while he was exposing “Jews/Zionism,” but then moved on to exposing Christianity as a Jewish psyop. I just checked him out again because of your “recommendation” to find that now that tiktok has been bought by Jews, Adam Green is running tiktok clips of black people. He’s got a new 70/30 rule. Starting at 1:42:59 he has a string of blacks supposedly posting on tiktok that they are going to steal groceries from walmart since their EBT payments are being cut off due to the government shut down. These videos seem over the top to me and I’m wondering if the new jew owners of tiktok are posting FAKE videos to start a race war and tipping off their Adam Green double agents to play them. I prefer the Chinese owners of Tiktok.
https://odysee.com/@KnowMoreNews:1/Prince-of-Peace,-Alex-Jones-Seething,-Tommy's-Israel-Trip,-EBT-Canceled—Know-More-News—Adam-Green:7
In this video, Green even asks if “we” are being AI’d because Tiktok has two different black “pastors” saying same lines verbatim about Gold Bentley. @1:47:00 and 1:50:00
https://odysee.com/@KnowMoreNews:1/Tucker-Takes-Questions,-Ted-Cruz-at-CUFI,-Israel-'Above-the-Nations'—Know-More-News—Adam-Green:7
https://www.distractify.com/p/did-israel-buy-tiktok
https://tsionizm.com/business/2025/09/27/netanyahu-says-israel-must-use-tik-tok-to-secure-american-base-wants-elons-x-to-give-direction-to-non-jewish-friends/
“The revelation about the Jewish state’s influencer scheme follows earlier exposed Israeli influence operations, including a $2 million Ministry of Diaspora Affairs initiative in 2024 that utilized hundreds of fake accounts to target U.S. lawmakers, particularly Black Democrats, encouraging continued military funding for Israel, as the New York Times reported.
The timing of Israel’s influencer scheme coincides with the U.S. government-backed deal transferring TikTok operations to an American consortium led by Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, a Netanyahu ally and major Israeli military donor.”
https://headlineusa.com/benjamin-netanyahu-admits-israel-pays-influencers-7000-per-post/
More torque and horsepower – check
Better gas mileage – check
Increased complexity leading to higher purchase price and maintenance or replacement in the future – check
The idea is interesting but I want some long term data to see if it is worth the investment.
Somewhat related note, I saw a youtube video about 0W20 vs 5W30 oil. The 0W20 helps with cold weather starts, but (key) provides better fuel economy! Albeit marginally. However, with CAFE standards creeping, a 1 to 2 mpg boost across the entire fleet really helps those numbers. The indictment against 0W20 is specifically that at high revs, high loads, etc. the oil thins out and there is (more) metal-to-metal contact than the 5W30. So long run, 5W30 is better for longevity. I’ll take no engine replacement over a lifetime of 1-2 mpg less all day!
It’s not hard to figure out it’s a scam when a global manufacturer has different recommendations by country. For example, a Subaru that is made in Japan but sent to the USA gets a 0W20 recommendation while the same engine sent to Australia or Austria says 5W30. They are not using different manufacturing tolerances and it’s not an ambient temperature difference. The idea that it’s because the US engines are “tighter” or any of that is bull. It’s 100% CAFE. They only need to last until the warranty is up and that’s exactly what you’re seeing with 5, 10 year old Subarus with engine failures. The oil is sufficient to run for a while but they are wearing out faster.
That’s a good point.
That’s probably why Toyota’s 4.0 V6 truck engine, which calls for 5W-30 oil, easily last 300,000 miles, while their 4 cylinder car engines are done at 75,000 miles, which call for 0W-20 oil,.
That and the fact that in truck applications, 4.0’s run at the high side of 2000 RPM about 0.5% of the time.
This may explain the 2 pressure oil pump in my V6 Grand Cherokee. Lower RPMs the oil pressure is in the 30s, get near 3000 it jumps to 72. Thin oil, high pressure to save the bearings at higher RPM. A (finally) useful feature in the LCD dash is selectable readouts for the vitals: oil pressure, volts, trans oil temp and engine oil temp.
If they were serous about increasing fuel economy they would lower speed limits back to 55 mph, but since their not they just make cars unaffordable and expect you to ride in one those rolling homeless shelters otherwise known as a bus. Since most people aren’t very interested in being killed by a ghetto rat you can see why people who can a afford a car drive.
Somebody posted a link for a 52 mile 1977 Newport (last bid $2800) which would make a nice daily driver for not much money. Heck throw in an overdrive tranny and it would be even better. Send a message to GovCo and drive cars so old chances are it will be the only one like it around.
This is totally off topic:
It’s turned cold in my neck of Dixie. 43′ when I got up. The last few mornings, the pressure monitor, which I don’t want, in the daily mover flashes warnings about how all four tires are low. You’d think it’d be easy to make a hash table of temp-to-pressure by tire type for the rolling iphone to consume such that it wouldn’t be so defeatist.
This tech for the sake of tech nonsense is out of control.
Im in Alaska and my TPMS batteries are dead, at least in my summer tires. Driving around with the tire light on all summer did not bother me. It just irritates me to know that it will cost over 200 bucks to replace them when I also replace the summer tires next time around. Tech for the sake of tech alright.
34 degrees this morning in the subarctic. It will warm to 43 today. Y’all down there cookin in the South.
Check aftermarket TPMS replacements I’ve used Dorman on a 05 Jeep Grand Cherokee and a 09 Acura MDX. About 120 for the set of four via Amazon.
No programming, both rigs sync’d the new sensors in about 3 blocks driving at 25mph. Good quality stems, follow directions for instl nut torque, tire shop didn’t and I had to use my inch lb torque wrench to fix .
Ive even had great luck with the crap off Ebay, set of 4 for $40-50. And they do automatically pick up and synch. Now if I could only get my old Coats to break down these ridiculous 20 inch tires…
Thanks for the heads up. I will definitely look into it!
Does your system use a 5th sensor in the spare? Some vehicles do and I’ve found that a lot of the time that’s the one that is the headache in the winter since it never warms up beyond ambient since it doesn’t get any heat from driving or the sun.
I usually set my spare to be higher since the TPMS system usually has more high side headroom than low side. The system might trigger on one tire being 10% lower than the next lowest but it might take one being 25% higher than the next highest to do it. So if you run 30 psi normally on the 4 road side you could set the spare to 35 psi and avoid this temperature swing frustration.
If you don’t have a 5th TPMS then it’s one of the other problems, weak batteries, etc.
For what’s worth a small piece of black tape does a great job of solving a TPMS flashing indicator. I’ve also known people, you know just a friend, who put 4 (or 5) TPMS sensors in a PVC tube and train their car’s detector to them. That way they all have exactly the same psi and change at the exact same rate going from cold to warm. TPMS is a real pain when you use your 4WD pickup as a 4WD pickup and air down and air up tires for various surfaces.
A hybrid drivetrain that only exists to solve one problem doesn’t make sense. There’s a good case to be made for hybrids and having a high voltage electric generator onboard. The F-150 hybrid comes to mind, with the 30A 220V panel in the bed. Take that same drivetrain, put it into an Excursion or other large SUV, and now you can have front and rear heated seats, refrigerated storage, plenty of power for gadgets and kids’ games, even car “glamping” essentials like coffee makers and microwave ovens. Would take a family road trip to a whole new level. And the money you’ll save by not feeding the progeny at the insanely expensive restaurants might make the extra cost worth it.
Of course the F150 hybrid can be made into what amounts to a family SUV with the crew cab and all the niceties and options, and it can still tow a trailer (which can be powered from the hybrid’s power panel.
But Ford markets the F-150 hybrid as a work truck, and only puts the power panel option in trucks.
‘Anyone who can afford to spend $100k-plus on an SUV does not care what he’s spending on gas.’ — eric
This is a big assumption, Eric, and not necessarily true. If we’re speaking about a twenty-something athlete from a modest background who’s just signed a multi-million contract, then yes — this person might enjoy splashing out some hundred-dollar-bill tips for entertainment purposes.
More common, though, are the Warren Buffett types. Buffett reportedly still lives in the same 3-bedroom, 2-bath ranch house that he purchased as a young adult — no conspicuous consumption here! In other words, there’s nothing contradictory about having a few million in the bank, and still watching expenses. That’s how the so-called ‘quiet millionaires’ attained that status.
From a different angle, my 1968 GTO with a 400-cubic-inch V8 got between 11 and 13 mpg on the highway. Even with 35 cent per gallon gas, this was painful on my teenaged budget. And, because of its extremely limited range, it was aggravating having to stop for refueling so often. Though it was an exciting vehicle, its gross fuel inefficiency is a bad memory.
Inevitably, more efficient technologies displace less efficient ones. On this 47-degree night, I’m warmed by a heat pump. It pulls less power than a portable electric heater, but puts out three times the BTUs. Definitely it costs more than a simple, electric-resistance unit. But the payback period I estimate is three years. I got tired of paying a thousand dollars every winter to the fat, complacent propane dealer. So I’m putting his lazy ass on a diet. 🙂
‘100k-plus’ — bad typing!
Fixed it, Jim!
I also added a modifier to the original text in my article.
As long as we’re proofreading, I always heard the phrase as:
“How fast do you want to spend?”
The contrived complexity of these things is mind boggling. And, as you say, it’s all to “comply” with GovCo’s fatwas.
Compare these cellphones-on-wheels with the relative simplicity of the 1950s & 60s era cars that are still in daily use in Cuba. Can you imagine any of these Rube Goldberg contraptions being in daily service in 2085?
And they call it “Sustainability”.
Lord preserve and protect us…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlIZ8IMptiw&list=RDQlIZ8IMptiw&start_radio=1
Re: complexity, totally not needed via making a customer/repair friendly design. Go back to throttle body injection, bag the “opera lighting” and other BS requiring a CANBUS computer network in the car. The most ridiculous recent example Ford wiper system requiring a visit to the dealer after a battery change to “re sync” the two wipers. Criminy.
Of course requires EPA rollback to older emissions standards which had already cleaned up the air – I’d put that anything beyond about 1995 is splitting hairs on further reductions. Also bag the fuel economy standards and bring back diesel econo boxes.
A feller can dream …