On day 4, I was inspired to actually lift the hood (or bonnet, depending on what type of english you speak) to see if the engine was as new and space-age as the interior of the vehicle and to see what 187 horsepowered hybrid engines looked like.  My co-worker, Eric who is somewhat of a gearhead and was very anxious to see the goods under the hood, and I were both a little mystified – of course, I come by this naturally when it comes to car engines. This car, being a prototype and brand-spanky new, had a sparkling clean status that seemed surreal. But, most of it was covered pretty securely in a message we both took to mean, “you have no idea what you are really doing or even looking at, so whatever is beneath here, you don’t need to see.” Eric, who drives a sporty Audi TT, spun it around our large building and parking lot a few times and while he is a man of few words, his grunts and various sounds were those of positive impression. His pleasant surprise of its power to move and smooth ride is an impressive endorsement to anyone who knows him. You’ll just have to trust me on that.

Other engine stats include:

2.4-liter Atkinson Cycle inline-4 (presumably this is fancy jargon for peppy 4-cylinder)

DOHC, four valves per cylinder with Variable Valve Timing with Intelligence (VVT-i)

Electric Drive Motor – High-output, permanent-magnet electric-drive motor

Front-wheel drive

187 Horsepower

Electronically controlled continuously Variable Transmission (ECVT)

Still had a half-tank of gas.

More on the final days . . . stay tuned.

eat. blog. be merry!
gd meg