Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Variable Vent Tubes?

I went to test drive a Mazda CX7 yesterday. The car is nice - peppy - a lot different to the Honda Element. It's because of the turbocharged engine of course. What was entertaining was when the salesman started to tell me about the VVT engine. According to "Chuck", that meant variable vent tubes, which as he described it, was the difference between the size of your airway when you are breathing normally, and the size of your airway when you are panting for breath whilst running. Say what? The Mazda engine is able to alter the size of it's intake manifold depending on how hard I'm breathing?

Well I suppose it was a nice try. He got the 'variable' part of it right at least. What he was trying to describe of course was variable valve timing. More zippy engine performance requires more fuel-air mix, which requires altered and lengthened valve opening timing.

The closest thing to what he was describing (I think) is the variable length intake tubes on the Yamaha R1 motorbike. Or he could have just been pulling it out of his arse. Either way, he was trying to sell me a product he clearly didn't know anything about.

7 comments:

Joely08 said...

Ha! I was gearing up to be informed about this new technology of Variable Vent Tubes.. lol. Once I saw VVT, I was like.. "OHH.. Variable vent TIMING.. yes."

Anonymous said...

perhaps its variable vane turbo, it helps eliminate low speed turbo lag.

Anonymous said...

Variable valve timing might have been what he was talking about, also the cx-7 does have a variable length intake manifold

naveen said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
BlackOpSource said...

He's an idiot, but a similar system existed on the Mazda KL 2.5-liter V6.

Go look up VRIS.

Chris said...

Yeah - variable resonance intake system. Similar to the variable length intakes on the Yamaha engine but with fewer moving parts - butterfly valves instead of physical moving tubes.

BlackOpSource said...

Good to hear it hasn't been totally lost to time, then.

That engine's a torque machine.