Thursday 26th February 2009

Rinspeed E2

Modified Fiat 500 is mean OR green

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Swiss tuner Rinspeed has come up with a neat take on the need to (appear to) be green.

The Rinspeed E2 is basically a Fiat 500 Abarth hopped-up from its factory output of 135bhp to an altogether more meaningful 160bhp. The twist is a dashboard-mounted button that allows the driver to switch to ‘commuting’ mode, limiting output to a measly but politically-correct 60bhp, in which case the fuel consumption also drops to around 70mpg. Out on the highway and with full-power mode selected economy is said to be about half that figure, although performance figures aren’t quoted. However the highway mpg numbers still seem pretty respectable for a car that Rinspeed says ‘is transformed from an Italian flea into a hornet’!

Rinspeed boss Frank Rinderknecht clearly believes the E2 marks a sensible direction of travel for drivers of the future.

‘I don’t believe too much in eco tuning. Many drivers are not willing to miss out on driving fun and don’t want to drive something that announces to the world they are doing without,’ he says.

The charismatic Mr Rinderknecht is clearly an ‘unreconstructed’ automotive enthusiast. The Rinspeed press notice opens with something along the lines of: ‘What is round and cuddly, has eyes to fall in love with, a sexy behind – and performs on demand?”

The official E2 handout picture suggests there might be a couple of right answers to that question.

[monkey11477]

This sounds like a good idea, two cars in one. Senisible town comuting then B road basher

[Mafioso]

The Article said:

in which case the fuel consumption also drops to around 70mpg.

Drops!? Seriously do people not proof read at PH!?

[ZesPak]

very correct, fuel consumption DROPS, mpg rises.

On the other hand:

- will there be any benefit towards insurance/tax? (prob not)
- how often will you drive @ 60bph when you have to press a button? It would be more logical (imo) to use a "kickdown" principle.

Anyhow, 70mpg is pretty impressive.

[wab172uk]

This is something I've wondered before, why manufacturer's have not adopted this type of system.

Car's like the Impreza/evo/RS4/M3 etc get 20mpg taking it easy. When I owned my Impreza, I'd have loved an "Eco" button to press when not needing 300bhp.

I know the M5/M6 have this slightly, but a drop from 500bhp to 400bhp isn't going to change your mpg much, if at all.

Edited by wab172uk on Thursday 26th February 12:40

[Mafioso]

ZesPak said:

very correct, fuel consumption DROPS, mpg rises.

On the other hand:

- will there be any benefit towards insurance/tax? (prob not)
- how often will you drive @ 60bph when you have to press a button? It would be more logical (imo) to use a "kickdown" principle.

Anyhow, 70mpg is pretty impressive.

Sorry my mistake!!

[massive1]

my DC2 Type R has 130bhp "off cam" and 190 odd with VTEC.
ist that pretty much the same thing? (but with worse MPG)

Edited by massive1 on Thursday 26th February 13:04

[G0ldfysh]

Could also be good as a garage button, car goes into dealer for service, restricted power then if they decide they are going out in it two up for lunch you know they wont be melting your clutch or doing emergency starts without your knowledge.

[H22K]

there's an ecu tuner of german cars who offers the option of a standard remap or, now, an "eco" remap. I have queried if there is any reason not to have both on the car and have one running below 50% throttle and the other above, for example.

The response to what I thought to be a perfectly straightforward and sensible question was rather muddled and dismissive.

[Stubbs]

I think it's a great idea. The EDC16 Vag ecu can hold more than one map which is switchable through the OBD II port.

[collateral]

Have to wonder why manufacturers haven't been offering this themselves if it wasn't much trouble to do

[Turbobanana]

Surely a far more sensible business proposition than trying to launch a 200mph, 1000bhp supercar at the moment. Good luck to them.

[willcove]

I wonder how much of that "eco button" idea is a gimmick? Surely, the amount of power your engine produces at any one time depends a great deal on how far you press the loud pedal? So anyone should be able to drive a 200 bhp car using no more than 60 bhp just by driving with a light touch on the throttle?

Then again, I suspect that many of us are suckers for gadgets!

Will

[sublimatica]

G0ldfysh said:

emergency starts

[asb]

First post, woo hoo...
Not sure about the whole eco button thingy, seems like a bit of a look what we can do toy..however...who cares...the tasty model in the pic sold it for me...
Where do I sign??

[Collaudatore]

willcove said:

I wonder how much of that "eco button" idea is a gimmick? Surely, the amount of power your engine produces at any one time depends a great deal on how far you press the loud pedal? So anyone should be able to drive a 200 bhp car using no more than 60 bhp just by driving with a light touch on the throttle?

Then again, I suspect that many of us are suckers for gadgets!

Will

could be a nice way for the big boys to get round greenfeet emissions and fines & penalties

[dapprman]

So let me get this straight. The car has a 60 BHP base power engine (1.2l ?) with a turbo bolted on. On the dash is a button that turns on/off the boost controller which is set to 20 psi ?

[Silver993tt]

willcove said:

I wonder how much of that "eco button" idea is a gimmick? Surely, the amount of power your engine produces at any one time depends a great deal on how far you press the loud pedal? So anyone should be able to drive a 200 bhp car using no more than 60 bhp just by driving with a light touch on the throttle?

Then again, I suspect that many of us are suckers for gadgets!

Will

yes but that way you wouldn't get the great fuel savings from what looks like a dual ECU map system implemented on the 500.

[Farmer]

simple ideas are often the best . pootling in trafic sometimes calls for a brief burst of acceleration but 60hp should be enough for most situations, so a heavy right clog would still be limited to a moderate sip of juice . cracking idea

[c_seven]

dapprman said:

So let me get this straight. The car has a 60 BHP base power engine (1.2l ?) with a turbo bolted on. On the dash is a button that turns on/off the boost controller which is set to 20 psi ?

No

Believe it is just a standard 500 abarth with a fancy ECU.

[Stubbs]

It would use the 1.4 16v turbo engine with lower boost and fueling to match mapping.

Does the turbo used have variable vein geometry?

Edited by Stubbs on Thursday 26th February 20:07