Hello all, first time posting in over a year. Glad to be kinda back. I’ve come up with a concept for a company that specializes in high reliability, high fuel economy cars. The kind of reliable that can be fixed with a screwdriver and duct tape. Most of these cars are built for the “third world” countries that can’t afford their cars to break down.
Unfortunately, I cannot seem to get my cars to an acceptable reliability or fuel economy. What are some things to look out for when building the car? I know that I have to optimize to low end performance using simple parts, but I’m not sure where to go after that.
Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I know the question is a tad broad.
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if you ask me, start with a communitasia, convert it to regular, and use that to make it run more fuel efficient
Lower RPMs favor reliability over higher, smaller stroke will help with keeping reliability up when you do hit higher RPMs. Simpler interiors offer better reliability over reduced comfort. Mixing alloys between blocks and heads should be avoided early on, like in real life the different rate of expansion leads to head gasket failure and the game models that with a reduced reliability score. I’m not sure but I think newer technologies reduce the reliability score until a few years have passed.
What sort of Reliability and Economy numbers are you trying to reach?
try quality points (1 or 2) in the engine designer.
They don’t add that much to the cost but does help with reliability and efficiency of the engine.
Higher fuel efficiency can be reached by having an overdrive gear. I think Killrob talked about this in one of the dev videos, otherwise Google is your friend.
For early cars, going with cheap carbs (eco carbs) and +5 fuel system quality. That adds a lot of reliability and enhances fuel economy if you max out octane.
Back again. Internet went out. The best I have gotten in 1940 is around 40~ reliability and between 16 and 20 mpg (30 mpg if I cripple the performance). I am trying not to use quality sliders initially to save money, but I will look into them in the future. I have also been shrinking the engines drastically. I was originally working with a VERY lazy 3L I6, but I have gotten better overall performance out of a 1L I4. The shrinkage is due to the terrible tires and grip that are available at the time.
So, in summery:
Is 40~ reliability in 1940 ok for a “reliable” car?
Is competitiveness above 100 for a market group is acceptable?
And finally, what is considered a good “small car” mileage in the 40s?
40 or better engine reliability is good in 1940-1950s or so. A 40 is pretty reliable in 1940, and I think a 45 would be considered very reliable in 1950 as well (for engine reliability). The current “competitiveness” scores are due to change in the next big update, but generally a 120 or better (in a single category) is a good goal to shoot for.
Mileage? In America that wasn’t even a widely measured (by the papers, and magazines of the time) thing until around the mid, late 50s (AFAIK).
Edit:
Basically the “competitive” score is how willing the buyers would be to choose your car over the competition. Some scores will be wildly “off” due to the type of market. (pony for example, did not exist as a market until the Mustang basically defined it in 1964.)
So a 100 would mean your car is exactly as desirable as the top leading competitor in that category.
I’ve got a 35 mpg car from 1940. 0-60 in 60.2 seconds. She’ll rocket down the quarter mile in 28.20s @48 mph.
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That’s almost as slow as my cars from the 70’s.
Thanks for the help. I’ll post the car as soon as I can. I think it was rocking a 40~ reliability and 16~ mpg.
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