Thursday 23rd October 2003

MG TF 200 HPD

Petrol at the back, leccy at the front

---

MG in conjunction with the Motor Industry Research Association (MIRA) have been working on a bit of a wacky project. Whilst research into environmentally friendly engines is all very noble, usually it's not much fun producing ugly city cars with slow motors.

MG have taken a more refreshing approach though. They - with MIRA - have come up with a 195bhp hybrid performance car. It uses a 157bhp K series petrol engine to drive the rear wheels and a 39bhp electric motor to drive the front wheels. The electric motor dropped into the front uses a continuously variable transmission.

A bit of fun for all involved, but quite how the research results will permeate into road cars remains to be seen... 

[golem]

I reckon it's a releif. If MG could make it a salable thing early, develop it for their next model as an integrated feature, the car should be ahead of the emissions game compared to Mazda MX5 and allow MG to keep astride or perhaps even get the jump on the MR2.

Good to know that a performance companies is going to try and keep up with the emissions game. When the tight laws start happening, I want to be able to drive something halfway enjoyable.

[PetrolTed]

But where do you put your shopping?

[johnnystorm]

MK3 MR2 owners aren't bothered about shopping space.....

[king arthur]

It's a bit more damned interesting than a Toyota Prius, you've got to admit!

[danmangt40]

It's important that chrysler be given credit for this graceful solution. They first came up with (or at least they were the first to build a hybrid runner of a car that ran on completely separate drivetrains that operated independent axles to gain the effect of having two motors. They did it to a v6 rwd durango. They kept the v6 engine that drove the rear wheels and found space (those things are huge) under the hood for the electric motor and its transmission next to the v6 to drive the front wheels. They called it the TTR for through-the-road hybrid concept. As it doesn't require the development of a complex intertwined series of gasoline and purely electrical components, it is much much cheaper to develop, and is probably how most hybrids in the near future will be developed. There have been several cars that have tried this technique since the TTR durango, this is just MG's first foray into how hybrid means both performance and economy. I can't help thinking that Chrysler got the idea from one of those wacky dual-engine designs, like the MTM bimoto or Cadillac-Eldorado based Twinstar.

[Podie]

Surely the next step from the Toyota Prius / Honda Insight...

[Buffalo]

I went to the Gaydon Motor Museum a few months back, its full (or it was before ford got involved ) of innovative designs from BL and the Rover. ANy of which if they had made it inot production would have (i reckon) turned the company around.

Things like the NSX lookalike concept, the FWD MG Midget based on a mini etc etc, there were loads!

Rover and now i suppoe MGR are no stranger to innovation. The only difference is that with this lot, there might actually be a chance something actually happens about!

Hope so!

[Newromancer]

Actually that is the 1st time I read something about that idea ... petrol engine in the back, and supporting electric engine in the front ... sounds good and logical to me ( if not too heavy ) ... would like to test drive this prototype to feel the difference.

Oh, and Ted, I store my shoppings in the Trunk at the back

[dejoux]

As Im sure you know Ted the front of an MGF is a waste of time anyway.

You probably could stuff about one bag of shopping into it but then if it rained it would get anyway