***** Motors chat - round 12 *****

Old diesel

NSU also developed a Rotary for the RO80 saloon in the late 60s. They were prone to problems though.

jimgoose

Old diesel wrote: »

NSU also developed a Rotary for the RO80 saloon in the late 60s. They were prone to problems though.

Over in two-wheel land, the Suzuki RE5 and Norton RCW588 used them back in the day as well.

MetzgerMeister

Old diesel wrote: »

NSU also developed a Rotary for the RO80 saloon in the late 60s. They were prone to problems though.

They did indeed. Would you believe that they are one of the Audi rings?

joujoujou

Actually, Mazda got a licence for rotary from NSU.

jimgoose

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

They did indeed. Would you believe that they are one of the Audi rings?

NSU are? Are you thinking of DKW?

MetzgerMeister

jimgoose wrote: »

NSU are? Are you thinking of DKW?

From what I read (quite a long time ago) NSU were bought by VW and eventually merged with Auto Union i.e. Audi.

joujoujou

Sources say VW bought NSU in 1969 and merged with Auto Union, creating Audi NSU Auto Union AG, later renamed to just Audi.

Old diesel

Audi symbol.

In 1932 4 independent companies almalgamated. This is where the 4 rings come from apparently.

The almalgamated company then merged with NSU after VW bought out the latter.

This merger led to the Audi we know today.

Or at least thats my understanding of a quick look - the whole business is of course far messier then you'd think.

VW made a car called the K70 - but my understanding is that the K70 may have been originally an NSU

rex-x

LIGHTNING wrote: »

Its a real shame more manufactures don't spend some resources developing them. They really do have very few moving parts. Maybe with Hydrogen fuels going forward we will see more use for them

I really doubt it. Although they do have a cool factor and I like them for that, they are fundamentally flawed in their design and cant compete with traditional piston based engines in terms of emissions and efficiency

MetzgerMeister

rex-x wrote: »

I really doubt it. Although they do have a cool factor and I like them for that, they are fundamentally flawed in their design and cant compete with traditional piston based engines in terms of emissions and efficiency

...and torque :P

That was the first thing I noticed when I test drove mine. Revs up to 10k and a howling engine that sounds amazing but you don't go very far. The petrol needle drops further than the distance you cover :pac:

Esel

Old diesel wrote: »

VW made a car called the K70 - but my understanding is that the K70 may have been originally an NSU

Lovely body on the K70 for its time.



It was developed by NSU.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_K70

jimgoose

Esel wrote: »

Lovely body on the K70 for its time...

Is it me, or does that look very like a BMW of around the same time?

vintagevrs

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

...and torque :P

That was the first thing I noticed when I test drove mine. Revs up to 10k and a howling engine that sounds amazing but you don't go very far. The petrol needle drops further than the distance you cover :pac:

Any snaps of yours, didn't know you had one. I think the idea of a high revving engine is great, and as a 2nd or weekend car where you can go rag it and enjoy it it's ideal. But no torque in a daily would wear me down pretty quickly.

MetzgerMeister

vintagevrs wrote: »

Any snaps of yours, didn't know you had one. I think the idea of a high revving engine is great, and as a 2nd or weekend car where you can go rag it and enjoy it it's ideal. But no torque in a daily would wear me down pretty quickly.

I had a Rover 400, MG ZR and BMW 318i before the RX8 so the torque deficit although noticeable, wasn't a major issue.

Mine:



And the R3 I was very close to buying when I had the Mazda6 MPS:

Midnight_EG

Mad bit of truth here...my RX8 was the most reliable car I had that was daily driven!

Dartz

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

...and torque :P

That was the first thing I noticed when I test drove mine. Revs up to 10k and a howling engine that sounds amazing but you don't go very far. The petrol needle drops further than the distance you cover :pac:

Torque is fine. It's just flat the whole way through so there's no real surge when a turbo kicks in or it starts to breath. It's tuned to be flat with a variable intake/injector setup.

CianRyan

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Mad bit of truth here...my RX8 was the most reliable car I had that was daily driven!

Lucky you, it’s only failed me twice.

Been sitting up the last two weeks, rad blew in the usual spot but I have a Mishimoto alloy one at home to go in, probably this weekend.

Fuel though, I’m saving so much driving my dads car.

two wheels good

joujoujou wrote: »

Sources say VW bought NSU in 1969 and merged with Auto Union, creating Audi NSU Auto Union AG, later renamed to just Audi.

Some Audi trivia for the pub quiz.
Audi originally existed long before that - back in 1910s.
Mr Horch, who manufactured Horch cars, left his company and then created the Audi company because he didn't have the rights to the Horch name.
"Horch" mean "listen" in German, Audi is listen in latin.

two wheels good

A photo is required I think. (not sure how display it inline)
The RO80 was a very stylish car - still is. it's aged well.
The rotor tips were the weak point (as already mentioned) and warranty costs broke the company according to this article. Lots of interesting background there.

The first rotary-engined car was an NSU Spider.
Citroen and GM had rotary models too but never made it past prototype stage. Mazda rotary engines have a long pedigree. All new info to me.

Dartz

Midnight_EG wrote: »

Mad bit of truth here...my RX8 was the most reliable car I had that was daily driven!

Same


Lost an ignition coil. Lost a cat. Blew a shock. Blew an engine.



But it's never once failed to start, run, get me home or go around Mondello. Even when it sounded lika a bag of nails with a chunk of NGK going for a spin inside. It makes me wonder why people call it such an unreliable car.





The oil injectors carbon up if it's babied.

They rust on the sills.
The stationary bearings go because the oil is overcooled and it has a low idle pressure.
The coils go, which takes the cat out - which takes the sideseals.



That's about it. Every 'death' can be traced to the above. Or a **** 'rebuild' by a 'pro'



Bear in mind, the average age of them is now near 16 years old - and there're a good few bopping along. I see more of them than a lot of other '04 cars.

Midnight_EG

CianRyan wrote: »

Lucky you, it’s only failed me twice.

Been sitting up the last two weeks, rad blew in the usual spot but I have a Mishimoto alloy one at home to go in, probably this weekend.

Fuel though, I’m saving so much driving my dads car.

You're not saving anything, you're just spending less

Dartz wrote: »

Same


Lost an ignition coil. Lost a cat. Blew a shock. Blew an engine.



But it's never once failed to start, run, get me home or go around Mondello. Even when it sounded lika a bag of nails with a chunk of NGK going for a spin inside. It makes me wonder why people call it such an unreliable car.





The oil injectors carbon up if it's babied.

They rust on the sills.
The stationary bearings go because the oil is overcooled and it has a low idle pressure.
The coils go, which takes the cat out - which takes the sideseals.



That's about it. Every 'death' can be traced to the above. Or a **** 'rebuild' by a 'pro'



Bear in mind, the average age of them is now near 16 years old - and there're a good few bopping along. I see more of them than a lot of other '04 cars.

I had nothing fail on mine, bar the odd oil belch but that was it! It got an engine from Mazda in 07 I think, and is still running the same as above with Cian

MetzgerMeister

Mine was on its original engine from when it was built in 2004 to when I sold it in 2011 and I never had any hassle with it apart from the starting issue. After that I don't know how it got on.

Ardennes1944

I still think they fantastic, and the interior still looks good too.
If I moved to the UK and had a relatively short commute I would buy a low compression one for sub 1k and get it repaired.

Sexual Chocolate

Out where I am in Australia at the moment it reached +47° today. Car was really down on power today as a result.

On another note I got to drive a new 2.0 turbo petrol 250bhp Commondore/Insignia today. Nice drive from the 9 speed auto but again with the heat im not sure I was getting the most of it.

Duke O Smiley

Cheapest new tyres I've ever bought, €35 a corner - Nankang Econex Na-1 in 145/70/12. Pretty much the best tyre available for my Alto. Timing belt kit and water pump on the way this morning too, €60! I haven't put fuel in it since before Christmas either :P Doesn't get much cheaper

Tazzimus

That tyre size sounds like a wheelbarrow wheel, didn't realise they were 12's.

Least it's cheap to run and maintain though.

Duke O Smiley

I only use it for the dogs to be fair, and general guntering

Tazzimus

Jaysus, fair play to him bringing a stick that size back with him

ShadowHearth

Drove behind Alfa GT today. God, they aged so damn well! Still looks very good and if you refresh it with some Led lights, it could almost pass as modernish car, not a 2000s Alfa.
Kind of made me miss my one.

Interslice

Sexual Chocolate wrote: »

Out where I am in Australia at the moment it reached +47° today. Car was really down on power today as a result.

On another note I got to drive a new 2.0 turbo petrol 250bhp Commondore/Insignia today. Nice drive from the 9 speed auto but again with the heat im not sure I was getting the most of it.

About 4.7° here. Grand and crisp :P