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Henrik Fisker interview, and driving the Polestar 2 | Autoblog Podcast #643

In this week's Autoblog Podcast, Editor-in-Chief Greg Migliore is joined by Senior Editor, Green, John Beltz Snyder. They've been driving the updated 2021 Honda Odyssey, the 2020 Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 and the new Polestar 2 electric sedan. After reviewing those, they talk about how the Chrysler 300 appears to be withering on the vine. Next, they take time to talk to legendary automotive designer and eponymous Chairman & CEO of Fisker Inc., Mr. Henrik Fisker himself, about jeans, horses and, of course, electric cars. Finally, they help a listener pick a $100,000 supercar in the "Spend My Money" segment. Autoblog Podcast #643 Get The Podcast iTunes – Subscribe to the Autoblog Podcast in iTunes RSS – Add the Autoblog Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator MP3 – Download the MP3 directly Rundown Cars we're driving 2021 Honda Odyssey 2020 Mercedes-AMG GLC 43 2020 Polestar 2 Chrysler 300 soldiers on for 2021 with pared-down range, higher price Henrik Fisker interview Spend My Money Feedback Email – Podcast@Autoblog.com Review the show on iTunes Related Video:

Honda patents engine with different cylinder displacements

A basic rule of engine design states that the displacement of a cylinder is equal to the engine's total displacement divided by its cylinder count. Honda, according to a recently surfaced Japanese patent, is looking to break that rule with an engine containing cylinders of different sizes. We've done our best to translate it from patent-ese. The idea is that different-sized combustion chambers give more flexibility when any combination of cylinders are deactivated, or rested. Because the different numbers can be combined in various ways, it provides more and smaller increments than would an engine with equal-displacement cylinders. Take a 2.0-liter four-cylinder, for example. Following the golden displacement rule, each of the four cylinders has a volume of 500 cc, giving displacement increments of 500 cc when any cylinder is deactivated. But suppose instead that the four cylinders displace 300, 425, 600, and 675 cc, respectively. This would give the engine 15 available displacements instead of just four, and the spacing between each option would be far less than 500cc. As a result, those different virtual displacements would provide more adjustment between power and efficiency than a cylinder-deactivation system can on a conventional engine. Honda's patent describes cylinders with equal bore size, with the displacement from cylinder to cylinder varying based on the crank throw radius – the longer the throw, the longer the stroke and the larger the displacement of that particular combustion chamber. The patent describes how the cylinder sizes would need to be arranged to spread the load on the crankshaft and presumably limit vibration that would be introduced by the different pulse magnitudes. If we're interpreting things correctly, the largest cylinder (the one with the longest crank throw radius) sits in the middle of the bank with the smaller ones alternating on either side as they decrease in displacement. This concept is described for multi-cylinder inline and V-type engines of various sizes. The patent was filed in March of 2014 and published in January of this year. Whether or not this arrangement will reach production is of course unknown, but the advantages in terms of both efficiency and power seem promising. Related Video: News Source: Japan Patent Office via Auto Guide Green Honda Fuel Efficiency Technology patent

2015 Fit Kit is the perfect DIY car from Honda

Ah... let the April Fools' Day automotive jokes begin. Honda is kicking things off, following up on last year's Honda Hair joke with a prank video featuring the 2015 Honda Fit.
It's called the Fit Kit, and as you might guess, it's a way to build your own version of the redesigned hatchback. There are 180,000 mechanical parts in the kit - some delivered by drone - but that doesn't seem at all daunting to the pair of obnoxious, self-described tinkerers that star in the Fit Kit ad.
Honestly, the video is pretty entertaining, with some biting satire of the DIY movement and its attendant cadre of mustachioed hipsters. Scroll down and have a look at both the video and the Fit Kit press release from Honda.