<VV> Corvair is a city car ?

[Padgett]

Went over to Titusville for their evening show last night but by myself and 
not in the usual convoy. Even with the tall rear tires was running at about 
3500 rpm with 3.55/PG and it showed in the MPG: 19.6 average where when we 
convoyed to Seminole at a more leisurely pace the number was 2 mpg more. 
Speed costs.

Which brings me back to the conditions in 1966. Interstates were and 
occasional joy but still rare. Even as late as 1972 I used to figure trip 
times based on 50 mph and wasn't far off. For some reason at least up until 
this year (am told things have changed recently), the "highway" mpg figure 
used by the EPA was based on a maximum sped of 60 mph.

Last time I drove to New Orleans, the elapsed time was a touch over nine 
hours. 600 miles. My maximum speed was not 60 mph but was just running with 
left lane traffic. Averaged just under 25 mpg of 87. With a minivan & 3800 
engine (one of GM's best so naturally is now on the way out)).

So at 70ish mph the van is getting 5 more mpg than the Corvair and the 
'vair wants premium. Looking at the GM stock engine reports at 3200 rpm 
(with 3.27 & 4 speed) the 110 hp engine is shown at about 20.5  mpg and 
about 19 at 3600 so not far off what GM expected despite 52 jets.

Point is that the curves say to me that GM really wanted the engine to run 
in the 2400-2800 rpm range (torque peak is at 2400) and not 3600 and since 
few speed limits required anything above that, the mix was right. Today (at 
least in the souf) things are different.

So my contention is that a stock Corvair is really designed for speeds 
under 60 mph and going beyond that is going to have a considerable cost. 
DID NOT say it could not handle 70 well (mine keeps trying to creep 
higher), just that it is outside of the normal design parameters and will 
have a cost.

Padgett