Why Ford Econetics break the rules

TO be eco, you need a small, tiny engine. Yeah, right.

That’s Politician’s logic at work. Look for blacks and whites in things they don’t understand. Big is bad, small is good, always and forever more. Smile, smooch baby, job done.

If only they spoke to engineers, such as the engine chief at Ford’s Dagenham plant. He’d tell them, like he told me, that Ford eschewed the smaller, ‘more eco’ 1.4-litre TDCi for its Econetic models.

Fitted the 1.6-litre TDCi instead. Which, as it’s bigger, is clearly ‘not as eco’.

Wrong.

Yes, he said, in ideal conditions, the 1.4-litre might use a smidgen less fuel. But, real world, the characteristics of the 1.6-litre make it far more suited to the Eco treatment. Traits such as:

•    Very low rev torque ramp-up: the turbo wakes up at 1200rpm, meaning much lower revs (and, conversely, taller gearing) can be carried
•    Torque curve shape: the step between non-turbo lethargy and meaningful torque delivery is much better profiled to eco driving – it’s not ‘switch-like’
•    Part-throttle characteristics: allow ECU software to be massaged so fuel delivery can be turned right down
•    On-throttle immediacy: small throttle inputs elicit immediate, meaningful response, making it feel ‘bigger capacity’.

The demands and characteristics on the 1.4-litre mean it would be swamped. It would have to be worked too hard in practice, negating any eco benefits a lab bench revealed.

Light loads work best for eco driving. Hence, the development of the ‘bigger’ engine here.

Luckily, there are no tax disincentives to stop him following what he knows, rather than what politicians tell him should be true. Imagine if, say, the engine size-based company car tax rules of a decade ago were still in place…

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