engine down sizing and Hybrid engines

Engine Down sizing
In the past in countries where the car registration is not tied to the engine capacity of the car, one would see many big engine cars (with engine capacity exceeding 3,000cc) on the road. This is a clear example in Australia, New Zealand, US, South Africa and Europe. However in countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand where the car registration is tied to the engine capacity of the car, 90% of the cars on the roads are of engine capacity of 2,000cc or less. Having a car with engine capacity exceeding 2,000cc meant that one would have to pay a lot more money to keep the car on the road on a yearly basis. In Asia where most people just consider cars as a mode of transport would try to keep their ownership costs at a minimum and would opt for the car with a small engine.
Having a big engine car is naturally more fun when there is a lot more torque is available. The engine requires less effort to produce the necessary power to move the car. Personally having driven Fords and Holdens with 5 Litres blocks and also BMW M5 before, having a big block engine car is seriously fun.
Now, since the invasion of Iraq and the ever fluctuating price of oil, petrol and diesel prices at the pumps have risen too much for many people to think it is logical to buy a large engine car. Car manufacturers have also taken this into consideration and focused their resources on down sizing engines and adding turbo chargers to give a similar effect as a big engine minus the sheer engine capacity, weight and fuel consumption. Down sizing engines meant that by shrinking down an engine from 2,500cc to 1,600cc with a turbo enabled the engineers to save on several key aspects that would effect the fuel consumption and performance of the car. Smaller engines meant less weight and less heat, and also uses less fuel. Working in combination with a small turbo charger the recycled exhaust gases could be used to force more air into the engine at higher density and speed to generate more power while burning less fuel than an engine with a large capacity producing similar power.
A typical 2,500cc engine would generate 180hp and 250Nm, a 1,600cc engine with a turbo charger could generate 180hp and 265Nm (as seen on the new Ford Focus 1.6 Turbo). The average fuel consumption for the 2,500cc engine would be 9 litres per 100km, while the 1,600cc turbo engine would consume an average of 6.5 litres per 100km. This meant significant fuel savings and yet the performance is the same or better.

Engine down sizing has been around for many decades and the main proponents of this was Volvo, Saab and Audi. Volvo and Saab stuck to their 2.0 turbo engines since mid 1980s. VW and Audi have been using their 1.8Turbo engines in the Passat, A4, Golf, Jetta, A6 and TT since the early 1990s. This tried and tested formula proved to work well. With the introduction of newer turbo technology, the once dreaded turbo lag is almost gone and having a small engine car with a turbo meant that you could be frugal and yet have a fun car to drive.
The most recent car company that has made the best of down sizing engines is BMW. BMW who traditionally shied away from using turbo chargers in their car have jumped onto the bandwagon and did a cracking job of down sizing their engines for their new F30 3 series and F10 5 series. The down sizing exercise was also extended to their new F10 M5 which is the very first M car to be made with turbos. BMW's foray into turbo charging has been nothing short of spectacular considering they didn't have much a turbo charging history.  The new F30 328i promises good performance coupled with good fuel consumption, while for the new M5 the 4 litre engine is twin turbo charged offering 50hp more than the older M5 and 100Nm more torque while saving 25% on fuel. Now that is what you call progress!

Hybrid engines
Not all car manufacturers decide to follow this down sizing route. The Japanese companies have instead focused on Hybrid engines to improve efficiency. The concept is not new and the Japanese has been evolving this technology for more than 10 years and with great success.
I do believe that hybrid technology works but I am not a fan of it because on one hand the hybrid car is trying to be ECO and save fuel and reduce the carbon foot print, but on the other hand the batteries used in most Japanese hybrids are made from nickel metal hydride which are high toxic and difficult to dispose of. I think this is quite contradictory since you try to save the environment on one side but you forget that batteries are very toxic to the environment! The other point that I think is quite silly is that you may save say RM30 per tank of fuel each week with your hybrid which brings your total annual savings to RM1560 (if you refill your tank once a week for 52 weeks in a year). Multiply this by 7 years (7 years is the average life expectancy of the hybrid battery before it needs to be replaced) the savings is RM10,920. Less the cost of the new hybrid battery RM9,000 (this was an estimate given by Toyota for the Prius battery), the net savings is RM1,920 in 7 years!! this means that you only save RM274 per year! In this example I have not taken into consideration the degradation rate of the hybrid battery which is bound to happen because nickel metal hydride batteries are known for their limited recharge efficiency rate, that's why mobile phone manufacturers do not use nickel metal hydride batteries any more. If I take into consideration the degradation rate of the hybrid battery there will virtually be no savings at all.
Seriously there is something wrong with this picture.
The Germans have adopted a different approach to hybrid technology. They use it to help reduce fuel consumption and boost the performance of the vehicle with the electric motor adding more torque and power when it is needed. The Germans use Lithium Ion Polymer batteries which are more compact and lighter. The Germans consider it more as a range extender and a performance extender. I think personally think this makes more sense.
TopGear UK previously did a study on which engine would provide the best fuel consumption when driven over the same route across the UK. The route covered motorways, city streets, small town road, and country roads. The comparison was done with a small capacity petrol engine car, a small turbo diesel engine car and a Toyota Prius Hybrid. At the end of the test, the winner was the small turbo diesel engine that offered the best fuel consumption.

Hybrid cars are at its best when you are stuck in traffic jams. If you constantly travel on the highways on long journeys (exceeding 100km day on highways), I would recommend you buy a turbo diesel engine car.

In Malaysia buying a hybrid car is not a bad idea because of the tax exemption for hybrids and the savings in the price of the new car is hard to ignore. Given more choices of diesels cars in the near future, I would strongly recommend buying a diesel car (if our govt would introduce better diesel fuel).