automationgame.com

Hey everyone, this will be a cheap car contest from the early 90's, it will ideally feature cars like the ford fiesta and Suzuki swift but the rules are open enough to allow variation.

The rules are.
Years of car trim and engine variant allowed 1988-1993, (families can be older)
Fuel economy: minimum 40 mpg (us) ("regular" 87aki/91ron)
Seating: minimum of 3
Safety: minimum of 30
Emissions (in the car tab): maximum of 400
Reliability (in the car tab): minimum of 60
Market price(suggested): $12,000@5% profit, market year will be 1993.
Number of cars per day(detailed stats): minimum of 250 @ the default factory size "medium 2"

The scoring is going to be non formula based, ratings will be given in short descriptive reviews in the style of a auto magazine shootout like this.
Http://www.motortrend.com/news/2014-compact-sedans-the-big-test/

I will be looking at acceleration, braking, suspension setups, service costs, market affordability, gearing, engine characteristics and finally they will be subjected to a track or two to observe their behavior at speed. The intended market is bargain basement entry level economy cars, the lowest rung of transport that still has 4 wheels.

Please name your car family and engine family, the first and third tabs,
(NEC "username" )
Deadline for entries will be February 6th.

ACCEPTED ENTRIES

1.Madrais- Storm Spiteful
2.Leonardo9613- Batlazar Quark 1.4EX
3.Thecarlover- Solo Eco BM
4.NormanVauxhall- Znopresk Zap 1.2E Prima
5.Vicvictory-Hane G 1.2 Turbo
6.Doctornarfy- Shromet Mystic
7.Stensen- Eurocesso
8.AirJordan- Econ Blueline
9.Lenraj-Cloud
10.oppositelock- GSI Gala ES-T
11.Sebesseg- Roka E60
12.HighOctaneLove- Bogliq Coyote 1100
13.MadamVastra- Chiron Panache
14.Salen00b- Basic 1600
15.Strop- Fore Birdie GTi
16.F17francesco- Raziel B eco Turbo
17.Koolkei- Logic F 80E
18.CadallicDave- Bergun 1.1 Eco
19.vmo- Montes Urban 1.8 ecoline
20.Asdrin-Revera Eco RS

AWAITING A REVISION OR QUESTION
Oskiinus

No suggestions from me, but I would definitely be interested in this. I prefer the regular car challenges over race series, so I'm always glad to make another budget hatch

Well, I'm up for it. Never good at building shitboxes, so this'll be a first for me.

$12,000@5% is gonna be tight but i enjoy building small cheap cars.

i have a pre-existing car i could probably modify a bit to meet these requirements

Okay, so with 4 positive replies so quickly I'm going to change this from a testing the waters to an actual rules discussion phase challenge.

Have you build an example car for yourself, because i think those requirements are hard to reach with 12k@5%

You should lower the safety requirement probably

Just keep in mind to leave some flexibility.

I ran a competition for 1993 Hatchbacks a while ago, and the average safety then, while using the more realistic standard safety, rather than the overly-expensive and not really meant for a cheap car advanced, was around 33, with the best cars almost getting 40 points. Link for the safety overview. Also, 45 MPG is a bit high for a combined fuel consumption figure like automation's, I don't think any car in 1993 was capable of getting those numbers combined, only on highway economy. Economy overview.

Hmm, you might be right on that, 40 safety would probably be too high for back then. Also note the price is currently only a suggestion as that's about what a metro went for back then, so how does bumping the price limit up to $13,000 and dropping the safety limit down to 30 sound? I do want some wiggle room so people can take various approaches.

I'm going to stay firm on the fuel economy for now, I'll run some tests tonight and see how tough it is in a few different bodies, but I'm not expecting engines bigger than 1.5 liter, or with more than 60 or 70 HP, so I think it should be possible. Your top 5 all met or surpassed it and fuel economy is the major point to these kinds of cars.

Honestly I think ALL the major requirements are on the high side. I just whipped up a quick test based on what you're shooting for (basic 2 door, 5 passenger hatchback with a 1.5L engine) and got:

33 safety
30 MPG (and that's with a 15.0:1 AFR!)
350 cars per day ON THE NOSE (and I'm using a lot of cheap, low-time parts and NO sliders)
but the cost at 5% is just over $8k.
Emissions 439

Bear in mind that while the '93 Geo Metro XFi trim (ONLY) got 47 combined MPG, the next best (and far more common) LSi trim got 40 combined MPG, and Ford's contemporary competitor (Festiva) got only 33 combined. Honda Civic was good for 28-40 depending on trim, while the Tercel was only good for 29 (Beaten even by the Subaru Justy at 30). So 30 MPG combined seems to be the low end of this class of cars during that year.

Now, your original $12k price is on-target with the inflation-adjusted MSRP of a '93 Geo Metro with respect to 2010, which is when the game currency was valuated. Maybe increase the margin to 10 or 15%?

1993 was after the last dying gasp of the carburetor in the US, but before the widespread implementation of MPFI. Yes, it existed, but mostly on higher-end models. Cheap econoboxes nearly exclusively used SPFI. So the emissions requirements should be a bit higher IMO.

Okay following a few test builds i have revised the following restrictions
economy is now 40 MPG US
cars per day now minimum 250
safety is now minimum of 30
I was able to pretty quickly throw together a spfi and carbed 4 and even a small mpfi 6 cylinder car that meet those criteria.

I could be interested in this. Got a couple ideas in mind.

i got the car that fits just this but in 1990.... and an FR car....

meeting that 250/day rule is a pain....

Really like the idea of challenge, I'd be very interested in taking part!

Same opinion, i've mde a car that can fit every rule, apart the 250/day. I think it's too restrictive, it limits too much the building possibilities