Chuckle

I nearly got run down by a woman on a bicycle once.

Great story!

Ha! Here is my VW Golf story:

Fascinating!

Possibly all absolutely correct.
The efficiency of an engine is very much related to the difference between the hottest state of the gas (during combustion) compared to the coolest (the environmental heatsink), but that pertains only to the work-producing gas itself. The surrounding metal pieces sort of do not…

Wow, thanks for the heads-up! I just did a thorough googling on the subject. And it’s funny because I posited the same question as a teenager back in technical high-school in 1989 when I first ran into thermodynamics:

That’s what I’m talking about!

That is most likely it, but in the hunt for improved efficiency I find it weird that this has not gained more attention.

To clarify my ramblings: is it the case that the operating temperature is chosen rather because of the properties of water, than for reasons more pertaining to engine power and efficiency?

You seem to be a fellow who can answer a question that has bugged me for the last... fortnight or so:

I never see it because I actually use my brakes. That said, is grey iron really the best material for this? There are some fantastic grades of stainless steel these days.

This is what we in swedish call “fiffigt”, loosely translated as “clever”. When you come up with something that is all improvements.

Yep.

Haha! Good luck explaining torque to the masses! Not even motorheads get it right.

I am usually the one making the salesman’s day.

About to pay for service. Mechanic: “I have bad news. Since you hadn’t driven so far since the last service, I can only charge you half of the fee.”

It’s km/h, not kph.

Looks like every car I doodled in my notebook at school between 1985-1990.