We’ve driven the V60. It was my favorite to drive even over the Mazda3. I think it was the environment I was in ;o) I have not driven the Prius yet but judging from driving a prius, I’m not excited about it. So much so that the CX-5 is back in the running. Between the two, I’d rather have the Mazda.

Given that we will likely only use it with the seats up, it is not too bad. The 2015 V60 beats out the Allroad, is equal to the 3 seies, and is better than the Cmax. Only the Prius V and the Tour X have more room with the seats up. The Prius is well a Prius and the TourX has a combined MPG in the mod 20s.

16.6 ft³ with the seats up kills it. There ill be a carseat in the car full time so we need some decent space with the seats up. I just need to make the case for the V60 unbelievably compelling. 

These are the vehicles which rise up given the requirements. It is actually quite difficult to compare them as it is a bunch of trade-offs. The V60 is the most car for the money, best driving, but least space and has the greatest cost of ownership due to reliability concerns. The Prius has the most space, is the most…

The fuel consumption eliminates both of those options. 23/31 for the XC70 and 25/32 for the Outback. In comparison, the 2015 V60 gets 25/37. The difference is not much, but a line needs to be drawn somewhere.

As much as I love the car, cargo space is a big concern for me. Here’s how the cargo areas stack up.

Not only will it not require the same maintenance schedule, it will likely be much easier to maintain too. A little extra weight and down a bit on power so that I could be out riding instead of removing 3 drain plugs and two screens every other month seem worth it to me.

It has a whole story behind it. Started off as a 912 and was converted to a spec 911. The owner Phil is one of the more solid cats around to boot!

“...only they used the European diesel fuel additive dosing module (ADM) to tie into the C30’s CAN network.”

Do it!

TLDNR:
There are definitely people who casually mess with compression ratios on their car. If you are supercharging, decreasing your compression ratio yields more torque. In NA engines, increasing your CR makes more torque.

Fits squarely within my impression of him. Great guy.

My first job with a paycheck was working for Reggie at the Press Teligram. Great to hear his name and I’ll check out the podcast.

Last volley. At some point I recommend sitting down with some smart people you trust and working through this. It’s what I did.

TLDNR:
The combustion volume absolutely effects the amount of air and fuel that is burning keeping everything else equal. The VC-T has a greater combustion volume at 8:1 than 14:1. Since there is more air and fuel burning at 8:1 than 14:1, the engine is outputting more torque and thus the greater performance.

VC-T — CVT

The ingenuity of VC-T engine technology ... As a consequence, the displacement of the engine changes and the compression ratio can vary anywhere between 8:1 (for high performance) and 14:1 (for high efficiency)...

At 16:1 gasoline would almost surely autoignite.

Read me 1st: You Can’t Have Too Much Cars & Coffee

Thanks for the info. We decided to keep our budget to $25k or under. $10k under would put it at $28k for the base no options model. Compelling but outside our budget.