The 4.6 V8 Tau

[gentau]

Nice GTO! Silver? 6.0?

Thanks. 2005 Quicksilver/Red Interior, 6.0 LS2

 

[EdVoylesHyundai]

Hey. I wonder if they decided to keep the V8 out of the Genesis Coupe for just this reason - reliability. I mean - who's going to be testing the performance of the Genesis more than Coupe owners? The sedan owners will tend to be more docile. They'll drive the sedan like a luxury vehicle. The coupe owners will be more like the Tiburon, G35, 350Z owners and really test the motor. I bet this is why they're holding back for now. To see how the engine does with normal to fairly hard driving - before they place it into a vehicle that's going to be driven very hard (and modified).

I am not going to say that is not the reason b/c I am not a part of the team that made that decision. But I have been told that the V8 was not included in the Genesis Coupe for pricing and packaging reasons. It was too expensive to justify and in order for the the coupe to meet the size and weight and vehicle dynamics targets, they had to shrink the engine bay. My understanding is that the V8 would fit now, but it would require extensive modifications to the chassis.

 

[GrandPrix08]

They originally said the coupe just didn't have room for the V8 engine, so I guess that's probably.... why.

 

[e_stewart]

Yeah.... I remember the first Honda I ever saw still to this day... the brother of my brother's future wife had one. He was still in high school at the time. It was a moped. And it was the only vehicle Honda made in those days. Honda's obviously come a long way since then. Hyundai could pull off the same gains... a lot quicker... and a lot easier than how Honda did it.

 

[ConceptVBS]

Re: The 4.6 V8 Tao

Yeah, but sometimes giving the best effort isn't enough. They have to test it extensively in order to prove what it can do in a long run. Let's hope they do well, but I won't be surprised if they don't either. It's their first ever V8, so.

The Tau V8 engine has been tested for 800,000+ miles while under development.

It took 100+ engineers and 4+ years to develop this engine spending over $250 million in the process.

It's one of the most powerful engines of its displacement size. The 375horsepower(premium) is WITHOUT Direct Injection(DI). One R&D exec was quoted as saying in future generation Tau + DI, it will produce more than 400HP+.

BTW, the chief of R&D Hyundai , Dr. Lee Hyun Soon, was hired away from GM a long time ago with huge amounts of money and benefits. While at GM, Dr. Lee was the head of powertrain division at one of their R&D centers. I wont be surprised if he had some part in the development of the Northstar system.

 

[ConceptVBS]

I am not going to say that is not the reason b/c I am not a part of the team that made that decision. But I have been told that the V8 was not included in the Genesis Coupe for pricing and packaging reasons. It was too expensive to justify and in order for the the coupe to meet the size and weight and vehicle dynamics targets, they had to shrink the engine bay. My understanding is that the V8 would fit now, but it would require extensive modifications to the chassis.

They would have to raise the hood a bit to fit the Tau in the Genesis Coupe. Even if they did fit this engine in there, it would throw off the front to rear balance of the car. Can you say understeering RWD car?

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Re: The 4.6 V8 Tao

The Tau V8 engine has been tested for 800,000+ miles while under development.

It took 100+ engineers and 4+ years to develop this engine spending over $250 million in the process.

It's one of the most powerful engines of its displacement size. The 375horsepower(premium) is WITHOUT Direct Injection(DI). One R&D exec was quoted as saying in future generation Tau + DI, it will produce more than 400HP+.

BTW, the chief of R&D Hyundai , Dr. Lee Hyun Soon, was hired away from GM a long time ago with huge amounts of money and benefits. While at GM, Dr. Lee was the head of powertrain division at one of their R&D centers. I wont be surprised if he had some part in the development of the Northstar system.

Great information! Where did you hear all of this? In other words - what is your source? It's very interesting....

 

[Marvinlee]

The Tau V8 is a great engine on paper, and short road tests are favorable. Long term longevity will depend both on engine quality and owner care. The engine breaks no new ground. There is no cylinder deactivation, direct fuel injection, electric motor driven water pump, or electronically controlled thermostat--all of which exist on one or more other costly brands. And, I do consider $40,000 costly.

 

[Sal Collaziano]

Welcome aboard, MarvinLee! Thank you for signing up! You are correct about the Tao's shortcomings.. However, I do believe Hyundai is simply introducing this car lacking some of the things available at other brands - only to have them for a mid-cycle refreshening. Right now, I think the Genesis is going to sell quite a bit as is. Once that direct injection, cylinder deactivation and other amenities you mentioned come into play, it'll boost sales as they begin to slowdown...

 

[EdVoylesHyundai]

...The engine breaks no new ground. There is no cylinder deactivation, direct fuel injection, electric motor driven water pump, or electronically controlled thermostat--all of which exist on one or more other costly brands. And, I do consider $40,000 costly.

That, to me, is the new ground! The Tau V8 uses none of those power/efficiency-increasing technologies that the other guys use and still puts out more hp/liter and achieves best-in-class V8 fuel economy. Imagine the potential numbers when the start implementing some of that tech!

It is kinda like when the Silverado went to disc brakes at all 4 corners and started advertising that the other trucks were using antiquated technology, but when you looked at the stopping distances, the Tundra stopped something like 24 feet shorter than the Silverado even though it used the older drum brake technology. Doh!

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