Fire up your hate mail! someone doesn't thing VTEC is the greatest invention since sliced bread!
When people see that I dont worship VTEC either on my website or on Supercars.net many of them write me an email or a reply along the lines of :

" If you think VTEC is nothing great then you must be the most ignorant person on earth, I bet you dont even know what it does, well ill tell you, it means Variable Valve Timing and Lift electronic Control."

I cant even count the amount of people who have told me almost exactly that.  They claim I have no knowledge of how a VTEC system works but they just tell me what the acronym VTEC stands for.  Sounds well educated to me.

This section will discuss the Use of DOHC VTEC sytems in honda's 4 cylinder aplications and the Pros and Cons it generates.  I am by no means an expert on every aspect of its workings but I do have a general understanding and will attempt to explain things as simpily as posible.

VTEC is nothing more than variable valve timing (VVT).  In other words the duration and amount in which the intake valves are opened is changed by the camshafts.  VTEC camshafts have three cam lobes per intake valve.  These camshaft lobes are shifed over the intake valves by a hydrolic sylinoid.  When they shift is determined by the engines speed. (RPMs)
Notice the 3 cam lobes in the VTEC cylinder head (left)
-The first and Smallest lobe is designed for fuel efficiency, smooth ide and low rpm performance.

-The second lobe begins its use at about 3,500 or 4,000 RPMs and is designed to give midrange performance or for everyday driving.

-Finaly at 6,000 rpms the third lobe comes into use.  It is much more aggressive than the previous two and designed for High RPM performance.

This system was designed to maintain the fuel efficiency of a 4 cylinder but to have some extra power on tap for highway passing and making a compact fun to drive.  For that purpose there is no reason to dislike VTEC powertrain.

However many people who drive cars such as Civic Si's and Integra GSR's have blown the performance of these cars entirely out of proportion.  The 3rd cam lobe not being used untill 6,000 rpms is in many aspects a deficit.  This only allows the engine to preform its best above 6,000 rpms and limits the usable powerband to a mere 2,000 rpms because these engines redline at 8,000.  This also results in very low amounts of torque below 6,000rpms any car enthusiast knows that having sufficient amounts of torque at low rpms is necesary for good off the line accelration.  Keep in mind that most larger diplacement and superchared engines redline at about 6,000rpms and have ran through its powerband just when the VTEC motor is getting into full swing. 

With that said a VTEC powertrain is not ideal for dragracing or Redlight grandprix's on the streets.  As I have said time and time before it is not imposible for a VTEC powertain to succeed in a drag race, it is however one of the worst choices for the aplilcation.

Don't worry i havent forgot about track performance.  Many Honda fans claim that their Honda "Type R's" were designed from the factory to prefrom on the track.  I dont see how factory commuter cars were meant to only be used on a road course but a VTEC mortor would fair better on one because off the line accelaration is almost irrelvant.  However a VTEC motor's lack of performance below 6,000rpms can hurt its track performance in slow corners and hair pin turns.  In these slower turns the rpms may drop below 6,000 and it can be long climb back to its powerband. 

As you can see i dont dislike VTEC but I do dislike the hype implied by many of its fans and users.
Final Points and Myths to Disprove
-VVT is nothing Specail to Honda almost every major car manufacturer has a from of VVT.  Many honda fans do think this never looking outside honda's own car and engine line up.

-Engine speed DOES NOT = GROUND SPEED!! I have gotten numerous e-mails from people claiming that their honda can beat a car wth more hp based on the fact that their engine can rev higher.  There reasoning for this has been anything from: More RPMs means the wheels are spinning faster to When you shift you car 6,000 rpms you have to let off the acclerator but i can keep going untill 8,000.  The botom line is that no high reving 160hp honda engine is no more powerful than a 160hp "low" reving engine.  However when the power is made (in the rpm range) can make a difference.          Back to Home Page