Why would a drop-in replacement engine suitable for a Mazda RX-7 be a good opportunity for LiquidPiston?

Comparing the projects of LiquidPiston to the Wankel engines is unavoidable, and of course Mazda is a major reference when it comes to rotary engines because of models such as the RX-7, not to mention all the aftermarket supports oriented mostly toward Mazda's 13B Wankel engine and its variations. As the Wankel fanbase goes beyond the old Mazda range, including many adaptations to which a compact size and high power-to-weight ratio of the 13B engine are a valuable asset, the opportunity for players such as LiquidPiston claiming to solve major handicaps of the Wankel design is clear, and eventually a better deal than relying solely on its contracts with the Department of Defense of the United States catering to the unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs - a.k.a. drones) propulsion systems and portable in-field generator sets. Sure the deals with the military in the United States might be a comfortable source of funding for an engineering company, and a baptism-of-fire in a real battlefield may also be exploited for marketing purposes as a statement of reliability, yet it's pointless to forget other segments already consolidated.

As the Wankel engines are known to have the apex seals as their most critical aspect, and LiquidPiston claims its design solves most of the problem by placing the apex seals on the housings instead of on the rotors, a drop-in replacement engine suitable for the RX-7 and other models either fitted with a Mazda 13B engine from the factory or adapted with one usually for performance reasons. Most likely, as the claimed improvements on reliability and fuel-efficiency compared to both regular reciprocating engines and Wankels could be assessed in real-life conditions if LiquidPiston also decided to finally venture into a leisure-oriented application such as the worldwide Mazda rotary engine fanbase, many other segments to which the Wankel ultimately failed, there would be much better opportunities for an improved rotary engine for repowerings beyond a strictly performance-oriented market. And after some automakers tried to eliminate internal-combustion engines from their ranges due to all that political movements favoring electric vehicles, despite a massive backlash from customers who regretted buying electric cars for a tax break, there is another opportunity for LiquidPiston as many companies would ultimately outsource the engines in order to retain customers. 

Sure the market for military engines is still very promising, and ultimately LiquidPiston benefitted from partial funding by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), but it would still make more sense to venture into the civilian market which provides many opportunities which remain neglected by both major automakers and independent engine manufacturers in many different segments to which the compactness and higher power-to-weight ratio are much desirable. Placing all the eggs in a same basket is quite risky, and that's exactly what LiquidPiston does once it keeps far away from the Mazda Wankel fanbase and other applications to which its improved rotary engine projects may be more effective and commercially viable than a Wankel. And since the Mazda 13B engine which found its way into models such as the RX-7 was compact enough to be also easily adaptable into other models with an even more space-constrained engine bay, it's an obvious benchmark if LiquidPiston ever ventures into this field...

'99-'05 Argentinian Toyota Hilux with the 1KZ-TE engine still soldiering on as a work truck

Instead of the proper '97-'05 worldwide 6th generation of the Toyota Hilux, a facelifted 5th generation had an extended production run in Argentina for Mercosur countries such as Brazil, where it was the first model to feature a turbocharged engine in the Diesel range, the 3.0L 1KZ-TE which was offered only with a 5-speed manual transmission. And despite not being so much of a power and torque beast as some newer direct-injection engines, once in a while I still see some old Hilux fitted with this engine and pulling some trailer which a true-blooded redneck would think only a V8 gasser would handle with ease. Despite newer automatic transmissions being actually better suited for a modern work truck, the manual transmission in this old-school ride may get some credit for its aptitude for the job, compared to older slushboxes which charged a huge performance penalty even with a bigger engine.

 

Why could Diesel engines based on a LiquidPiston project actually be a good idea?

Diesel engines have been a mainstay of trucking for decades, and some manufacturers such as Scania used to keep traditional designs and a higher degree of modularity across different generations of their engines. Obviously many technical improvements lead to a distancing between older and newer models, including aspects pertaining to the engine itself and other features of a vehicle as a whole. Considering how long-nose cabins gave way for flat-nose ones in most markets, which eventually makes it harder to overhaul a wet-sleeve engine without removing it from the frame, going quite radical such as resorting to a rotary engine might sound more tempting, yet the Wankel rotaries usually have a poor compression ratio only suitable for spark-ignition and volatile or gaseous fuels. So, maybe a Diesel engine developed following some principles of the LiquidPiston projects may be a better option, even though any chance to succeed commercially would need to go beyond the single-rotor proof-of-concepts to venture into the dual-rotor layout at least, yet a triple-rotor might also be desirable to keep up with current standards for modularity seen on reciprocating engines, even though for heavy-duty trucks they tend to be straight-6.

Just like Ford resorted to Cummins engines of the B series in 4-cylinder versions ranging from 3.9L to 4.5L and 6-cylinders around 5.9L and 6.7L in most Brazilian versions of the Ford Cargo, so modularity was already a key factor, also considering how some degree of parts interchangeability between engines with different amount of cylinders makes it easier pertaining to maintenance, inherently simpler designs devouted to rotary engines may take one step further. Even though engine blocks and cylinder heads for inline engines can be made basically with the same tooling, yet it may not be so easy to simply chop the block and cylinder head of an engine with more cylinder barrels to fit to the crankcase of a similar one with fewer cylinders or adding more cylinders to a larger crankcase, an increased modularity inherent to rotary engines by simply adding or removing one more rotor housing and intermediate plate according to the need like Mazda did to the 2-rotor 13B and 3-rotor 20B engines on road-legal models, and even a 4-rotor Le Mans racing engine, may render it somewhat easy to apply LiquidPiston designs on a Diesel engines range. Of course some parts will still be specific according to the amount of cylinders or rotors in an engine, such as intake and exhaust manifolds, and the crankshaft for a conventional engine or the eccentric shaft for a rotary, while rotaries not featuring a valvetrain may still have a lower total amount of parts and noticeably getting rid of a camshaft.

While the amount of cylinders used to vary more often according to the gross vehicle weight rating of a vehicle, and so a 4-cylinder would be seen as inherently better suited to a minibus and articulated buses would be supposed to always have to resort to a 6-cylinder, nowadays some power ratings above 200hp are also covered by 4-cylinder engines in regions where stricter emission rules favored the downsizing, even though modularity continues to play a pivotal role for commercial vehicle engines and sometimes greater power rating are achieved with the smaller versions within the range of the predecessor engine. Improved efficiency of turbocharging technologies to overcome turbo-lag and a more accurate control of the electronic fuel injections (usually common-rail, yet unit-injector setups still hold their fair market share too) made a difference, even in a conservative market such as Brazil where a 4-cylinder engine is favored because the cost of replacement injectors for electronically-controlled ones is proportionately higher than for their mechanically-governed counterparts. Considering a LiquidPiston engine will have 3 injectors per rotor housing, maybe at a first glance the cost-effectiveness can be brought into question, since a 2-rotor engine would overcome the perceived economy once downsizing took place.

When it comes to long-distance buses/coaches, eventually the promised compactness of a LiquidPiston engine design proportionate to power ratings might be a good option for the double-deckers which are fairly common in the South and Southeast regions of Brazil and also in neighboring countries such as Argentina and Paraguay, which are usually fitted with 6-cylinder engines around a 12-litre displacement range. Sure a difference between such engines with a larger displacement and others with the very same amount of cylinders, which may be capable of reaching similar power ratings at a higher RPM requiring a shorter differential ratio to provide a similar performance, would still be favorable to the perception of an increased durability under such operating conditions, yet it may already lead to a comparison with the LiquidPiston engines being pointed out to achieve performance levels suitable to replace engines up to 5 times their displacement, considering the 2-stroke LiquidPiston XTS-210 design compared to some conventional 4-stroke Diesel engine. Well, as long as the rotors and the eccentric shaft don't reach sonic speed, and how Wankel engines such as the Mazda 13B are pointed out to be much more rev-happy in order to prevent carbon deposits which could harm the apex seals, despite LiquidPiston engines having substantial differences and the inherently lower compression of the Wankel designs being unsuitable to a Diesel engine, the space constraints caused by the location of the air conditioning and the engine too close to the main luggage compartment would be very compelling to a LiquidPiston-designed engine in order to improve luggage capacity, among other advantages pertaining to overall fuel-efficiency.

A more compact engine layout may be specially relevant in South America where front-engined buses are still fairly common, for both urban transit buses and long-distance coaches, and the stricter emission regulations such as the recently-enforced Euro-6 increase the complexity and physical volume taken by aftertreatment devices, which also tend to be installed remotely from the engine and causing clearance issues with other parts of the vehicle. It may not be much of an issue for urban transit buses, despite the requirement for a lift to comply with the Brazilian accessibility regulations for wheelchair users as most front-engined buses have no provision for a stepless entry, while the underfloor space tends to be taken little to no advantage of, in contrast to coaches on which some valuable underfloor space is already too compromised by the frame rails preventing the fitment of pass-through luggage compartments, and the accessibility regulations also charge their toll on newer models. Having to manage one more clearance issue due to the fitment of a more complex aftertreatment module might be another aspect to consideer in favor of a LiquidPiston engine, because the inherently smaller packaging could free up some space to bring the aftertreatment module closer to the engine bay, which may also be advantageous considering a more direct exposure to the exhaust heat which could lead to an improved efficiency and durability of the particulate filter (DPF) and oxidation catalyst (DOC).

Even though some folks may consider Diesel engines somewhat "superfluous" for private vehicles due to the high complexity of modern aftertreatment devices, they may still retain a foothold on commercial vehicles for a long time because factors such as a much better fuel-efficiency and reliability under the most demanding conditions. While professional operators may have a conservative profile and prefer to invest on solutions already tried and tested, with some drivers and fleet managers still taking 4-cylinder engines on medium-duty trucks with a grain of salt after some 20 years for instance, the ever-increasing strictness of emission regulations may open the doors for some technical solutions which may take one step further, such as resorting to a definitely unorthodox LiquidPiston-based design for instance. In the end, as fully-electric vehicles are proving themselves troublesome time and time again despite all those political attempts to ban internal-combustion engines in general, the suitability of LiquidPiston designs to the operating principles of a Diesel engine may become a reason to give them a chance...

Was the Chevette the most effective American contender to the Volkswagen Beetle?

Sort of a "world car" before such definition was more common, sure the Chevette had engineering input from international branches of GM and other companies affiliated with GM in one way or another, such as the former Saehan in South Korea and Isuzu in Japan, so it might be somewhat complicated to single it out as all-American, yet this was undeniably among the first serious contenders to the Volkswagen Beetle. Despite a relatively short production run as Chevrolet Chevette in the United States from '75 to '86 covering the model-years from '76 to '87, while it had also been available as Isuzu Gemini sourced from Japan to replace the '73 Opel Kadett C previously sourced from Germany and available through the Buick dealers network, the Chevette soldiered on from '73 to '93 in Brazil while Brazilian CKD kits for regional export were available at least until '95 being assembled for the last time in '96 in Ecuador. A fierce competition from Toyota and Honda, which switched from rear-wheel drive to front-wheel drive at a faster pace than GM within the compact-car segment in the American market, may also lead to the Chevette being somewhat underappreciated, despite being the closest to a serious American contender to the Volkswagen Beetle despite most of the engineering efforts being Japanese, German and Brazilian.

Despite the Brazilian models of the Chevrolet Chevette featuring OHC heads on both the 1.4L and 1.6L engines, and even the later short-lived 1.0L engine, in some countries the smallest engines ranging from 1.0L to 1.2L in the European Opel Kadett C and 1.4L in the American Chevette and the Isuzu Gemini more often resorted to OHV valvetrains, with the 1.6L engine being available on both layouts while the sportier models from Isuzu with a larger 1.8L engine of which the Diesel version also derived was only fitted with OHC heads. A derivative made in Argentina from '74 to '78 and named Opel K-180 featured a 1.8L engine based on the 4-cylinder 2.5L Chevrolet 153 engine, maybe conceptually closer to what a true-blooded redneck would expect back in the day, and since it would be supposed to require a smaller investment than upgrade the tooling of some GM engine plants in overseas branches compared to OHC engines it may sometimes seem quite surprising neither the Brazilian or American Chevettes featured at least one derivative of the 153 engine. Sure the belt-driven OHC cylinder head featured on the Chevette being more modern charged its toll, yet the cast-iron block and head were eventually cost-effective in a comparison to the usage of aluminium alloys in the Volkswagen Beetle engine which still resorted to a gear-driven OHV valvetrain, while the stereottypically-American front-engine rear-wheel drive layout of the Chevette giving it a more traditional aspect eventually rendered it easier to cater to a different set of preferences and regulations according to the markets where it was officially available, in contrast to a somewhat rigid layout of the Volkswagen Beetle with its rear engine which went out of favor as quickly as the Japanese automotive industry expanded its presence on many regions where the Beetle used to be the benchmark for compact cars pertaining to affordability and ease of maintenance.

It might be quite unfair to compare the Chevette and the Beetle, yet both used to be references among the compact cars in Brazil and still have their fanbases locally, while on a worldwide basis it's harder to point out the Chevette or its stablemates as if they were as much of a cultural icon as the Beetle became, while the consolidated competition from Japanese automakers eventually overshadowed the Chevette in the United States where it was supposed to be a serious world-class option for those on the market for a small car from an American manufacturer. Despite an even shorter production run in Europe from '73 to '79 for the Opel Kadett C, with front-wheel drive being consolidadet as the the standard for its segment in Western Europe, while the Volkswagen Beetle soldiered on through a proportionately much longer time from its availability for the civilian market in '45 until a phaseout of German manufacturing in '78 even facing the Chevette/Kadett C and their stablemates among other contenders, the Beetle was still supplied from Mexico to Europe as a captive import until '85. Maybe timing was not the best for the Chevette to be taken more seriously as a contender for the Volkswagen Beetle, as its more conservative dictated it should follow some trends the Beetle would be exempted due to its iconic status...

Was it a mistake for Ford to not have offered a Diesel engine in the Bullnose Ford F-100 outside of Argentina?

Possibly one of the most iconic generations of the Ford F-Series, the 7th generation also known as Bullnose had some firsts for this range, such as the Diesel engine for the F-250 and above, yet this option was unavailable for the F-100 excepting some Argentinian versions. Made from late-'79 to '86 in the United States and Canada, from '80 to '86 in Mexico and Venezuela, and from '81 to '87 in Argentina, the 7th generation of the F-Series was already developed in accordance to the mandate for light-duty trucks to comply with the CAFE fuel economy regulation, naturally prompting a Diesel engine option to become available for the F-250 HD and the F-350, yet the option for a 6.9L International V8 Diesel engine never being extended to the F-100 at a time when light-duty trucks became more widely attractive to private buyers who used them as a regular car. Naturally, differences between regional markets prompted some changes to engine options, and in Argentina the 4-cyl 203 cubic-inch (3.3L) Perkins 4-203 Diesel engine was factory-fitted to the F-100, while the F-350 got the 305 cubic-inch (5.0L) 6-cyl Perkins 6-305, addressing the demand for Diesel on both ends of the market. Sure it was a faster response to some regional need for engines manufactured locally, to which a dedicated production of the 6.9 International would be cost-prohibitive, while outsourcing was as reasonable as sharing the straight-6 and V8 gasoline engines with the car range to enhance the economics of scale.

Most likely different emission regulations, and how specific engines could be perceived as "too underpowered" according to which region they were available, prevented Ford from offering a Diesel engine option for the USDM F-100, or maybe the higher profits on the bigger models rendered it easier to turn it into a premium feature somehow. While a stricter GVWR limit for drivers with regular car license in some countries still retained a considerable demand for the F-100 among professional users, sounds quite obvious the Perkins Diesel engine was a valuable asset in Argentina for instance, despite not being so smooth as another engine exactly meant for vehicles since day one would be supposed to, yet maybe a similar option for a simpler and lighter engine could also remain competitive to the Japanese takeover of light-duty truck markets within the home front and overseas export destinations. So, even though maybe the engine offered in Argentina would be supposed to not fare so outstandingly well from the most orthodox redneck point of view, it's undeniably another mistake from Ford having never expanded availability of the Diesel F-100 beyond Argentina...

MP Lafer, a Brazilian Volkswagen-powered replica of the British MG TD

One of those Brazilian makeshift cars which emerged once the local market faced severe restrictions on imports from mid-'70s to early-'90s, the MP Lafer was made by a furniture factory, resorting to the very usual method of fitting a different body to a Volkswagen platform, with its rear engine and all, yet it had the styling cues from a traditional British roadster which was originally front-engined.

Right above the rear lid, which would be a trunk in the original model yet became an engine cover for the Brazilian replica, ventilation slots are clearly visible, giving a clue about what makes it so different from the British source of inspiration, yet the woodgrain dashboard makes for a period-accurate look, yet those modern pedals are mismatching the overall aspect of the interior.

Finishings were fairly good for what it was meant to be back in the day, when fewer options could be had by someone looking for a car which stood out of the crowd in a tightly closed market, all while the maintenance remained much easier than an exotic import to which eventually the replacement parts also became harder to find.

Even though not too many were made, as it was a low-volume model, once in a while some MP Lafer appears on the streets in my hometown Porto Alegre.

Why would I still lurk about building a "glamping pod" from a Volkswagen Kombi bodyshell?

Among those vehicles which not only are easy to recognise, but also dearly beloved by so many people, sure the Volkswagen Kombi holds its fair share of distinction. Making a surprisingly good use of space in proportion to its exterior dimensions, despite the engine bay and wheel wells, it's no surprise much sought after by camping enthusiasts around the world who often resort to some sort of motorhome conversion. Despite the lack of interior height for most people to stand up inside, some folks even manage to install a functional (yet somewhat small) bathroom, rendering it a fairly reasonable alternative to blowing money at hotels. Sure it won't be a one-size-fits-all solution, but for temporary living quarters it's undeniably better than a camping tent...

Would a more compact ambulance make any sense at all?

Ambulance fleets tend to vary substantially from one country to another, and it's usual for it to also happen within one country, due to circumstances such as a harsher off-road terrain condition eventually demanding the ruggedness of a 4WD body-on-frame truck or a narrow street with constantly heavy traffic making it easier to reach the emergency in a more compact van for instance. In-between all that, specific controles such as the United States historically favored full-size trucks to fulfill this role as the one-size-fits-all, which could eventually be OK in the middle of nowhere with little traffic and the need for as much medical supplies as possible inside the ambulance, or even some specific tools to remove a wounded driver from a wrecked car. Sure the perceived low cost difference of keeping a full-size truck as the default option to fit a modular ambulance body may sound too hard to overlook, not to mention now the compact and mid-size body-on-frame trucks usually resort to fully boxed frames, while a full-size can still be specified with the boxed section of the frame only around the engine bay and driver cab, with a large unboxed section of the frame rails rendering it easier to install specialty bodywork and requiring fewer redesigns across different generations of full-size trucks.

Maneuvering through congested city traffic is still quite a challenge for the ambulance drivers,  despite every other driver being demanded to make way for an ambulance on-duty with lights flashing and the siren blasting, so it might not be so dumb at all to eventually consider the suitability of some smaller truck models to be converted into ambulances in the United States, just like it's usually done elsewhere. An example which I remember is the usage of the Ford Ranger as a rural ambulance, in contrast to how vans in general tend to be more common in urban ambulance service or highway rescue, and it may eventually resemble the appearance of a (stereo)typical American ambulance with that modular box body, except for its smaller overall size which in fact had never become a compromise for its aptitude to the task. I would never expect American ambulance fleet managers to switch from automatic to manual transmissions, or to suddently being more favorable to a 4-cyl turbodiesel instead of a V6 or V8 regardless of fuel type, yet for some operators a more compact ambulance with improved maneuvering through either heavy traffic or a woodland dirt-bike trail could effectively mean the whole difference between life and death for someone...

Brazilian 2001 GMT400 GMC 3500HD, actually a rebadged C2500 with the shortbed more often fitted to a 1500

Brazil is far from being easy to understand at all, with its automotive market reflecting so many aspects of the country as a whole. As most of the industrial policies in Brazil tender to be focused on import replacement, and the automotive market had been further affected by severe restrictions to imports which nearly wiped them off Brazil from '76 to '90 for the average Joe, the buying pattern became somewhat more conservative than usual for certain vehicle classes, including full-size pick-up trucks to which evolutions took longer to arrive. And due to economics of scale, region-specific powertrains also had a foothold after imports were allowed once again. That was the case for the Mercosur derivative of the GMT400 generation of the Chevrolet and GMC full-size trucks and SUVs, much simpler than its counterparts made in countries other than Brazil and Argentina.

Available only as RWD because of the cost, and the fact that compact/mid-size trucks took over most of the market share in retail, a regional GMC counterpart to the Chevrolet Silverado also resorted to the regular cab and short bed, with the MWM Sprint 6.07T straight-6 turbodiesel and a 5-speed manual transmission. The regular cab was not much of a big deal for most of those who bought a Brazilian-made full-size truck, considering how aftermarket cab conversions used to be relatively popular until the early 2000s, yet the absence of options such as automatic transmission or 4-wheel drive tended to be covered by grey-imports instead. The usage of a short bed in a 3/4-ton, more associated with the half-tons elsewhere, still reflected not only the imports replacement approach, but also how 3/4-tons took over the market in order to address the minimum payload requirements for 2-wheel drive vehicles to be granted the usage of a Diesel engine since '76, even though the GMT400 was released in '88 for the United States and only arrived in Brazil officially in '97 despite a grey-import presence in the early '90s...

While the GMT400 for Brazil was sourced from Argentina between the '97 and 2000 model-years, in 2000 and 2001 production was transferred to Brazil, and only for the 2001 model-year a GMC model for the retail customer was available, with little success due to the prevalence of Chevrolet. The name 3500HD was meant to reflect a GVWR slightly above 3500kg, which required a commercial driver license in Brazil, yet the yearly tax is lower as it's titled as a truck instead of trucklet for bureaucratic purpose. And even though no half-ton GMT400 was officially available in Brazil at that time, so the economics of scale could still favor a longer bed, the frame being a carryover from the previous C/K generation instead of the same of its USDM equivalent dictated the shorter bed to retain the short wheelbase.

Why should've Volkswagen kept the air-cooled boxer engine for a longer time in Brazilian front-engined models at least as an option?

Volkswagen used to be the best-selling automaker in Brazil for some decades, with some models having been developed specifically for the regional market, such as a 2-door bodystyle in the 2nd generation of the Parati compact station-wagon, in a time when Brazilians were starting to become more favorable to 4-door cars in the mid-'90s despite a more conservative part of Volkswagen's local customer base still being more fond of the 2-door models. That was also a time when 1.0L-engined cars became prevalent due to a more favorable (or less unfavorable) taxation, which former president Itamar Franco amended to allow air-cooled engines up to 1.6L to be eligible for the same benefit which remains in effect for the water-cooled 1.0L engines. Much has changed regarding engine technology, and some approaches such as 4 valves per cylinder which failed in the '90s due to poor maintenance became more usual in recent years, but a more "dumbproof" engine such as the good old air-cooled boxer could've soldiered on a little more...

While the 1.0L engines were much more relevant in Brazil than in other regional Latin American export markets, from the 16-valve which was the only within its displacement bracket fitted to the Parati to the 8-valve which soldiered on for longer in the Gol, and export markets favored 1.4L through 1.6L engines much more, eventually the air-cooled boxer would still remain more relevant in Brazil had the lower tax bracket remained effective after '96 in that very same context of "People's car" which led to the rise of the 1.0L class to reach around 70% market share in the early 2000s in Brazil. What has led Volkswagen to give up on the boxer in late-2005 were the Euro-3 emission regulations, mostly concerning the noise, and a lower production volume rendered the investment to make a flexfuel version exclusive to Brazil unjustifiable, as that engine had already been phased out in Mexico in 2003, so the 1.4L 8-valve version of the EA-111 engine effectively took over the role of the air-cooled boxer in commercial vehicles and also had an increase to its presence in regional export markets where the 1.0L would seem even harder to justify. Sure the air-cooled boxer could also seem hard to justify because of its age, yet being such a well-proven powerplant with fewer parts to break would still have its appeal among some buyers who tended to neglect maintenance, and for a front-engined vehicle the improved air flow would lead to a more efficient cooling than in older rear-engined models.

Technically simpler, with a better low-end torque than some 1.0L water-cooled engines which took its role in the "People's car" segment in Brazil, the air-cooled boxer also had its advantages compared to a water-cooled 1.6L straight-4 in longitudinally-engined models such as the 3rd-generation Gol, because a shorter engine which also happened to be lighter tended to weight distribution and decrease structural efforts to the unibody. Of course relying on an aluminium-magnesium alloy was quite troublesome due to cost compared to straight-4 engines with a cast-iron block, not to mention air-cooled engines usually resorting to a richer air-fuel ratio to assist with cooling, even though in a front-mounted application it would eventually be suitable to an oil-assisted cooling more similar to what BMW used to apply to the R-series motorcycles. So, even though the air-cooled boxer was seemingly outdated at a first glance, it still could have soldiered on for longer, at least until Volkswagen got rid of longitudinally-engined cars in Brazil only in 2013...