Kia has announced it has began a full scale production of the Cee’d ISGs at it’s European manufacturing plant in Slovakia. Kia cee’d ISG models are already underway, while deliveries to European customers are scheduled to begin during the next two months.
At the beginning, Kia will build 6 different cee’d ISG models, while later, during the year, ISG technology will be expanded to diesel engine equipped cee’ds as well. Furthermore, Kia also promised to expand it’s innovative technology to other models in the range, while in the 2010, the ISG technology will also spread to markets outside of Europe.
Kia’s innovative ISG system automatically switches the engine off when the car is stopped in traffic and restarts the engine instantly when the driver wishes to move again. When city driving, in typical heavy traffic conditions and constant stop-start motoring, the ISG system cuts the fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 15%compared to the standard cee’d model, while everyday driving over town, country and motorway routes, the officially measured fuel saving is 6% on the combined cycle. (See the table!)
The Kia cee’d ISG also benefits from a significantly improved, new-generation 5-speed manual transmission, which weighs 5 kilograms less than previous unit and features new selector mechanism.
Pricing details for cee’ds sporting the fuel saving ISG technology is yet to be announced, but we were told that it will vary across Europe to suit individual market conditions.
How does the ISG system from Kia Motors work?
As part of the ISG system for cee’d, a new ‘smart’ starter motor is linked to an upgraded ECU, which monitors the car’s status at all times. When the car stops, the ECU uses information from various other control systems around the vehicle to decide if switching the engine off is appropriate.
A new ‘smart’ high-efficiency alternator suppresses electric power demand during acceleration and recharges the car’s battery during deceleration. As a ‘fail-safe’ if the car’s battery power drops below 75% of maximum for any reason, or there is insufficient energy available for the next start-up, the system will abort its ‘Idle Stop & Go’ program.
While the car is stationary, if the clutch pedal is depressed, the engine is instantly re-started – automatically – so there is no delay in setting off as the engine re-starting process is accomplished in the time it takes the driver to select first gear.
The new Kia cee’d ISG models confirm Kia’s commitment to creating more environmentally friendly and fuel-efficient production models – without losing sight of customer expectations for Kia cars to feature a sporty design, fun-to-drive performance and a strong appeal to the young-at-heart.” told Hyoung-Keun Lee, Senior Executive Vice President and COO of the International Business Division, said, ”
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January 14th, 2009 at 4:33 pm
This is cool news. I’m waiting to see the ISG system installed to the Soul crossover. Also other vehicles such as future YN and Picanto are expected to receive it.
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Let’s only hope the system doesn’t cost too much! Has anyone heard about pricing yet?
January 14th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
So the engine restarts when the clutch is depressed to avoid delay when the accelerator is depressed. It will have to be ULTRA reponsive if its gonna work with auto trannies. manuals don’t sell very well at all here. auto would be needed
January 15th, 2009 at 10:17 am
I already have an ISG in my Demo-pool… It is 200€ more expensive than the “old” 1.4′s and 1.6′s…
January 15th, 2009 at 10:24 am
That’s awesome! I thought it’s gonna cost like additional 1000 EUr, so this is quite a surprise! Do you know what are the future Kia plans regarding ISG. Does the company plan to slovly expand the ISG technology to all cee’ds built or just a part of them?
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Do you think one will still be able to buy standard cee’d without ISG within next two year? I’m asking this, because I hope in the long-term there will be no cee’ds without ISG…
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Well anyway, the price seems to be attractive enough and not too costly. And also, you can’t find any other car in cee’ds price range on the market right now, to feature start-stop system! Which is good and gives Kia some advantage over it’s competitors.
January 15th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I heard about 600-800 € for the ISG System. (In Germany)
January 15th, 2009 at 11:44 am
It’ll be interesting what effect, if any, to the life of the battery and the starter motor, especially on the diesel motors where there’s a high compression ratio to overcome on startup. It’s not a new idea but a good idea.
January 15th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
It’s an other battery as well as starter… KMB claims that within the next 10 years or so most (if not all) vehicules will have some kind of ISG
January 15th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
I also have one in my demo-pool
January 15th, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Slger , I heard ISG on the ceed it’s standard .
January 15th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
I hear it’s the same system that BMW uses, made by the same manufacturer, so it’s already tried and tested.
January 15th, 2009 at 9:46 pm
How about the wear and tear of the engine in so many start ups? What did Kia do to minimize this? otherwise, the fuel savings are not worth the rapid wear of the engine.
January 16th, 2009 at 6:22 am
it doesn’t start like a regular engine in ISG mode. all pistons stop dead centre inline with each other so that ther is no need of crank type restart. its just like an electric motor. You might wanna research on mazda’s [maybe it's actually ford's] version of this engine on their global website. they have animated illustrations as well.
January 16th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
I have heard and read many negative words on the stop&go system from various car owners over the past few weeks. But it seems like just about every comment came from the mouth of a owner whose car doesn’t feature the stop and go system so this bases on not enough knowledge on the system!
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Interesting enough, none from mostly BMW owners, have nothing bad to say about the system. BMW has used it for more than 6 months and there were no problems reported as of now!! So, I think everyone should stop worrying about the ISG and perhaps garner some more knowledge about the system, before complaining that the system will harm the engine.
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I think you have nothing to worry about! Kia has probably done a lot of extensive testing and since the system proved to be reliable and not not harful to any other part of the car, decided to make it available.
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I can just say kudos to Kia for bringing the system to production so quickly and among first automakers on the world!
January 17th, 2009 at 1:50 am
Hmmmm, you’ve lost me with your explanation Boris, you’ve got a reciprocating motion of the pistons 4, 6, 8 whatever, all connected via the conrods to the rotary motion of the crankshaft, so I’m just trying to work out when all the pistons would lineup?? Easy with a 4 cylinder, 2 pistons would be on their way down the stroke and 2 pistons on the way up, so where the meet half way in the stroke???? lets no go to a 6 or 8 cylinder engine. I guess what you’re saying is that none of the cylinders are in actual compression when the engine stops, which may make it easy to crank the engine over, but hang-on, you said the engine doesn’t “crank-over”?? you’ve lost me.
As you said, I had better do a little research, as obviously you have.
January 17th, 2009 at 2:53 am
Ok Boris, now I’ve checked it out for the Mazda engines and I gather Kia’s may be the same. You were right (as usual) the engine is started, not by the starter motor, but by fuel being injected into a cylinder and ignited just to get the engine rotating again, which will start the normal running of the motor. Very ingenious, but I guess you can do it these days with electronically controlled fuel injection as well as the ignition system. (see Mazda system below)
Idling stop systems save fuel by shutting down the engine automatically when the car is stationary, and restarts it when the driver resumes driving. Conventional idling stop systems restart a vehicle’s engine with an electric motor using exactly the same process as when the engine is started normally. Mazda’s SISS, on the other hand, restarts the engine through combustion. Mazda’s system initiates engine restart by injecting fuel directly into the cylinder while the engine is stopped, and igniting it to generate downward piston force.
In order to restart the engine by combustion, the pistons must be stopped at exactly the correct position to create the right balance of air volume in each cylinder. The Smart Idle Stop System provides precise control over the piston positions during engine shutdown to accomplish this. The SISS indexes each cylinder and initiates fuel injection before the engine begins to rotate. This enables the engine to be restarted in just 0.35 seconds*˛, roughly half the time of a conventional electric motor idling stop system.
January 17th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
hmm, if Kia is using a motor to restart, then it might take 1 second to restart compared to fuel injecting which Mazda claims starts in half a second. but mazda developed this around two years ago and the text might also be from then. Kia must have improved the motor-start system…
January 17th, 2009 at 3:28 pm
The Bosch system that BMW and now Kia uses is fast enough, the restarts are very very quick, no problem there at all.
January 20th, 2009 at 12:24 am
I suspect, provided the ISG doesn’t have any problems like some people are complaining about, this will be standard equipment on all combustion engines. If it’s going to save fuel and reduce emissions, the manufacturers will probably jump on it. I know BMW has another feature they’re working on, though it’s years away- exhaust steam capturing. That’s a neat thing to look into as well.
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As for this system with the Cee’d: it’s something else for me to be jealous of European Kia! Bring the Cee’d to America!!