Will DOD be a DUD?

[4Vman]

With all this talk about "DOD" being the new catch phrase or acronym of the trendy for Fuel economy im not at all convinced
Im sure the car companies have done their homework however there are some points that concern me:
1) shutting off cylinders will create uneven heat production through the block, will this cause premature head gasket failure from warping?
2) will uneven heat distribution cause eratic expansion and contraction in the block causing uneven bore wear?
3) If a car requires 100kw's to maintain a constant speed does it matter how many cylinders it uses to make that 100kw's? Remember fuel has a caloretic value thats constant. eg: more power needs more fuel.
4) is there a tangiable benifit from producing 100kw's from 4 cylinders V 8 given frictional losses will be almost the same?

The early feedback im seeing from motors using this technology is there is very little gained in fuel economy in real world situations and the potential down sides as mentioned might be worse...