Americans are getting screwed.

So I was watching Auto Trader on Discovery HD Theater last night. They were showing some guys who were looking for a small double cab 4x4 truck for their Air Conditioning business. They had 3 options. Mitsubishi L200, Ford Ranger, and Isuzu rodeo (not the crap suv americans got). they were all only 1-2 years old and all three had turbo diesel. WTF? they have 3 options for small size pickups with turbo diesels and we cant even get one? Do these companies really think there is no market for a small turbo diesel truck in America?

 

Too fuel eff for USA.

 

EPA regulations are preventing us from getting the turbo diesel engines

 

Diesel is a dirty for the US.

 

I don't get it either. Right now VW is selling smaller econocars with turbo diesel engines in them for $20k. I'd pay $20k for a small TDI truck, hands-down.

 

But is it?

I mean...years ago it was.

With newer technology of diesel engines, you'd think the EPA regulations could be adapted since technology has come a long way.

But then again - Do we really need to promote 'OIL' driven technology? It's probably better off we stay away from diesel and spend time/money into developing technology for better electric & non-oil based vehicles.

 

I'm all for alternate powered cars, but electric and hydrogen cars aren't going to be affordable or totally practical probably for another 6-8 years. In the meantime, some of these newer clean diesels get 50MPG. My wife's mother has a 2003 Jetta TDI wagon. The thing gets 52MPG and will climb a tree if you let it. Unfortunately the thing is a POS. If Toyota brought over a Tacoma TDI, I'd buy one.

 

I have to disagree about your statement, Electric cars are great and all and whoohoo get 30-40MPGs but they still need Fossil Fuel to charge them.
Also Iv seen Diesel Cars get 50mph

 

Well... I was on a blog for the Chevy Volt and according the the engineers it'll use the same amount of power to charge as does your fridge. So not that much. I think electric cars are the way to go ultimately but they're still too underdeveloped at this point. Plus, the thing is that we have like 250 years of coal laying around and we can burn it pretty cleanly these days. So it'd be ironically cleaner to charge an electric car using clean burning coal than running them on diesel.

For now I'd still get a diesel though. I know Mahindra is supposed to have a small diesel truck anyday now.

 

Everyone uses diesel all around the world. And they are all normal sized pickups/SUVs. Only in the america's that ridiculously huge pickups get diesels.

The reason, politics and economy. It's the same reason why new york has a x1000000 public transpo. They're just making money off of us.

If you want to know more, just research the decision making process by politicians and businessman when southern cali was first developed. It's all about the $$$$$

 

I recall listening to Bob Lutz- one of the GM execs answer a question why GM wasn't building small diesels. His answer was that the average consumer wouldn't want to pay the additional $4,000-$5,000 for the cost of the engine. The only problem with that is that VW does have a smaller diesel in their jetta and the car costs about the same as the regular gas version. Somehow the dots don't connect. Lastly, I'd pay a bit of a premium for a diesel anyway.

 

If toyota could immediately start exporting their diesel vehicles from overseas to the U.S. - then they should go for it.

But for Toyota to start all over again and design, develope, $$$, and TONS of time developing a diesel.... then No - they should be spending that time & money on further developing better technology for non-oil based vehicles.

I saw a show on PlanetGreen about "Who Killed the Electric car?"
VERY VERY interesting. GM's developement of the EV1 back in 1990. The amount of BS that was occuring back then and caused them to stop developing it and actually TRASHED like 85 vehicles.
Just think.....If GM (or any car manufacturer) continued to work on that technology back then - they might have it all figured out by now.

 

yeah but thats all car MFGs.

 

The reason there aren't more diesel models in the U.S. is because of strict emission standards. Diesels in the U.S. have to be much cleaner here than in other countries.

The additional equipment needed to make vehicles comply with the emission standards is prohibitive. When gas was $4/gallon, many manufacturers scrambled to bring diesel models to market but when gas prices came down, they all pulled the plug.

Right now it seems like the flavor of the month is maximizing fuel efficiency of the traditional engine: direct injection, continuously variable transmissions, lighter vehicles, cylinder deactivation, etc.

 

Does it really matter who or where the technology comes from?

We need new, reliable, inexpensive, user friendly, clean, & safe energy alternatives regardless of who's involved in making it happen.

 

diesels are better for the earth than hybrids...as far as CO2 emissions and the impact on the enviroment with all the items used (those batteries used in hybrids...mainly LI-Ion are horrible for the earth)

 

this is why CAT no longer produces diesel engines for highway trucks. the last generation (EPA '07) CAT engines did not meet emission standards and CAT ended up forking out MILLIONS of dollars in fines for EVERY engine in every truck they went in.

EPA '10 diesel engines in highway/medium duty truck applications run so clean they are now air purifiers. air going in is dirtier than the exhaust going out.

 

Exactly why 'they' (whoever they are) should have been working on this shit years & years ago - they might have solved the battery problem or came up with a solar solution or some other new technology.

We'll be damn lucky to have a good clean technology by the time my generation is buried.

Funny, but instead of the X Prize....they should have a challenge similar to that for fuel technology. Winning that much money? There'd be people all over the world developing and spending lots of time on newer technology, trial & error, and even coming up with newer ideas. The 'attention' this world needs right now on this topic.

 

The comment about hybrid batteries being sent to the dump is inaccurate. Take the rear seat out of any Prius and there's a sticker where Toyota will pay you $600 for the battery. Simply put, the metals in these batteries are too expensive to throw away. If you think about it , almost all car batteries are recycled. Something like 85% of all lead acid batteries get melted down. So hybrids really aren't any different from regular cars.

 

More people should be aware of this!