diesel tacos

My search came from Yahoo Autos new diesel car sedan available for sale in the US and only MB shows up. A 210 hp diesel V-6 comes with a rating of 31 mpg highway. I know this guy who had a diesel powered VW Beetle tha got 40 mpg. Do they not offer them in the US anymore?

http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/?s...=bodystyle&expanded=performance&expanded=fuel

 

Currently MB is the only company offering a diesel engine in the US passenger car market. VW pulled their diesels from the market after 2006 so that they could meet the new emissions requirements. They redesigned their TDI engines from the ground up. The new ones are much more efficient and powerful. They will be out later this year.

 

Are the specs available for the new TDI engines? More so the anticipated mpg> All I'm seeing is pregame hype, no data from application.

 

Not yet. Volkswagen has decided to change the emissions equipment again since some new technology came out. I read a review of a test drive from a German car magazine that said on a test track racing around they got 46 MPG. That would be equivelant to in-city driving (lots of acceleration).

Officially, VW is waiting for the EPA to test the vehicle for official EPA fuel economy ratings...

 

You forgot to address his question regarding diesels being hard to deal with in cold weather. The diesel hilux (as far as a iknow) is the only truck to make it to the North Pole. it was a diesel

 

Ah, true. Diesel blends change as winter months and cold weather roll in. Additives are put into the fuel to prevent it from gelling. I have used regular blend in temperatures down to 12 degrees F without any additive, and I had no problems. If you get into negative temperatures, a fuel additive is a good idea.

 

Thats actually a really cool idea, and i hate to admit it but i really like the design of the truck. i dont like the color, but i really like the styling

 

I think the catcher on it, though, is the hydraulic system. It doesn't seem to be very inexpensive to make. Of course, if they would just do, they could probably get the price down through mass production.

 

It isn't uncommon to see a 1-ton diesel get over 20 mpg. I can't get that with my V6. I'm just saying. Something smells fishy. Like crude oil?
In regards to availability, Diesel pumps are easier to find than unleaded around here!
And for those who are concerned about reliability, Dodge has a limited lifetime warranty on all the new diesels and used to have a 10 year/100,000 mile warranty before that. Considering that most of their diesels get chip stacked and propane injected to achieve 500+ Ft/Lbs. I'd say reliability isn't an issue.

 

True. And like you said, mass production cuts the cost. Bidding for parts helps too. And I know I'd be willing to pay a little more to help cut the cord with OPEC.

We have all these technologies that could potentially help, but no one has the balls to do it. I didn't see much until the Prius came out. Now Honda does hybrids, and there's that whole "flex-fuel" thing with gas or ethanol. Car companies need to sit down and figure this crap out before we A) run out of fossil fuels or B) people sell their houses to fuel their cars. I mean face it, you NEED to work to survive so that means you NEED a vehicle if you don't have good public transportation. Even then the cost of fuel affect the cost of everything you buy.

 

That's another thing. San Antonio has crap for public transportation. Especially for people like me who live and work on the outskirts of town. Plus, since I am on-call 24/7 I have to be able to get into the control center at a moment's notice. I have to have reliable personal transportation if I can't remote into the system.

Heck, even my wife understands that.

 

Exactly! I was commuting 100 miles round trip before we bought our house. New address cut it down to 50 miles, but it's still a lot. There's a few buses around here, but they don't go where I need or stop nearby. I'm in the computer tech field, and with the low demand I'm looking for work up to 50 miles away again. I used to joke about people being so stupid as to sell the car for gas money, but DAMN now that almost makes sense! (Or sell it for oil/gas to heat the house! Doing that right now with a spare beater truck.)

Call me paranoid, but I always thought the car companies and oil companies were in bed together. Cars could've been getting 50mpg 10 years ago, but the oil companies paid them off to hide that or just not produce it.

I dunno. I just remember a friend rambling on about this great carb that could get crazy mpg. Like 50 or 100 mpg 10-20 years ago. No details or info about it, but it always stuck in my mind. Kinda made me think "Yeah, WHY don't we have more efficient cars? It's been, what, 100 years and no major improvements? C'mon, gimme a break!" Especially after going through the gas rationing years ago before I was born, and the steady increase in price. I can remember 99cents/gal and I'm not that old! It's only been 10-15 years and the price has more than tripled? WTF?

Then I read in the newspaper about how Mobil gave some CEO or something a $45 million bonus!?!?! While people like us are struggling to buy gas to go to work to make money to buy more gas to go to work........ What a vicious cycle. Not to mention anything based on plastic is more expensive (cars, dishes, tools, building supplies, computers, furniture, toys). Hell even food is more expensive because the farmers need fuel, delivery costs more..... The whole time the economy is going to shit, gas prices are going up, and Mobil is posting record profits. hmmmmmmmm...... Maybe I'm not paranoid after all.

 

Exactly!

BTW - a car that gets 63 MPG and a car that gets 60 MPG

 

hmmmm.... Those 2 cars get better mpg than a Prius! Even if you believe the Toyota numbers the Prius gets 48mpg max on average.

We can put people in orbit, and computers in the palm of your hand more powerful than the old building-sized main frames, but can't make an 80-100mpg car for the average Joe. WTF?

 

I thought GM or Ford produced a 350/351 block back in the 90's that got over 300hp annd still got 40 mpg. The oil companies and the car companies are in each others pocket. I'm sure it's no different than Microsoft with pentium. They scratch each others back.

I'm sure they'll be legislation involved to keep diesels from being widespread in our country.

 

That could be what I was thinking about. My friend was big into domestics while we'd had toyotas in my family for many years so I didn't pay much attention. But that's what I'm talking about! And older engine putting out more HP that ours, and getting nearly twice the mpg!

 

Yeah I heard that awhile back from a GM lover I worked with. I tried to google it, but some of the replies where putting out as a myth. Anyways, you can something like 25 mpg out of a 405 hp Vette, the technology is there, they just don't want to release it at this point. Remember oil companies never turned a profit until the early part of this decade, that should say something about the whole thing.

 

biggest thing that would help is direct injection. It would be much more precise with more power and fuel economy (especially on a turbo'ed engine). Downside, of course, is cost.

 

My brother in law drives bio diesels; he converts them himself. He has an old MB, a beat shit Chevy Silverado and a Suzuki Samarai. I'll have to ask him what he gets for mpg. He makes the fuel at home, and is always hyping the benefit. Of course we alwars tease him by giving him spent bottles of Crisco

 

Oil companies have been turning a profit since they were concieved. they are turning record profits in the last few years but they always have turned a profit