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What Would It Take for YOU to buy a diesel car?
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It's like the folks who install solar panels facing the street instead of facing the sun (as told by Gary).
Luxury isn't green at all.
He cannot force me to cut down the oak as it is an Engelmann protected by the endangered species act or some such law. In fact you would probably get more jail time for cutting down an oak tree on your own land than for beating your wife. My neighbor to the South has very large pine trees along her property line. That would kill any solar for me on the roof at least. Maybe a diesel generator would be a better way to beat our high cost electricity. :confuse:
Gas vs. diesel
For a permanent electrical system, the cardinal rule of generator shopping is do not even consider a gasoline-powered unit that runs at 3600 rpm . . . for several good reasons:
Almost all of these machines are built for intermittent use only.
Almost all of them will self-destruct when used for prolonged periods at even modest loads.
Almost all are optimistically over-rated.
I might have posted this before but VW has LONG since marketed the (under) 2.0 L diesel generator for both commercial and marine applications. Of course its "multi dimensional" use in TDI cars might be a good "second" use ! :P Further down the FYI line, one of the reasons why the 2.0 (and under now) has a 25,000 hour design life (@ 3/4 of redline rpm no less, aka 3,800) (45 mph avg or 1.125 m miles) was because of the "generator application" Natually in the passenger car diesel vehicle applications there are a plethora of modifying to deadly variables.
I wouldn't even consider a gas generator. We seem to have a major power outage about every 7 years or so. I'd use it once and then have to siphon out the gas and/or winterize it each time.
I keep a spare propane tank all the time, always full, plus it's clean and I wouldn't have to worry about fuel going stale.
What do you guys think?
Diesel generator would still have issues with stale fuel and storage, plus I'd have to go buy diesel fuel after each storm.
What say ye?
This is really the chink in the "ALL" electric armor. CA G & especially E (electric) routinely have massive black to brown to ration outs. To now put all electric cars (in effect) ON the GRID borders on utter disaster and is mildly to grossly irresponsible. While this is opaque to even die hard enviro cons, solar and wind is not even close to covering the fix demands, let alone seasonal demands like increased A/C use during summer. I mean really what are the hard core enviro cons going to do; cut A/C during summer and let the ones like old folks and at risk folks DIE from heat stroke? They won't even cut A/C to prison systems. Again this stuff is totally bogus.
So that I am not vague, the very LAST thing my electric power company and city, county and state and probably country wants is to NOT be a consumer of energy and off the grid. Even worse they do NOT want people to be net net net electric energy PRODUCERS.
So for example, if I consumer $50 per month in electricity, they do not want me to consumer ZERO, or off the grid. They would LOATH me (others also) to be a NET NET NET producer of electrical energy or the utility company paying ME $50.00 per month. The last I read it is actually against the law !!! Even the capital structure is against me (you). It will cost me app $30,000 for equipment and installation. For what, a $50 month/600 year electric bill ? WOW a quick and dirty B/E gives me 50 years. LOL. I will be over a 100 years old by then.
We can cut the Carl Sagan talk, aka millions, billions and trillions and beyond
You also need to factor in that the northeast has literally for generations dealt with heating oil. So I do not see that as a new issue. If it ever took hold then yes we could draw lessons from the northeast.
I was thinking more of a full blown get off the grid system. With Solar panels, Diesel gen set and Big storage batteries. Now that our utility will give credit for excess production, it makes solar a better choice. With a Natural Gas/Propane backup a person should be covered.
We have gas heat, too bad more houses don't.
My brother-in-law has a huge oil drum in his basement and has to fill it about 1.5 times per year. It's cold up there in CT, too. He fills in the off season when it's cheap but he runs out before the season is over.
It still stings, but it is better than the $4.03 I paid last time I had fuel delivered. At several hundred gallons, even a cent or two can really add up.
When I get a generator, it will be diesel and it will be tied directly into my storage tank.
Supposedly a propane tank gives you about 10-12 hours or so. Enough to run overnight. I have 2 tanks, too.
Speaking of propane...what about using it in cars? Same for natural gas. I have seen quite a few conversions of larger cars in my area - usually Impalas.
They stuff a propane tank in the trunk, and usually are flex fuel.
What a mess.
Edit: we lost power for 3 days here. A Leaf would have been stranded, but a Volt or Prius Plug-in could run on gas in those situations.
Um, they ran out of coal and they exceeded the capacity of their grid.
What does that have to do with green power sources ad cleaning up air pollution?
Who in the Green Movement wants us to exceed our capacity? If we "run out of coal" that will not be necessarily a bad thing in my eyes.
If we do have more than a handful of EVs to power that will impact the grid. As a lot of the alternative energy is at its lowest at night. Massive outages like the current mess in India is very possible in the USA.
If I just had a diesel SUV with a generator attachment. :P
Of course, Snopes says it's false but it was still a fun story.
Toyota corporate ran interference for McCartney back in '08 when the Lexus story broke (assuming the commenter really did work for corporate).
"To ensure the car’s quality, make sure security guidelines were met and meet a scheduled marketing photography deadline, it was air-shipped on a regularly scheduled commercial flight over to the UK."
Oh yes,.... I routinely get delivery on $158,000 dollars gas sucking cars that I do not know are coming to my house ! :P Gosh is this guy running for or practicing for MP? (Minister of Parliament)
btw, diesel fuel here is $4.38. Regular jumped to $3.84 although you can find it for $3.68 if you drive a bit. Not sure what the cheapest diesel in an hour radius is.
3.79 RUG
3.99 PUG
3.89 D2
Even deep in the heart of the "silicon valley, CA golden triangle" has regular outages. This is even with a more recent addition (last 15 years) of a electrical power plant that is now being upgraded AGAIN to increase its meager capacity.
As you and most Californians know, during the imperial reign of Gov Gray Daivs, democrat (I should not even need to note this) CA power plants were ordered/mandated to switch to natural gas generation and by default sources. At the time is seemed almost illogical. Indeed after the 15 mins it took me to get over the shock, I started to really investigate the why and more downstream consequences of this.
Getting a little carried away?
If diesel is only 10 cents more you're lucky. Around me the difference is 4 times as much. :sick:
You can't just look at the highway numbers.
If you want to compare to a TDI at least look at the V10 Touareg, which wasn't efficient either.
Sitting in traffic that diesel would get 0 mpg, while the Lexus at least could rely on its batteries for a while.
It's no fuel miser, but far from a guzzler. Try a Quattroporte for that, at 5mpg less.
I think the only purpose behind the V10 TDI was to establish it as production vehicle for racing. It got into CA because it was so heavy it was in the truck category. They brought 5 of them to the Arctic to start their around the globe tour. People paid a hefty fee to drive one of them for a given segment. I would still like to know what the over all mileage was for the Touareg TDI that set a new PanAmericana record from the tip of So America to the Arctic. I sent an email asking about mileage and did not get any response.
http://www.tdi-panamericana.com/
I could care less what Sir Paul drives.
Ashton gave one to Demi right before the divorce - but if he knew they would separate, maybe someone gave it to him and he didn't want it, LOL.
The animosity towards hybrids here continues to crack me up.
Hybrids have a purpose (city driving), as do diesels (highway driving). Diesel + hybrid even better. They are not mutually exclusive any more.
The LS is not a guzzler by any stretch, though.
However this IS a diesel thread.
There is absolutely NO hostility toward hybrids. Now I can only speak for myself, but I have NONE. I also chose "other" when it came to getting 3 hybrids.03 Prius 04 Prius, 12 VW T hybrid.
However there is both legislative regulatory and economic hostility toward diesels. A few posts earlier someone posted about the$ 100 M and still no diesel products, Mahindra debacle.
It has yet to meet any bang for the buck metric, for MY real dollars. Indeed it really has not for a lot of other folks (given the volume and percentage). If what you have been posting is true, YOU don't have a hybrid.
The gassers a little (but not much) worse.
How many people watched or even knew about that Touareg tour? Probably 1% of the ones who watched the Lexus park itself on Oprah.
Each was a halo with different targets.
It's not enough for me to laugh alone at that comment, so I'll ask others to join in laughter.
You just called the LS a "guzzler" a few minutes ago. Hyperbole at least.
Just like the 25 I get on the Corvette Z06 is a gas guzzler compared to any diesel I have, aka 30-31, 41, 50 mpg.
I could not find one single owner reporting even 20mpg with the V10.
Maybe that's why it's not around any more.
What are you going to do next compare a 50 year old Corvette V-8 engine to a late model Corvette V-8 engine?
FYI the Phaeton TDI was 16/22, so the LS wins overall combined.
You might recall that you were the one who brought up the 2001 Corvette.
Modern VW TDI super lux sedan vs. Lexus, the hybrid wins.
The Bluetec hybrid proves even Mercedes wants to use batteries to get city mpg up. 16mpg is pathetic.
I have said long ago that the US was one of the defacto dumping ground for most of MB gas guzzling product line. Just a short perusal of MB available in Europe will show a plethora of more fuel sipping and diesel models. So if a person like you wants to pay the premium for a MB hybrid, it is your monies and still so they say, a free country. Indeed since you are talking of hybrids (on a diesel thread) VW Touareg, VW offers a hybrid that has a 380 hp/438 # ft of torque getting 24 mpg (one better than the Lexus 600 H @ an app 11k premium, albeit 60k cheaper than the 600 H. YOU could buy 2. Now aint that in your definition a win/win/win? :P
Phaeton is more comparable to the LS, both being flagship sedans. It may be hard to accept but 23mpg is a whole lot better than 16 mpg city. Maybe not so pointless after all.
I'm not a fan of the Touareg with any engine. It's too big/heavy outside, sort of smallish inside.
http://www.iol.co.za/motoring/industry-news/dealer-driver-battle-over-bmw-1.1349- 751#.UBl1rHmwX0z
You'd think BMW would settle for the bad publicity alone.
Read more: http://www.autonews.com/article/20120730/OEM04/307309983#ixzz22Jy5miKz
Wonder what car they'd stuff that in. A Fit diesel would be a good performer and get great mpg.
That is why there are 585 models and growing.
..."And there also is talk of bringing a 1.6-liter diesel with 220 pounds-feet of torque to the United States."...
Given Honda's track record in bringing diesels to the US market (04 was the concept to market Honda cTDI engine) wake me up in 8 to 12 years, if it indeed shows up.
For a guy that's picky about interior room, (I personally swim in a Touareg) you sure have a perverted sense of interior room in both a Miata and Honda Fit !? Either are small for even smaller persons.
Funny how you glossed over Honda not bringing a hybrid to the US market? It is almost like the hybrid will not give a competitive advantage. It will bring it to the European markets!? Again it really goes to show the days are numbered for the slush box A/T. One of the lynchpins of better gasser mpg is not with the slush box. The real quesitions are how well the CVT will be accepted.
Good one, sad but true.
They should bring the CR-V diesel. It's already a best seller here, a diesel would steal a bunch of Escape hybrid sales and steal thunder from the 35mpg CX5 SkyActiv.
interior room in both a Miata and Honda Fit
Miata is my 2nd car, remember I also own a van.
My mom has a Fit and they are *HUGE* inside. I'm 6 feet and I could wear a cowboy hat. Wife and 2 kids had room to spare in the back. Funny thing is in Brazil is competes as a small minivan, not a B segment car.
In terms of interior space, Fit is an over-achiever. Toureg an under-achiever. Almost 5000 lbs of mass and you get so-so mid-size room.
Now I am not complaining about the Civic's 38-42 mpg (yes higher than what fuel economy.com lists). The VW TDI's operating costs are still cheaper. Again only as a comparison in the same commutes, it gets 48-52 mpg.