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The Liberty diesel was an experiment to see whether consumers would be willing to pay an extra $1,500 for a diesel vehicle.
It worked well enough for Chrysler to release the diesel Grand Cherokee, which costs an extra $3,000 and is expected to save drivers $592 a year on fuel.
Diesels make up less than 0.5% of the cars produced in North America. Diesel car production is expected to increase to 15% by 2015 and 18% by 2020, according to estimates from the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute.
Offering an average of 30% better fuel efficiency than gasoline engines, diesels are a good gasoline alternative for highway driving.
DETROIT -- Scientists hope the coming flood of diesel-powered vehicles to North American car dealerships sheds further light on a little-known problem with fuel made from the Canadian oilsands.
Diesel fuel made from 100 per cent oilsands petroleum has been causing injector malfunctions and other problems in some diesel truck engines in Alberta, an international conference of engineers heard Monday. The problems disappear when the pure Alberta fuel is mixed with diesel from anywhere else in the world.
The problems are believed to be linked to the molecular structure of fuels derived from the oilsands, and the process used to extract it.
Oilsands diesel
with the oil companies already out there saying it'll cost more to ramp up production of diesel, does anyone really think they there will be a cost savings in the use of diesel fuel? you just know that the oil companies will start pricing diesel at a 10-30% percent premium to gas. There will still be a savings in fuel usage (which is admirable), but not likely much if any in cost. the thing i don't understand about that is that I keep hearing diesel is a natural byproduct of the refining process and on occasion its also cheaper to make.
Seems to me like they are setting up diesel to fail.
The short and long answers are yes.
Not to get off topic/thread here, but I think it will follow the (for example) Toyota Prius/Chevrolet Corvette/Z06 paths, for a while. Notably Prius' are currently selling at invoice; down from MSRP PLUS.
I am not sure where you are but in So CA diesel today is about 29 cents less per gallon than Regular Unleaded. That with an additional 18 cents per gallon tax on diesel. So it is cheaper part of the year. With the added increase in mileage it is a good deal. For the average car or truck gas would have to be 25% less expensive to be equal. I have not seen a gap that big ever. At the current price of diesel gas would have to be a dollar per gallon cheaper. That could be the reason they sell so many diesel PU trucks. The major reason that diesel is more expensive in the winter is the demand for heating oil. Here are the charts.
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp
23 mpg sounds great compared to the 17 mpg for the gasser version. 30% improvement! niiiiice!
the application of proper arithmetic can tell you after how many miles there will be a cost savings, assuming current diesel & gasoline prices.
if you want one of us diesel fiends to do the math for you, just follow up again and ask nicely and either me or someone else will calculate the answer. ttfn!
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Nissan plans U.S. clean diesel vehicle in 2010
Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. will launch its first clean diesel vehicle in the United States in 2010, CEO Carlos Ghosn said today.
Speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations, Ghosn said Nissan would launch a diesel Maxima in the U.S. market and other clean diesel vehicles in Japan and China. The company already has clean diesel technology in its cars sold in Europe.
"We are very confident about the potential benefits," Ghosn said, referring to growing U.S. demands to increase fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases. Ghosn is also CEO of Renault SA.
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Nissan Maxima Diesel USA TODAY article
I would further swag whom so ever comes up with the diesel in the so called "small car economy" sector will have a literal lock on the "category. Why VW has not been able to leverage their offerings in the "small car economy" sector in this light is beyond me. The Jetta, Beetle, Golf, gets anywhere from (my 2003 Jetta) 44-62 mpg! MONSTER!
You are wrong on one point though. There will be a huge savings on the use of diesel fuel, unfortunately it will go to the oil companies and car mfgs., not the consumer.
I am also a diesel fiend but I know that the oil companies will overcharge us for diesel and the car mfgs. will overcharge us for the diesel option. The old saying is true, if you want to save money...it's gonna cost you!!
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
I would even go so far as to say if the VW did not come with the manual option, the automatic, while still offering a (slight) mpg advantage over a similar Honda Civic, would not have penciled out as well as a 5 speed manual.
Please post in 'The Future of the Manual Transmission' also.
..."I´m a passionate car enthusiast and professional mechanic running a small auto-repair shop in Düsseldorf / Germany. "...
Out of curiosity, which makes/models do you repair, or you have a specialty/s?
It's nearly seven years since the first prototype was unveiled, but Norfolk firm Trident has taken until now to get its biodiesel-powered supercar ready for sale.
Driving the rear wheels via an eight-speed manual gearbox, the unit can propel the Iceni from 0-60mph in 3.9 seconds and on to 170mph
There have been a few changes made to the original concept. The production model has a redesigned front end with new headlamps, a fresh bonnet that features aggressive air vents, and a revised front bumper.
Under the skin, the chassis has been lengthened and widened for improved handling and ride, but the most significant change is to the engine. Sourced from an Isuzu pick-up, the front-mounted 6.6-litre V8 diesel is tuned to deliver 375bhp and 383Nm of torque.
What is your opinion on the DSG transmission in the VW & Audi cars? Is it as complex as other auto transmissions? I too like manual shifting. Just hard to find without special order in the USA. Many models are not even available with Manual.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/18/ethanol_jolly_bad_says_windmill_booster/-
While I've driven almost exclusively manual transmission cars for the past 20yrs+, there are situations when automatic is very justified. After I busted my left knee some years ago, I could not drive my car for an extended period of time because it was manual. Believe, I cursed myself for not buying an automatic every day.
They should have read up on Edmunds.com to get it right!
He actually covered (conceptually) your concern.
"This should be in fact reserved for old and/or disabled people. "
Perhaps, but temporary disabilities cannot be forecast or "reserved for". I am back to a manual transmission, but I no longer scoff at automatics.
Besides, trying to resist the trend is like decrying the fact that fully manual cameras have all but disappeared. It's only a matter of time. "Manumatics" will rule the roost. Resistance is futile. We can only try to figure out how to make a better manumatic to pair well with the future diesel engines.
Since I do not have much sotp experiences with the DSG, it would be good to hear from folks with a few miles under the pedal and paddle. I would be most interested in mpg and longevity.
It is also not a stretch to swag that in the future the majority of passenger vehicle diesels will probably be of automatic, dsg and manual in that descending order.
I think they rank with crank starters, 6 volt electrical systems, flat head engines, and mechanical brakes.
Of the 40 or more cars we have owned the only transmissions we have lost have been sticks, not to mention the clutches, slave cylinders and linkage failures. Some of the automatics have gone more than 200K, even with enthusiastic driving.
Gee you would think you believe people in Europe don't get old!
The issue here has never been about romancing the stick shift. The discussion was of the European vs USA about the strutural consumption of less rather than more.
By the way, thanks for your curiosity. After having been working in a Volkswagen shop the past 15 years I run my shop together with my brother for almost 5 years now. We are kind of universal soldiers and except bodywork and painting we do any kind of repair on any make of car, domestic, foreign and occasionally even American. Nowadays you have to be quite flexible in this business, real money is only made by the big factory dealers and established specialists. We take what comes along, which is sort of a nice challenge sometimes. Often enough there are disappointed and desperate clients who had their cars checked at several places and nobody could or had the time to figure out the cause of their problem. Yet, in most of the cases we could help them, even without having the latest diagnostic features and software at our disposal. Sometimes experience and the "right feeling" is more important.
In order to receive some reasonable earnings we started converting gassers into bi-fuelers last year. With an additional tank and some modifications on the engine they run with LPG (a propan/butan mixture) and normal gasoline as well. In Italy and the Netherlands bi-fuelers are quite common for plenty of years already, but as a result of the exploding gas prices they are becoming more and more popular in Germany,too. LPG is only half the price of unleaded regular and if everything is well adjusted there is no difference in performance and mpg worth mentioning. Another positive result is a lower emission of carbon-dioxide (approx. - 20%) and no emission of sulfur-hydrogen.
I hope I could satisfy your curiosity a little bit!
Best regards....tomcat63
Defacto it´s a completely different story than a conventional auto transmission with an energy-sucking torque converter. Basically the DSG is a mechano-sequencial transmission (similar to a motorbike) with two mainshafts (one for 1.,3. + 5. gear and one for 2.,4. + 6. gear) and two seperate clutches all together in one box. Declutching and shifting are controlled and operated hydro-electronically. That´s the main difference to a clean manual and the reason why a clutch pedal is missing. In contrast to a conventional auto tranny, there are no gallons of fluid that need to be twirled round first before the car gets into move.
The mechanical part of DSG is pretty simple and shouldn´t cause any big problems. My concern is more about the electronics, which in general can be awfully tricky (as you may know perhaps) and which is very complex in this case.
Apart from a short highway stint on the new Golf GTI a have neither any personal experience with DSG nor did I hear of any disastrous failures yet. We simply have to wait and see, how reliability and durability will turn out to be. The trend is: Customers are the testdrivers...!!
Best regards from Germany.....tomcat63
Of course it´s your individual freedom to decline stick shifts, but what is the challenge about pulling and slipping a boat with a manual? Need lessons?
Even my good old friend Alexander from New York City got it finally one day. He works for Microsoft and surprisingly dropped in a couple of weeks ago for some business reason and for a short visit. Got a desperate phonecall from the airport telling me he was stranded at some Avis or Budget counter and they had no automatic vacant (his company would only pay for a middle-class car and he was to stingy to pay extra). Okay, picked the poor guy up at the airport and he was awfully embarrassed about the situation since I couldn´t stop picking on him. Result: Gave him a few stick shift lessons next day and he LOVED it...!
Best regards....tomcat63
Don´t worry - be happy....tomcat63
Despite your assertions to the contrary, the reality is, the difference in potential fuel mileage is very high. You need only compare and contrast, or in extreme cases ignore and call so called "enemies" CRAZY.
Just on the Jetta TDI auto vs 5 speed manual, the EPA differences are: 34/45 vs 42/49. =
-8 to -4 mpg -19% to -8.9% !!!???
MINUTE??????
Factor in the gasser 1.8 T
..."Manual: 24 mpg / 31 mpg Automatic: : 22 mpg / 29 mpg"...
-2 to -3 mpg -8.8% to -9.7% !!??
Jetta TDI manual vs 1.8T auto is 42/49 vs 22/29 mpg= -20 mpg. - 47.6% to 40.8% !!??
So if one considers -20 mpg.... minute!!!????...... SNAFU comes to mind.
And if all those big business gurus and industrial managers wouldn´t tell us the contrary every day, you could say that for mankind minutes are an almost unlimited free gift. Our oil ressources are defenitely and irreversibly LIMITED...!!
I'll most likely be buying the Accord diesel, however, it would be welcome to have the opportunity to buy the BMW 3 diesel.
quote-
Okay, so if it’s so much fun, why isn’t BMW giving you the choice? Talk to the environmental regulators. Even as diesel technology has advanced by leaps and bounds in Europe, regulators have been cracking down in ways that keep them out of the United States. While America now has low-sulfur fuel that makes efficient particulate-trap filters workable, that corresponds to a new set of emissions requirements that essentially treat diesels and gasoline engines the same. Diesels have no trouble with the hydrocarbon and carbon monoxide standards, using the same sorts of catalysts that do the job for gasoline cars, and the latest traps can meet even tough particulate (smoke) standards. But the same high-compression/ lean-burn characteristics that make diesels efficient fuel sippers result in nitrogen oxide emissions. The NOx standards in most of America allow only one-eighth the amount permitted in Europe (a fleet average of 0.05 gram per mile, versus 0.25 gram per kilometer, which works out to 0.40 gram per mile). In California, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont, the standards are even tougher.
Engineers can beat these bogies—Mercedes-Benz is the only company offering an automotive diesel this model year, but others are coming. The problem is that doing so adds cost and complexity. The BMW 330d costs about $1,700 more than a 335i in Germany. There, the differential in fuel costs and taxation can make the tradeoff worthwhile. Here, if still another layer of pollution controls is needed and where, in most states, there’s not much difference in gas and diesel prices, there’s less certainty that the marketplace would respond.
-end
Who complained about the way they were working?
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Regards,
Jose
If dealers tell you "only available with automatic", kick them! They just import only few manuals because they believe Americans don´t want them! But they are available, they drive around whole Europe...!
Compared to a manual transmission, Zeroshift calculates that its transmission can deliver 2% better fuel economy and 5% better acceleration. While the Zeroshift AMT would increase production cost over a manual transmission by about 25%, it is significantly less expensive to manufacture than a 6 speed AT, which, Zeroshift calculates, costs 70% more to manufacture than a manual transmission.
The Zeroshift AMT shows up with exactly the same features as DSG: absence of an energy-sucking torque converter, shifting without thrust intermission and choice between "manual" and "auto" mode. It has to cope with the same complex electronical control and operation system and will probably have to suffer from the same latent danger of malfunctions as DSG in this concern.
There is one big mechanical difference which in my opinion could make the Zeroshift even more vulnerable: While DSG uses two seperate mainshafts with fixed sprockets to preload next higher or lower gear and shifts by switching between two clutches, the AMT has only one mainshaft with sprockets being constantly locked or released by tiny little wedges.
And apart from that I didn´t hear of any car manufacturer yet using the Zeroshift for mass-production, did you?
Best regards from Germany....tomcat63