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So far, Mercedes has limited the added cost of a diesel engine to be only $1,000. Very unlike the hybrid, the small extra premium will be made up in fuel savings in a reasonable time. As well, there are no batteries to ever run out of life, and the diesel resale seems to be extraordinary. The small fluctuating differences in diesel fuel price is not nearly enough to offset the significant savings in fuel efficiency.
The argument for diesel is logical and based in fact, not hype.
TagMan
What is more on topic: I have heard of a lot more GASSER emissions equipment repairs and replacements, over diesels.
Right now the injector system on the 2003 has literally been flawless. The guru's I trust and deal with say; look to change injectors @ 150,000-200,000 miles for best spray patterns. (not sure what the recommendation would be given a common rail injector system, even as I SWAG the recommendation would be the same) I am taking a stay the course, steady as she goes, don't fix unless broke, tack. The fuel mileage has actually improved. (oxymoronic, as the ULSD fuel has less energy, and the injectors have 100k behind them)
Now I do not know the actual longer term engineering rammifications of extra rings for GASSERs, but I am sure there is indeed a "COST" driven component which probably influences why gassers are not as durable and long lasting as diesels. So for lack of low low dollar parts, the markets are denied longevity (rings .84 cents sold at 2.50 per (heard this in passing, so don't you gasser advocates hammer me on this). Conversely in diesel, because higher compression is a normal operating condition, it is "over built" relative to the gassers.
They also give more atta-boys for the use of gasoline compared to diesel.
I would think by reading this forum that bio-diesel would be a good way to drastically reduce our need for foreign oil. :confuse: Isn't biodiesel a step in the right direction for making this happen?
I really would like to make my next car, truck, etc., to be diesel but now I'm not clear on this. Would someone out there be able to explain my confusion? Thanks folks!
... The old fears of particulate matter and NOx have been almost eliminated with common rail injection, a particulate trap, one converter, and possibly more sophisticated systems. Read on in this site there is plenty of good info.
http://www.sanjosegasprices.com/crude_products.aspx
This is lifted from the government EIA data.
So have a look and see why as a point of discussion, I have been saying app 23% (current population is less than 3%) is a good short (10 years aggressive to 30 years more probable) term target for the diesel passenger fleet population. Europe is currently at over 50% diesel passenger vehicle fleet and the % is GROWING
Whatever is decided, the ones who currently have passenger diesel vehicles have anywhere from a 20-40% fuel SAVINGS advantage. So if they increase the price of diesel fuel that will signal that despite all protestations to the contrary, they do NOT want to decrease the overall USE of unleaded regular and premium.
``This will probably be the most fuel-efficient pickup truck ever,'' Nesvold said. ``And that will market very well in an era of $70-a-barrel oil.''
Diesels will save fuel and make money.
... Fortunately, somebody in the Justice Department, did a little common sense thinking, that must have been like this: either we have a bunch of hardened criminals in some of our best industries or there must be bungling desk jockeys running CARB and EPA. He or she probably was aware of the MTBE now seeping into our groundwater and leaned toward the latter reasoning. The companies were allowed to pay a fine, with no admission of guilt.
... BTW, this was all to avoid the absolutely disgusting, EGR systems described in my previous EGR post, that any hands on engineer would recognize.
Thanks!
Many concerned environmentalist would like to dump their gas vehicles in favor of a more eco-friendly alternative. Running on biodiesel results in a dramatic 90% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions compared to the equivalent gasoline powered vehicles. So obviously biodiesel is a great choice for a green vehicle. So what types of cars can run on biodiesel? Only those with diesel engines of course and that would include Volkswagen Tdis, Mercedes sedans, old Volvo diesels, and larger trucks that come in a diesel version. In the passenger diesel vehicle market, your choices are quite limited.
With this in mind, we decided that we would help fill a hole in the market by providing some more biodiesel vehicle choices. That is why we are taking two models, the Volvo 240 wagon and gas Vanagon and converting them to diesel.
http://www.thegreencarco.com/product_info/gas_to_diesel_conversions/
Does anyone have any further info. on other auto companies coming out with "affordable" diesels in the next couple of years? Where can I research and keep updated on the Web about these new offerings? Any suggestions and/or answers to my questions? Thanks folks!
Honda is supposed to be 2009.
Mercedes is also available right now. As you say, they are out of most of our league...
Ford will be announcing new clean diesels at the Frankfurt show under the name "ECOnetic". However, there is no word of whether Ford plans to bring them to the US any time soon if at all. Ford is also announcing a European replacement for the Fiesta - the Verve. Alas, the article in Autoweek also says, "Versions for North America and Asia will reach showrooms between 2008 and 2010". To me that means, "cheapened and no diesel and no hatchback". I will take bets on it.
Ford seems to treat US market like the third world these days.
I hope they change their mind and bring there clean burning diesels home. I can't feel sorry for the big three when they don't offer the varieties that they offer outside the States when there are ways to meet the environmental issues. :confuse:
Pickuptruck.com did an interview with the CEO of GV-USA about the expectations of the diesels that come with each model.
Check this site out:www.gv-usa.com/videofoxnews.php
I would say the Chinese and Indian Mfg will be cutting deep into the USA market by 2012. Toyota, Honda and Nissan will be impacted the most as they are the majors in the economy vehicle race. Their also the highest priced currently. The Korean makers will have less of a struggle to match pricing.
(baseline: quality of (my) 1970 VW Beetle vs (an absolutely pos) 1970 Japanese vehicle)
They don't even have any dealerships yet, and the competition for entering any new market makes it a hard struggle.
Look how long Hyundai took until they started getting accepted as a mainstream US car. Sold first cars here in 1986, and just only recently started being considered a real competitor to the big Japanese brands.
2025 is probably a better date for the "cutting deep" prediction. By that time they are MAYBE as established as Hyundai is right now, if they are VERY lucky, and Hyundai is not yet even "cutting deep" into the USA market.
The only difference here from Hundai is that Mahindra is offering something that no other manufacturer is providing but a lot of US buyers want - a low cost SUV or Pickup that has a 50 state "clean" diesel which gets over 30mpgs.
The standard ABS, electronic stability, 6sp tranny, and 4yr/60,000mi warranty is just gravy - IF the vehicle is ultimately well made. That is the only ?? to me. And in the FOX video, I didn't like how the vehicles made the glub glub sound. Hope that gets corrected by final production.
So they might have the same market impact as Hyundai does in 2007 by 2020 if they REALLY take off.
A SUV that gets 35MPG LOL, no, no, no
MB M class curb weight--4623 pounds
Must be a difference in the engines.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
quote Automotivenews-
On the diesel side, Audi plans to bring in a turbodiesel Q7 with a 3.0-liter V-6 powerplant producing about 230 hp and about 400 pounds-feet of torque. It will be available for all 50 states at the end of 2008 in low volume. The diesel is expected to have a 600-mile range on one tank of gasoline.-end
It has been a loooonnnngg time since Audi sold diesels in the US.
How far will it go on one tank of diesel?
Green Car Congress
Good one ; ) That audi will probably START at $45k.
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
The nexus is structurally (exponentially) less SOOT generation. (500 ppm USD vs 15 ppm ULSD) where "the rubber meets the road": TBN numbers with UOA's indicate are literally almost unaffected as compared to USD use! The fear and long term concern was soot caked EGR and intake manifold after "X" miles, because of 2 issues:
1. use of LSD vs ULSD with a vehicle designed for ULSD
2. EGR as more of an after thought, rather than slick integral design.
The short to longer term concern: this would trigger either, a very expensive dealer bill to clean those parts and pathways and/or long DIY cleaning procedure. The symptoms can range from a loss of power and torque, to the worst case of cylinder damage due to soot "paste" being draw and exploded in the combustion chamber causing catastrophic damage.
When I bought my 2003 VW JETTA TDI, #2 LSD was the commonly available fuel. ULSD and bio diesel were available, but only "boutique like".
Since I had no real way of measuring this, articles I have read indicated that BEFORE the OCT 6, 2006 cut over CA diesel was LSD @ 140 ppm (with farm diesel,aka red dye @500 ppm) 49 state was up to LSD @ 500 ppm.
So at 100,000 miles due to a timing belt interval, we had the EGR and intake manifold apart. While it was black, it was pronounced "good to go" to another 100,000 mile interval (next 100,000 mile timing belt interval @200,000 miles). The guru doing the timing belt and EGR/intake inspection did say he thought the majority use of CA LSD (140 ppm) probably did help keep soot generation resulting in caking, down. I do also have to say I did fuel in 11 other states. The majority however was CA #2 LSD. In addition, most folks in the TDI community have at least heard that one should drive it slightly "robustly" to keep the soot at bay. Since October 6,2006, ULSD was commonly available across CA state.
There are other vendor signals indicating this important but subtle shift. VW 507.00 is the new oil standard, it is labeled as "long life" (or some such). The key point however is the upper CONSERVATIVE limits of this oil specification is 30,000 miles (due to the engineering specifications up and down the food chain, starting with the base line of ULSD) !!! This is up from 10,000 miles OCI.