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What Would It Take for YOU to buy a diesel car?
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Comments
I notice many CALIF pumps have the ultra low sulphur diesel now.
All ARCO stations selling diesel have only sold ULSD since early 2005. That is all I used in my 05 Passat TDI. I think it was mandated here in 2006. Most places should have it available around the USA.
Key points: Fun, pretty fast, 40 mpg, $25,000 price tag.
2009 VW Jetta TDI Road Test
BTW, the TDI hp peak is at approximately 4000 rpms, so there are situations where higher revs might make sense, even though all the torque is down low.
At least Golf became a hit in Europe and the very popular Passat here in the USA, to partially redeem the company.
I'm surprised Rabbit owners didn't burn the dealerships down.
I think a lot of people had love/hate relationships with those cars. I know I did with my (Rabbit based) '78 Scirocco.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)
You all need to get a grip. I respect your decision not to buy a VW or some of the others in the same reliability vicinity (Scion, Volvo, Jeep, Saab) and those significantly worse (Kia, Suzuki and Land Rover). At the same time, there are those of us who weigh the odds and drive the vehicles and go ahead (or none of these companies would see ANY sales!). I love my 2008 Suzuki as well, and six months into it, not one adjustment needed (knock on wood...ok, I have superpowers, what can I say?). :P
But...how the Golf performed in Germany was small comfort to those of us who bought Rabbits.
I did like the first GTi though...a LOT.
Plus, you have to look at 20 to 40 or 60 to 70 times (rather than 0-60) to get a real idea of what passing would be like. Reviews seem to indicate in short spurts it is very fast.
Under 60, no problemo.
It's 108 HP I think. Zippy little thing.
And there are quite a few people that don't care about dependability or VW would have stopped selling cars during the Rabbit, Dasher era. After all people buy Range Rovers and Hummers . Some people simply don't care and take their chances. I know people that almost cried when Peugeot and Citroen left the US. Some told me how much they loved their French cars and how "they" had never had any problems with them. Those cars still had a loyal following in France and other parts of Europe. They just didn't make it here.
If you ask an enthusiast how they felt about those early Rabbits you would find that by in large the reputation wasn't any better than Renault and because they originally sold more they may have had a longer lasting effect.
Something dropped VW to the bottom of our dependability studies it didn't happen all by itself. And Hyundai has shown you don't have to stay on the bottom of the list because of tradition.
In 2008 JD Powers rated VW below all domestic Vehicles again. The only vehicles rated lower were Range Rover, a company bought and sold just because people like its name, Saab another failed company bought at a discount, Kia was bankrupt and Hyundia was encouraged to buy them by their own government. Suzuki which doesn't seem to make high quality cars for the american market. Hyundai used to be down with VW several years ago and now it is above industry average and above Nissan. Look to 2007, same results except Kia was a better rated vehicle than VW. In 2005 Daewoo and Isuzu were better rated than VW and they were no longer building cars in North America.
I understand bucking the trends and I have been willing to take a chance now and then but not with a daily commuter. Weekend play vehicle yes, off road vehicle yes. VW has been on the bottom of the US dependability ratings so long it is a bit like the North Star in that you always know where to look for it. And who put it there? If you have ever filled out a new car survey for JD powers you know it was the owners themselves that have placed VW in the cellar. These numbers are only what the people have reported. It just isn't worth the risk for such a major investment. Now if you are talking about a used vehicle with a known service record that might be different. At least you wouldn't be getting hammered with the new car deduction you get from driving the thing off of the lot.
So first thing find out what the liabilities are with the vehicle you might choose.
I think the actual methods for conversion are everywhere on the Internet, so Google away!
Also a GREAT solvent so if you start using it, best to swap out your filters after the first tankful.
It's just not really worth it for fuel injected vehicles. For older ones with carbs, like an old Mercedes, yeah - that will run on strained and filtered oil no problem.
As a side note I did find it interesting that as we in California have mandated cleaner diesels for our heavy duty equipment our companies are allowed to sell their old equipment to China and third world countries. If those vehicles polluted the air in our state with a higher grade of diesel you have to wonder at the logic of selling them to other countries with a lower grade of diesel. I noticed the results of this when I was in Kenya in 2006.
All that aside it would still take a small diesel in commuter or city car priced like an Korean car to get me to buy one now. If we had a EV option then a diesel wouldn't be necessary for me. But then if you sign on to T. Boon Pickens sight you will see he has a different solution that includes CNG which is also cleaner than diesel without as many filters.
According to the EPA the Civic GX is the cleanest vehicle they have ever tested. They claimed the exhaust from the car was cleaner than the air going into the car. That is why CA still gives the GX a HOV sticker after the hybrid ones were phased out. And there is still a $4000 tax credit on all Civic GXs sold. Finding one is the trick, most go to fleet sales.
This could also work in reverse for the USA. If we lag behind Europe in clean tech, ,then they will come here and clean our clocks and make us pay through the nose for cleaner tech.
I don't think we will ever be independent of foreign oil unless we had some entirely new magic energy source. We simply need way more oil than we could possibly produce/ conserve through other means.
Clean diesel tech is just one segment of a much larger solution IMO. It will do it's 6-10 percent or whatever in the future.
World's Oil and Gas Reserves
I didn't comment at all about using it in gas engines. I know that's pretty easy. I don't know anything at all about producing it from something else.
But yeah, these compressed gases have their place but again, like diesel, I don't see them replacing gasoline.
Probably the future of energy in America will be a very imaginative combination of fuels.
I can see diesel as a short term (10 year) excellent contributor to solving our problems.
There we agree. But only if they can make a Pzero diesel. Because if they can't then hybrids will be our solution no matter what direction Europe goes in. Because dollar for dollar the hybrid is cleaner and because gas right now is cheaper the cost to run a hybrid is less. That could all change if they made an affordable entry level diesel economy car that we could get used to. But that isn't likely and we already have a fleet of Hybrids hitting the market getting a jump on any diesel imports.
Dollar for dollar, CNG is cheaper and cleaner. Why? Because the prices are regulated to keep its use for heating down to reasonable levels. You can get a home filling device and pump your own CNG at home - for only a little over $1 a gallon equivalent to gasoline. This effectively can get you upwards of 70-100+ mpg relative to other fuels in terms of actual out of pocket costs. There is a station near where I work that also has it. And it costs half what gasoline does. They're adding at least a dollar in taxes and other B.S. to it, but it's still half as expensive as any other fuel.
And the engines themselves are no more complex than a normal one. No electronics, no batteries, no hybrid transmissions...
Hybrids are only a blip on the scale in this country and Japan. They are non starters in any country that offers diesel alternatives. The only PZEV hybrids are the midsized and smaller cars like the Prius, Camry and Civic.
20 years from now we will still be having this conversation. The market will go for larger diesel vehicles in a big way when they they are offered here. I will downsize to an X5 diesel when and if I like it. I don't expect them to be any better than maybe ULEV. Which is plenty clean in my opinion.
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/nsd/ctd/864123617.html
http://sandiego.craigslist.org/csd/ctd/866235911.html
Credit Crisis Plunges September Auto Sales to Uncharted Depths (AutoObserver)
Toyota has shelved plans to add a diesel powered version of the Tundra to its line-up. Star-Telegram
Maybe once diesel owners start burning biodiesel regularly, they'll be more in common with the hybrid buyers and they'll cross shop.
Right now I could see a Prius vendor and a VW diesel vendor having stores side by side with little worries.
Well that's a stupid idea. They should have had a diesel right from the start and skipped the V-8s entirely.
I wonder if any of the domestics will get with the program on this count. I noticed that the new Ram has bigger and badder gas engines that are claimed to save like 5% in fuel economy or something,. Big whoop. But they don't have a diesel ready to go for the Ram at its debut, and word from them is any time between 2010 and never for a diesel to be offered.
Seems like none of the car companies making big trucks, including Toyota, have any vision in this area.
2014 Mini Cooper (stick shift of course), 2016 Camry hybrid, 2009 Outback Sport 5-spd (keeping the stick alive)