I get my new car today..

[J_A_B]

Flashy vehicle Dowding.   It bears a passing resemblance to Jaguar in a way, with that narrow little grille in front.  

Since we're posting pics, this is roughly what my vehicle looks like:



My wheels look a bit different but otherwise that one is identical.  For a sense of scale, it's about 5 or 6 feet longer than the Seat Ibiza.   It's longer and wider than a Bentley.  Probably hopelessly huge for European roads....and even if it wasn't the 5.7 litre engine would probably bankrupt the owner at UK petrol prices.  It'd bankrupt ME anyway.

J_A_B

[Staga]

New TDI's are amazing; for example VW Golf's 2 liter TDI has 140hp and 320Nm torque @ 1750rpm, fuel consumption less than 5 liters/ 100km in highway.
For comparison VW Bora's 2 liter gasoline engine has 115hp with 172Nm @3200rpm and consumes 6 liters*100km in highway.
If you compare TDI to VW's 1,8 Turbo (about same price in here) TDI has 10hp less but still 50% more torque and in lower RPM's, what you usually use in everyday driving.

Personally I'm a bit amazed why US manufacturers haven't developed turbo-diesels; in heavier cars you could cut the fuel consumption to half.
For example BMW 530D's 3 liter TDI produces over 200hp and has 500Nm torque and car uses 9,5 liters at city and 6,9 liters average.
For comparison Chrysler's 2,7 liter V-6 has about as much power, half of the torque and consumes 14,7 liters per 100km in city and 10,7 liters average per 100km.
Americans of all people should know how nice it is to have plenty of torque in low RPMs.

[ra]

Originally posted by Dowding
Why can't you get one? The VW Golf uses the same PD 130 and 150 engines that Seat and Skoda use (they are the same group and use a common platform strategy).

50-60 miles to the gallon when petrol is heading towards 90p a litre and nippy performance is what has pushed me in the TDi direction.

The US is still in the Dark Ages as far as turbo diesels go, thanks to California emissions laws.  US auto manufacturers won't develop diesels because they won't meet California's laws, and other states often adopt California emissions standards over time.  You can get a few VW's with turbo diesels, but they are expensive because you have to special order them.  

The greens want us to use hybrid power instead, as being one step closer to eliminating the internal combustion engine altogther.  But hybrid sucks for people like me who mostly drive on the highway.   If turbo diesels weren't commercially unviable because of emissions laws, US manufacturers could offer European diesels in more cars and SUVs and give the US consumer a more effiecient internal combustion engine that is better all around than hybrid.  But if given a choice, the US consumer would probably choose turbo diesel over hybrid 4:1, so the California tree-huggers have taken that option away from us.

ra

[J_A_B]

It isn't so much as the American maufacturers being unable to develop good TDi engines, but rather the public simply won't buy them.  

Back in the early '80's, some automakers offered diesels for sale in some of their vehicles.  These engines were famously horrible and unpopular and tarished the reputation of the automtive diesel so severely that people STILL refuse to buy them.

J_A_B

[ra]

US manufacturers don't have to develop them, the Krauts already have.  But there is no reason to offer them as a huge chunk of the American population live in states where they can't be sold.  

And I think the boodoggle of the 80's is far enough behind us.  The turbo diesel has a tried and true performance/reliabilty record.

ra

[slimm50]

Originally posted by J_A_B
Those Cab-Forward Chysler vehicles have a reputation as being a "jack of all trades" sort of car.   They aren't really outstanding at any one thing, but they do eveything decently without any major drawbacks.   J_A_B

Sorta like the F6F, eh?

[chaingun]

buy a real vehicle, i own a powerstroke 4x4 dually diesel, w/ 100,000 miles on it and it gets 20 mpg, and hold 6 people too, plus i can tow 16,000 pounds or more, cant beat it:)  well in Texas we all drive big trucks lol:) <>    ChainguN

[mora]

Originally posted by J_A_B
Back in the early '80's, some automakers offered diesels for sale in some of their vehicles.  These engines were famously horrible and unpopular and tarished the reputation of the automtive diesel so severely that people STILL refuse to buy them.

J_A_B

Yep. The Chevy 350 Gasoline block based Diesel, is really notorius for it's poor reliability. Those engines were outdated even at their time.

[Dowding]

That would be monster on our little B-roads, JAB. Nice looking motorway cruiser though - looks like a smooth ride.

The funny thing is that diesel is getting more and more popular over here because of the rising petrol prices and economy of the new generation of diesel engines. Diesel is cheaper to refine than petrol, but guess what the UK government has done? Increased taxation on diesel so it is now 2-3p more expensive a litre than petrol. Still is way cheaper besed on consumption though. Shame you guys don't even get to make the switch.

[Staga]

I had a long discussion with my friend who has driven GM diesels from old 350D and DX to 6,2liter and all of those were used cars and 300-400k km in odometer.
First 350's with cast iron crankshaft were the crappy one; friend said that all it needed was one kick to the gas pedal at the winter to break the shaft into two pieces if the engine wasn't warm enough. 350DX and later were/are pretty reliable with forged crankshaft and stronger bearings. GM also lowered the power of 350Ds at some point, guess they were pushing the engine bit too far at first.

[mora]

Originally posted by Staga
I had a long discussion with my friend who has driven GM diesels from old 350D and DX to 6,2liter and all of those were used cars and 300-400k km in odometer.
First 350's with cast iron crankshaft were the crappy one; friend said that all it needed was one kick to the gas pedal at the winter to break the shaft into two pieces if the engine wasn't warm enough. 350DX and later were/are pretty reliable with forged crankshaft and stronger bearings. GM also lowered the power of 350Ds at some point, guess they were pushing the engine bit too far at first.

Yep, so I've heard too. AFAIK the 350 D was basicaly the same engine as the gasoline 350. No wonder it didn't hold after doubling the compression ratio..

[Staga]

If you're going to buy a Niva put a shield under the engine; the exhaust manifold tends to broke if you take the car to the woods...  

Gotta say I'd rather buy an old Chevy Blazer or Dodge Ram than Niva. We have plenty of Blazers with 6.2 liter diesels; bit more expensive but much more comfortable than Nivas.