Got a prius

[Viking]

5 litre V-12.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Oh you're right, 5.4 liter V-12. I'm a Mercedes man u see..

With MB 12-cyl starts with 6 liter engine.

[68Wooley]

There's many, many ways of improving fuel economy other than resorting to hybrids.

I don't like the Prius - its fuel economy is scant reward for bland design, uninvolved driving experience and poor performance.

Diesel engines will become more prevalent in the US, but the manufacturers still have a bit of a sales job with the American public as they consider them slow dirty and noisy - much as most of Europe (outside of France) did 10 years ago. The problem with introducing them up until now has been down to legislation in States such as California and New York, plus the higher sulfur content of US diesel. The latest engines and changes to US diesel blends should see that change.

That said, after ten years of significant focus and progress on diesel technology, many European manufacturers are now turning their attention back to gas engines and there are some really interesting designs coming out from the likes of Fiat and Volkswagen. At the end of the day - gas engines will always be lighter and capable of producing more power (if not torque) for a given capacity than a diesel engine.

Of course, most of the European focus is on engine sizes smaller than many Americans will currently accept, but that's going to change as well. How would have thought the BMW MINI would have been so successful over here and you only need to look at the number of Toyota Yaris, Honda Fit/Jazz on the roads and observe the number of younger drivers in Scions to realize smaller is becoming more acceptable.

[lazs2]

ripley.. R75.

I would love it if we could get some of the little turbo diesel eruo rods here but.. we have much higher standards for diesel than the euros do.. we have always had much higher pollution standards.    we were first with every pollution device and the euros scoffed and then got into step with us later.

If we were allowed to pollute like a your-0-peean then I would like to see some tiny diesels here.  We do have big ones in pickups and such.

lazs

[Viking]

So you're allowed to have big dirty diesels, but not small efficient clean ones? WTG for sanity.

As for your superior diesel quality:


"Ultra-low sulfur diesel was proposed by EPA as a new standard for the sulfur content in on-road diesel fuel sold in the United States since October 15, 2006, except for rural Alaska. California required it since September 1, 2006, and rural Alaska will transition all diesel to ULSD in 2010. This new regulation applies to all diesel fuel, diesel fuel additives and distillate fuels blended with diesel for on-road use, such as kerosene, however, it does not yet apply to train locomotives, marine, or off road uses. By December 1, 2010, all highway diesel will be ULSD. Non-road diesel transitioned to 500 ppm sulfur in 2007, and to ULSD in 2010. Locomotive and marine diesel also transitioned to 500 ppm sulfur in 2007, and to ULSD in 2012. There are exemptions for small refiners of nonroad, locomotive and marine diesel that allow for 500 ppm diesel to remain in the system until 2014. After December 1, 2014 all highway, nonroad, locomotive and marine diesel produced and imported will be ULSD.

The EPA mandated the use of ULSD fuel in model year 2007 and newer highway diesel fuel engines equipped with advanced emission control systems that require the new fuel. These advanced emission control technologies will be required for marine diesel engines in 2014 and for locomotives in 2015.

The allowable sulfur content for ULSD (15 ppm) is much lower than the previous U.S. on-highway standard for low sulfur diesel (LSD, 500 ppm), which not only reduces emissions of sulfur compounds (blamed for acid rain), but also allows advanced emission control systems to be fitted that would otherwise be poisoned by these compounds. These systems can greatly reduce emissions of oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter.

Because this grade of fuel is comparable to European grades and engines will no longer have to be redesigned to cope with higher sulfur content and may use advanced emissions control systems which can be damaged by sulfur, the standard may increase the availability of diesel-fueled passenger cars in the U.S. European diesels are much more popular with buyers than those available in the U.S."


So Ripsnort was right in his first assumption: European diesel engines are not sold in the US because of your poor diesel quality, but new US regulations will remedy that within a year or two.

Edit: This may also explain why diesel has become more expensive in the US.

[Masherbrum]

Why were you PNG'd again Gsholz?

Edit:  Aww you logged without answering.   Typical.

[Viking]

You seem to have something against players that make new accounts/avatars/whatever. Why is that?

Edit: Aww you logged without answering. Typical.

[Bronk]

Originally posted by Viking
You seem to have something against players that make new accounts/avatars/whatever. Why is that?
 

New look same PNG personality might have something to do with it.

[Viking]

I know he doesn't like me, but that wasn't the question. He seems to be on what Skuzzy referred to as a "witch hunt".

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Originally posted by lazs2
ripley.. R75.

I would love it if we could get some of the little turbo diesel eruo rods here but.. we have much higher standards for diesel than the euros do.. we have always had much higher pollution standards.    we were first with every pollution device and the euros scoffed and then got into step with us later.

If we were allowed to pollute like a your-0-peean then I would like to see some tiny diesels here.  We do have big ones in pickups and such.

lazs

Hmm Mercedes Benz bluetec diesels are approved for California regs.. You should be able to get them.

[Pooh21]

Hes thaving the enviroment! Thtop dithing the Prius you thilly billys.

[EagleDNY]

Originally posted by SIG220

Yes, there are higher mileage diesel small cars available in Europe.   But, here in the USA, none of those vehicles are available for sale.   So the Prius is easily the most fuel efficient car available in the USA.  Period.

Heck - my wifes' 99 VW Jetta TDI (Diesel) gets 45 Mpg Highway, and 40 in the City, and has been doing it for the last 8 years.   You can get TDI in Jettas and Beetles (and probably you'll see it in the new Rabbits too) - they got plenty of power, and they all get great mileage.  If you want to go way green, run em on vegediesel.  

Beats spending $3K on a battery pack replacement and wondering where all those dead NiMH batteries are going if you ask me.  

EagleDNY
$.02

[lazs2]

I haven't met that many but so far... I find that I don't like prenus owners too much.

I like cars..  they don't.

lazs

[Xasthur]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
FWIW, I ran my own experiments, on the same exact commute, with same driving conditions. Running 92 octane (your equivelent of 95 octane) gave me no increase at all in gas mileage when compared to 87 octane in same engine.
 

That's odd, I noticed the opposite. A noticable increase in mileage and a large increase in engine performance.

Much quicker off the mark, no bogging down under high load at low RPMs. If nothing else that alone is reason enough to make the switch to higher octane fuels, in my opinion.

For the record, I drive a 1995 Ford 4.0L 6 cylinder with no engine modifications.

Made in Australia but it is strange that you noticed no difference. What sort of car/enginge are you running your tests in?

[FX1]

Originally posted by lazs2
I haven't met that many but so far... I find that I don't like prenus owners too much.

I like cars..  they don't.

lazs

Lazs have you ever met someone you liked?