| Author | Message | ||
     Sparky |
An Audi R10 TD1 prototype is the first diesel powered car in the world to win a major sports car race. This car not only won pole position, but they replaced a heat exchanger before the race, started in 34th place and in 2 hours was back in the lead! First hand report I think we are witnessing the start of a new era in racing. The winning driver states, "... you can drive it very precisely, which is a combination of the diesel power and immense torque. It's simply pure fun to drive it." Isn't the immense torque fun factor what we Buellers have been saying for years? They were saying this car uses a special type of fuel that doesn't smoke or smell foul, yet makes outstanding power while getting good mileage. Who knows, maybe there'll be a high performance diesel bike in our future? | ||
| Seth |
I love an underdog upset... ..maybe this is a dawning of a new era. | ||
| Buellgrrrl |
I've got a 2 door Golf TDI and it's an absolute riot- you can drive it like you stole it and still get better than 40 MPG! It looks just like a GTI and really psyches the "boy racers" in their Hondas... They pull up alongside, make a lot of noise throught their fartpipe, and scream the daylights out of their litte motors... I just give it a bit of throttle and stay right with them! | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
I would love to have a TDI. My commute kicks me in the testicles badly with my toyota truck. I don't know how i could get by without a pickup though. One thing I want to see is a small-ish pickup with a turbo diesel about 2 liters. Why doesn't anyone make that?? | ||
| Brucelee |
We are not allowed to buy new TDI's here in CA. The govt thinks they are too dirty for us. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
Same here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. Good thing we can still buy clean H2s and Escalades. Dirty filthy economy cars! | ||
| Brucelee |
"Same here in the People's Republic of Massachusetts. Good thing we can still buy clean H2s and Escalades. Dirty filthy economy cars!" I think we are run by the same politboro. I moved to CA from MA. Pity me! | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
NY won't allow the TDi to be sold either. It's a moot point though. VW is pulling all of it's TDI models from the US. I'm with Natexlh1000. Give me a small pickup with a 2.0 - 2.8 I-4 diesel and I'll be all over it. Jeep has the Liberty Diesel but the engine is a $4000 option. It'll take a billion years to make up the difference in gas savings. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Hmm, you can't buy new Tdi's there then. Can you buy used out of state & register? or can you import used & register? Here in Europe we have some absolutely blinding diesel cars. I picked up a Benz 200 CDI wagon last month in Germany for my wifes sister, rode it home at around 90mph on the cruise control, 38 to the US gal! I just don't get the polution argument, surely it's better to have more economical vehicles that pollute less per mile, than guzzlers that pollute less per gallon. Or am I missing something here? If any of you guys want a diesel to ship over, I'll be happy to source it & take care of the shipping. If you want to look at availability of diesel vehicles, of any type, go look on the manufacturers European website; or www.autoscout24.com or www.mobile.de (Message edited by Mr_grumpy on March 20, 2006) | ||
| Whodom |
One thing I want to see is a small-ish pickup with a turbo diesel about 2 liters. Why doesn't anyone make that?? Natex, Chrysler showed a prototype new Jeep mid/small pickup at the Detroit auto show last year with the ~2.5L 4-cylinder Detroit diesel that's offered in the Jeep Liberty right now. I don't know if it's planned for production or not, but it would seem to fit the bill. | ||
| Brucelee |
You can buy a used TDI in CA. You simply cannot tile a new one here. So, I can go to Nevada, title the car, wait until I get the Nevada title, and then register the car in CA as a used car. Makes sense, doesn't it! Aye Carumba. | ||
| Kootenay |
It's not all that small, but AFAIK Toyota will be introducing the diesel-powered version of their Tundra pickup to NA (well, Canada at least) in 2007. It gets rave reviews in the UK and Australia; runs a 4 cylinder diesel (I can't recall the displacement). I currently own a Dodge diesel pickup, and I love it--but I, too, would prefer somethng smaller, which is why I'm very interested in the Toyota. I recall back in the 80s when Toyota, Nissan, Isuzu, and even Ford had compact pickups with diesels. | ||
| What_the |
The R10 is amazingly quiet on track. Scroll through this link, there's a bunch short clips from Sebring. http://www.fastdetails.com/ buellgrrrl... http://www.streetracersonline.com/articles/golfvrcr/ With a few minor tweaks to the ole TDI, you too could have 200HP diesel street terror. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
Ummm, I thought you people lived in the "Land of the Free", look on the manufacturers websites & find the model you want with the the diesel you want; They ALL do them every where else in the world, then go to your dealer & say "I want that" No disrespect intended, but it is a particular blind-spot of many Americans that if it's not available in the US it can't be worth having. & it taints the commercial environment. If you don't ask, you won't get!! | ||
| Brucelee |
It is not the dealers here. It is the California Air Resources Board, read CARB. They have decided that Diesel trucks are OK, but cars are not. Go figure. Nazi's | ||
| Ryker77 |
My VW Golf TDI puts down over 140hp and over 300ft/lbs of torque. RocketChip stage 4 ECU PP764's bosio injectors race pipe VNT 17 turbo Swaintech coated turbo and 5th gear .681 5th gear 400 less rpms at 70mph CAT2 fuel filter running Amsoil oil and bypass filter Last tank was 47mpg's. | ||
| Brucelee |
Love that TDI. Wish I could buy a new on here in the Soviet Republic of CA. | ||
| Pupu |
i saw a diesel bike in some magazine, that think had crazy power and torque numbers, i dont remember what they were but they were both well over 100. it wasnt all that heavy either. (Message edited by pupu on March 21, 2006) | ||
| Whodom |
Lots of diesel motorcycle stuff here: http://www.peace65.freeserve.co.uk/Pictures/diesel.htm | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
MrGrumpy wrote <<<Ummm, I thought you people lived in the "Land of the Free">>> No such thing anymore. Whodom, the Jeep Liberty diesel is available and I've seen one or two on the road. The problem is I am not going to pay a 4-5K premium for the diesel option. That's total BS. | ||
| Ceejay |
Johnnylunchbox wrote - Whodom, the Jeep Liberty diesel is available and I've seen one or two on the road. The problem is I am not going to pay a 4-5K premium for the diesel option. That's total BS. Same thing for every other diesel, which many of them last over 500,000 miles. I don't see too many gas engines with that type of longevity...twice the mileage, it think it would be worth it. Plus if it's done right you can get better fuel economy and hopefully more soy diesel will be to market-which may occur quicker if deisel sales were to pick up and then your doing farmers and the environment some good... | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
You, could always buy a small gas engined pickup with a blown motor & drop the diesel version in, it'll be a nuts & bolts conversion on anything over 5 yrs old. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Ceejay - I understand the longevity argument. The jeep diesel is still a bit too new to really know how well it'll hold up. My wife's TDI VW cost only $1k more than its gas counterpart. | ||
| Whodom |
Whodom, the Jeep Liberty diesel is available and I've seen one or two on the road. The problem is I am not going to pay a 4-5K premium for the diesel option. That's total BS. Johnny, I knew the engine was already available in the Liberty, but I didn't know it cost that much (yikes!). Evidently Chrysler is considering producing a retro-styled Jeep pickup which would use the same engine. I'd be pretty confident in a Detroit Diesel; they have been at it for a while. The confusing thing is that Chrysler is now offering products with diesels made by 3 different manufacturers: Cummins, Detroit, and Daimler-Benz. What's up with that? You, could always buy a small gas engined pickup with a blown motor & drop the diesel version in, it'll be a nuts & bolts conversion on anything over 5 yrs old. Grumpy, I've thought about that option myself. Any good candidate diesel engines to drop in a 2001 Ford Ranger? | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Whodom - the jeep liberty diesel engine is made in Italy and is one that MB uses in their passenger cars. I believe Mopar uses the Cummins in the big pickups, which is a $7-8k option. | ||
| Ceejay |
Mopar does use the Cummins or used to. Wow! why wouldn't a person get a diesel VW. Those things are cool and will run forever. Friend had an old rabbit that was pulling 70 mpg. Too new-I can understand that, but I hope that they prove themselves, thus gain popularity, then many folks will have thier wish-a small truck with a diesel offering... | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Ceejay - unfortunately VW has pulled their whole diesel lineup from the US market, or so I was told by my local VW dealer. I am seeing TDI Jettas that are a few years old getting sold for near original sticker prices. The TDI I believe is even classified as a ULEV vehicle. So I don't know what the problem is with diesels (or VW diesels) in the US. | ||
| Brucelee |
My guess the issue with VW is California. They would not be the first company to pull or not import a car that cannot be sold here. The market is too big to be left out of, or so I am told. Tis a pity! | ||
| Ryker77 |
VW's is not pulling out of the US market. There current engine is a pumpduese injector and is having a hard time meeting the EPA rules. But VW is working on for 2007 a common rail injection system, that along with the cleaner US diesel fuel they will still be sold. But hey I can still by a 10mpgs Hummer! Just have a hard time getting a 45mpg diesel car! | ||
| Brucelee |
I think it is a vast right wing conspiracy to force us to use alcohol fuel and to get us all to become alcoholics. Then, the right wing police arrest us all on our bar stools, and the town will seize our houses under emminent domain and then, Then I wake up and Hillary Clinton is President. Then, I kill myself. | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
"Then I wake up and Hillary Clinton is President. Then, I kill myself." I just have this image of the day the Clintons move back into the White House under president Hilary. Her husband sticking his head round the door with a maniac grin like Jack Nicholson & shouting, "Hey y'all, BILLY'S BACK!!!"  | ||
| Brucelee |
"Be afraid, be very afraid!" | ||
| Brucelee |
BTW-The other cool thing about Sebring is that the Corvette C6-R won the GT1 class again. In fact, it come in 4th overall, just behind the 3 winning Audi's. In doing that, it beat the rest of the Lemans Prototypes, both class 1 and 2. Even beat the Penske/Porsche, which must have REALLY hurt my German friends in Stutgart! What a machine! |
