| Author |
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Macdiver
| | Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 09:10 am: | 
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Back in the mid 90's, I was considering a diesel from VW. At that time VW had two diesel engines, one for the European market and one for the US market. Since Europe had (and probably still has) stricter pollution regs on cars, VW and the other European makers had all developed a nice, clean burning diesel engines for cars. Problem in america was our diesel was too dirty for these engines, so, for the US, VW still made and sold that smoke puking engine which most americans hate.
My understanding of the recent clean diesel regs in america is that these rules get us to where Europe was 10 to 15 years ago not where Europe is today. Again my understanding is that old engines can't run the cleaner fuels. It was explained to me as it would be like running race fuel everyday in your camry. It would not do the engine any good.
Edited to add: To answer the OP, Yes I would like a small diesel pick-up. I have a 03 nissan fronty crew cab with the 6 ft bed which would be great as a diesel.
(Message edited by macdiver on September 26, 2009) |
Cyclonemick
| | Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 09:18 am: |
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I work for Cummins, Currently we are in the process of Building a 6 cylinder Diesel engine that is being designed just for the purpose of a ligh duty platform! Actual Production start this next year but the plant is finishing up all of the assembly and machining equipment as we speak! I think its going to be a great engine from what I've heard from testing being completed! Stay tuned! |
Guell
| | Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 09:22 am: |
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Ford does offer a diesel ranger, south of the border... Ive been tempted to figure out how to fly and import one. |
Mr_grumpy
| | Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 11:17 am: |
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Folk have long memories Froggy, once bitten... etc.
GM in the US haven't been the most go-ahead company, their reputation is, how can I put this gently, not what it might be. |
Froggy
| | Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 12:37 pm: |
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GM in the US is more go ahead than most people think. They pioneered many things we take for granted today including power locks, electric starter, automatic transmissions, hydrogen cars, and more recently things like a modern electric car, the first range extended electric car, Onstar, cylinder deactivation, the worlds only 500+hp car without a gas guzzler tax, and the first hybrid bus.
(Message edited by froggy on September 26, 2009) |
Delta_one
| | Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 01:36 pm: |
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whats the 500+ hp car without a guzzler tax? I thought even the corvette had a guzzler tax, I must be wrong... |
Froggy
| | Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 01:51 pm: |
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Corvette Z06 7.0L |
Froggy
| | Posted on Saturday, September 26, 2009 - 02:01 pm: |
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http://www.chevrolet.com/vehicles/2009/corvettez06/overview.do |
Hootowl
| | Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 - 09:29 am: |
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The new (to the US) 15PPM sulfur diesel fuel must be used in 2007 and newer engines. It is safe and recommended for use in all diesel engines. Says so right on the pump. |
Rfischer
| | Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 - 09:36 am: |
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That is correct. The 'Vette guys have cleverly figured out the EPA fuel consumption test cycle and matched up with the double-overdrive 6 spd. trans and CAGS [skipshift]. From a performance point of view, the car has the perfect first 4 gears to maximize performance. I don't recall EVER using 6th on mine, and only occasionally 5th. And, the first thing every owner does is disable the CAGS to take out the annoying skip-shift.
I once had a conversation with Phoenix Performance, the guys who build the GM SCCA T1 championship 'Vetts, about different transaxle ratios for 5th & 6th. They told me there was no advantage to doing that - they had tested.
Clever engineering by GM that saves their customers serious $$ at purchase. |
Froggy
| | Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 - 09:59 am: |
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5th gear isn't useless, there is video on Youtube from Top Gear of Jeremy going from a dead stop to 175mph in 5th gear alone on a stretch of runway. Torque!  |
Brinnutz
| | Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 - 10:46 am: |
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Well, just saw an audi add pushing for us to buy TDI, so that we can send all the oil back to countries we buy it from...Let's hope this helps, I want a small diesel pickup and even signed up for the Mahindra newsletter.
(Message edited by brinnutz on September 28, 2009) |
Rfischer
| | Posted on Monday, September 28, 2009 - 12:55 pm: |
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Torque indeed! Which is why the car only needs 4 gears to blow the doors off Porsche's etc. costing twice as much.
And I agree, 5th is useful. When you're already doing a buck-fifty and want to go faster.... |
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