Comments on: An overview of 2008 diesel cars, and what’s coming after that

By: Diesel Making Its Way Back Into American Autos as Eco Friendly Energy Source | TakePart Social Action Network™

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 22:07:36 +0000

[...] An Overview of 2008 Diesel Cars [...]

By: Kajun Dewd

Kajun Dewd — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 07:10:35 +0000

Alright lol. Lot of you make good points, and some of you make stupid points.

1.) To my friend in the oil company. You are a liar. I haul petroleum products 7500 gallons at a time up and down the Mississippi River. YES, diesel is CHEAPER to manufacture. In fact, it doesn’t really cost anything at all per se, because it is the bi-product of all petroleum. When you finish pulling off butane, propane, natural gas, etc etc, diesel is what’s left at the bottom of the tank. So you have make some modifications to that product, but it is still far easier to produce than gasoline. You either are a really good PR person for the companies, or you simply don’t know what goes on in your plant

2.) Yes, to my friend who criticized someone for saying that the price of diesel isn’t rising faster than gasoline. News flash here for ya champ, 15 years ago, low sulfur diesel was 10-15 cents less per gallon than low grade unleaded gas. Today in most places, it’s 8-11 cents more per gallon than high grade unleaded gas. You do the math.

3.) The whole “emissions requirement” is a load of horse***t. I know for for a FACT, that certain engines that go in semi-tractors, locomotives, tug boats and farm equipment, that are manufactured right here in THIS country, don’t meet our own standards. But because they are classified as special/commercial and farm equipment, they get through, and the companies make their billions.

Plain and simple. You won’t see the true efficiency of diesel powered engines in this country because this government and its auto industry, is in the hands of the petroleum industry. Understand that for what it is, and argue with me while you watch as the price of fuel drops 2 and 3 dollars per month while the auto industries go bankrupt and we have to give them billions of dollars to keep their greedy asses afloat. Watch and learn.

By: davea0511

davea0511 — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 19:34:34 +0000

Because, Don, the diesel cars in europe don’t me the US standards for exhaust emissions.

By: Don

Don — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 02:14:36 +0000

There is a wide range of very good small and medium size diesel cars available in Europe.

Ford has sold in Europe for many years the highly regarded Ford Mondeo with a 2 Litre turbo charged diesel engine giving over 40 miles to the gallon (US gallons). In 2007 this car was voted the car of the year by the largest selling car magazine in the UK and a number of car experts have stated that the Mondeo is the best car Ford has ever made comparing well if not better than similar priced BBW’s and Audi’s! Don’t be fooled by the Mondeo being described as a mid-sized car its actually very spacious.

The million dollar question is why aren’t these very economical diesel cars available in the USA!

Cheers
Don
Australia

By: George M

George M — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 00:19:40 +0000

I have ownered MB 180D,190D,200D,220D,240D,300TD and 350SD. International Scout with a Nisson Diesel, put a Turbo charged Nisson in a 74 GMC P/U and have a Cummins powered MH. I also bought one of the first GMC diesel pick ups , a 1978 in sept of 1977. I still the MH, 2-300TDs,350SD and the 1978 GMC. I only have 175,000 on the 1978 GMC and it runs perfect and looks good. There were 2 problems with the GM diesel engines that could have been fixed for $1.00, yes one dollar. A plastic drive washer in the injecter pump, which in about 28,000 miles breaks apart. I eliminated that and welded the coupling, no problem in 25 years. The second problem and the largest which caused head bolts to break, crankshafts to break and blown headgaskets was a quality control problem. The pistons all came up different heights. I found a veriation in one engine of .025 in the deck height or the distance the pistons came up above the block. The high ones cause extreamly high compression and the “compression knock” was pronounced. Most engines produced had this problem. The fix was a thicker head gasket which also lowered power some or mark the pistons, measure the height above the block at TDC and take off material from the top of all pistons to equal the height of the lowest. This works and the engine is quiet and smooth. Also the story about this engine being a converted gas engine is not true. There is no GM gas engine block like the 350D or 350DX. Seems like the USA doesn’t and never did want diesel passenger cars. In 1964 when heating fuel was $.008 a gallon the govenment was afraid it would lose all that tax money with people useing heating oil. Now that home heating oil is $4.60 a gallon maybe we will see some diesel cars soon. G.M.

By: Frank Shaffer

Frank Shaffer — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 03:35:27 +0000

I have owned Diesel cars since 1970 and even tried to order on in Germany in 1958, but had to take a gas 190 instead. My newest is an 05 CDI and it’s great compared to the 220-D and 240-D. I’d buy a Smart CDI in a minute, but what do we get a Japanese gas job. Canada has the Smart Diesel, but not here. Why????

By: James

James — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:08:15 +0000

We have owned a Mercedes Benz 320 CDI for three years and love it! We are now shopping for the new 2008 BlueTec which is even cleaner. We get 29 mpg in town and 37 mpg highway.

Thanks for your list. I couldn’t find this data else where.

James

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:08:24 +0000

As an owner of 2 diesel powered pickup trucks, I’ve enjoyed much better fuel milege than most people with similar gasoline powered trucks. My 1/2 ton 4WD regularly gets 28 mpg in city. Thats 1983’s technology! It surprises me that as we become more tech savy, we haven’t become much more fuel savy. I believe the big 3 have the ability to put small diesels in auto’s now. Why won’t they??

By: Ron

Ron — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 20:20:36 +0000

My 2 cents: I drive a 2006 Volvo Cross Country Wagon 5 cyclinder and love it. The secret is more gears / better transmissions. Ford in their wisdom redesigned the car for a 6 cyclinder. I would love to see a 5 cyclinder diesel hybred in it. There is more interior carrying space than many midsize SUV’s.

By: Topper

Topper — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 02:51:31 +0000

There’s nobody to blame besides the redneck attitude of the North Americans who like the frickin big SUV’s that they keep buying. And from the perspective of an odd North American who hated vehicles from the Big 3, it just makes me wonder why all the fuss now since if you’re able to afford to buy a 4×4, you should be able to afford the frickin’ high gas prices, right? I don’t think diesel will soft the North American green house gas problem. As we put more cars on the road that uses more fossil fuel, we’re all still going to deal with pollution and over-crowding in large metropolises. I think if people are really serious about reducing emissions, then we should seriously consider vehicles of transportation that don’t use fossil fuels at all. Think about having a healthier lifestyle by riding bikes or buy/demand electric cars. I just think North American’s, especially Americans, have a mental problem where they feel that size is everything; and for most part super-sizing and obesity is blind-siding your decisions to go smaller, lighter, and with less consumption. Don’t worry about other countries as rising consumers of fuel and other goods. Worry about what’s at home first because if you rednecks don’t clean up your mess, you’ll just deal with it more at home – with hurricanes and tornados! ‘nuf said!