Back in June of 2007, Bosch, a company long involved in diesel technology supplied The Wall Street Journal with two cars sold in Europe but withheld from us here in the US. The two cars tested were the Chrysler 300C CRD and the BMW 535D.
The article starts off by saying:
A raft of diesel passenger cars, which often improve fuel economy over similar gas-sipping engines by as much as 30%, will begin hitting U.S. showrooms in 2008.
Now, I’m not sure what definition the WSJ is using for “A Raft”; as of a few weeks ago only one car company had actually gone on record with specifics about their diesel offerings in the US (Mercedes), and BMW and Volkswagen had only specified that they hoped to have a diesel midyear but would not release any specifics. In any case according to Chrysler the 300 CRD would not be available in the US during the 2008 year. The article also mentions the Honda Accord diesel hybrid which, by all accounts, will not be available until 2009 at the earliest.
Back in June, when this article came out things looked a bit more optimistic, but problems with emissions requirements for California have caused several manufacturers to delay their diesel offerings. I guess we will have to wait for that raft.
Putting that aside the article goes on to give the reviewers impressions of the two automobiles.
Mr. Vella: Well, I think any engine is going to pale next to the five-liter V10 in the M5. But, even if it’s not exactly worthy of BMW’s coveted “M” badge, I think the performance was pretty impressive. The 428 pound-feet of torque is amazing from an inline-6. That’s 45 lb.-ft. more than the U.S.-spec M5! And, as for gas mileage, the gulf between 12 miles per gallon an M5 would likely return in the real world and the 26.4 miles per gallon we observed in our diesel testing is vast. In any case, the diesel proposition was certainly accented different in the other model we tested — a European-only Chrysler 300C CRD.
Mr. Patton: I was more impressed with the Chrysler, which I think is more suited to American driving tastes and was, overall, a better pairing of engine and transmission. The 300 didn’t have any sporting pretensions so it was easy to accept the laid-back feel of the engine, which still provided good acceleration and was very quiet on the highway. This new generation of diesels is so far beyond what was sold even a few years ago. Frankly, this is a car I could see myself buying, though maybe not for $50,000, which is roughly what it sells for in Europe.
Frankly, I’m jealous; both of the reviewers getting to try out these cool Euro-only offerings and of the Europeans for having such a wider selection of diesels to choose from. I look forward to 2009 and seeing what the automakers are going to have to offer.
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