Has anyone heard if Subaru is looking into a diesel engine for the U.S. market?
Mike
Has anyone heard if Subaru is looking into a diesel engine for the U.S. market?
Mike
Looking at the market that Subaru goes after, I think it's unlikely.
Subaru has never really addressed the gas economy issue. They would rather build a car with good performace in terms of pep and traction. Both of which cost gas mileage. The only real benefit of a diesel is mileage.
An opposed-4 diesel engine would be quite an engineering challenge, given the opposing forces, and I think it is unlikely that it could be shoehorned into the traditional Subaru body and drivetrain style. Change the drivetrain and you don't have a Subaru anymore.
And if you think Subaru has had head gasket problems, just talk to any VW Rabbit diesel owner (:
I think that the've made noises about a hybrid and that's far more likely than a diesel.
Subaru is/were in the process of developing a diesel engine with assistance from Ricardo (A European automotive engineering consultancy). Will post a link to the info if I can find it again.
Ricardo Subaru diesel info link, (page 5 of PDF document)
"Mike G." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@pghconnect.com:
According to these articles Subaru already has a prototype flat-four diesel and is trying for production diesel vehicles IN EUROPE by 2008.
Would I be wrong in believing diesel technology doesn't lend itself well to designs that don't have BOTH an iron block and iron heads?
Rick
I heard or read somewhere that Subaru might offer a diesel engine in it's
2006 models... We're already >
Can you imagine Subaru Impreza WRX D ? I can not. :-)
A.
It's a material properties and engineering issue. Mercedes has had aluminum diesels for decades. You can't take an aluminum gas engine and just convert to diesel, it's best to do a ground-up design so that the engineering is good from the foundation. The forces and mechanics of diesels are well understood now so basically it's more of an issue of whether the economics of a clean-sheet engine are justifiable.
JazzMan
Valve clatter wouldn't be an issue (:
And those of us driving "vintage" Subies wouldn't notice the lack of power ;)
Rick
But Impreza WRX HDTi ? why not ;-)
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