Diesels available in the USA

If there's anybody making and/or selling "not truck" diesels in the US besides Mercedes Benz and VW, I haven't heard of them. I *THINK* one of the old (as in '70s) Datsun micro-pickups used to come with an optional diesel engine, but 30-some years later, I imagine that hardly counts...

It's very interesting that in the US there are so few cars with diesel engines as an alternative to petrol/gasoline engines, whereas almost every small or medium size car (and a fair number of larger cars) sold in the UK has one or more diesel engines offered. I think something like 1/3 of all cars on the road in the UK is a diesel.

I imagine the difference is due to the much lower price of fuel in the US compared with the UK and (to a lesser extent) mainland Europe: there isn't the same incentive to offer cars which are more fuel-efficient when the running cost of a gasoline-engined car in the US is so much less.

The people here didnt see the cost of fuel as being low, as it approached US$4 per US gallon. Diesel here is more expensive than gasoline, normally.

There are a number of reasons why diesels are so popular here, including availability, EPA regulations, nightmares of the old conversion diesels of the past, the idea that they smell bad and are low on power.

It will take a selling job on the American public before more fuel efficient small diesels become popular.

Isn't it interesting how that works:

They are not bought because they are not available, because nobody wants them, because they were bad before.

I wish somebody would take the chance on making them available in the USA. Having driven several diesels while in Europe and not realizing they were diesels until it was time to refuel I would seriously consider buying one.

Volkswagen seems to have made the commitment to sell Diesel engined cars here, although availability has actually been off and on. BMW, Mercedes, etc. however seem to not want to bother. Peugeot, Citroen, FIAT do not really have any presence in the US anymore (Citroen likely because NHTSA did not let them import the DS; Peugeot and FIAT because of having tried importing vehicles before and having acquired a terrible reputation for reliability and serviceability.)

nate

It's true. I think Oldsmobile's attempt at turning a gasoline engine into a diesel engine soured a whole lot of people on diesel for many years, and car manufacturers are still having to deal with some of the fallout from that.

In addition, of course, diesel is now more expensive than gasoline here in the US. Next week things could return to normal, though.

Write to BMW and tell them you want to see the 1-series diesels for sale in the US. With manual transmissions too, please! They are fun cars.

--scott

A big part of the problem is that the US population, due to failing schools, is no longer capable of doing the math to figure the MPG their current vehicle gets, much less perform the calculations to compare cost per mile between a gas and a diesel vehicle.

Aren't all the SAAB cars diesel? Fugly little POSs, and I'd never buy one though...

I recently saw a Jeep Grand Cherokee that said "diesel" on the rear tailgate. I guess that's considered a full size SUV, but they're the only domestic I know of offering one in that size vehicle. I am not sure if the suburbans and expeditions are in the same class.

I bought my first diesel about 15 years ago and would never go back to petrol now: I've got used to the extra pulling power at low engine speeds and therefore not needing to change right down to second gear to accelerate out of each roundabout (rotary, traffic circle). The increased economy is very much appreciated - 50 mpg rather than 35 (per UK gallon - multiply by

4/5 for US gallon!). Instant starting every day, even when it's cold, with no sluggishness untl the engine warms up is another benefit.

My earlier post was a quagmire of mistakes, but I imagine everyone knew what was supposed to have been said. We dont buy diesels because of a numbe of quirky reasons.

I dont know about SAABs now. I had one several years ago, and it was a very good car in all weather conditions. That was before GM acquired them. It was a gasoline powered V6...a great car.

In those days most people bought standard gasoline powered SAABs, but the turbo was popular in certain crowds.

A diesel is available now, and I suspect are popular, as are diesels in general in Europe.

In Europe, they drive some nice little fuel efficient vehicles. cuhulin

Ah, diesel's more expensive than gasoline in the US as well, is it? I wondered whether it was just a UK phenomenon.

Until fuel prices went through the roof earlier this year, diesel was 1-2 pence per litre more expensive than petrol/gas, though until a few years ago it was quite a bit cheaper. But then when fuel prices went up in the summer, diesel went up much more than petrol and as prices have come down, the gap has widened. Currently petrol is about 85p/litre and diesel is 98p, so a difference of (98-85)/85 = 15%. However this is still outweighed by the much better economy.

To put the prices into context, at its peak when diesel was about 135p, that's 1.35*3.78*1.47 (for 1=1.47 and 1 US gallon = 3.78 litres), so about $7.50/US gallon (gulp!). Nowadays 98p is $5.40/US gallon. What are typical prices for diesel and gasoline in the US?

Our spoilsport Chancellor of the Exchequor made sure than when he reduced VAT (sales tax) from 17.5% to 15% at the begining of December, he increased fuel tax by the same amount so that cars/lorries would not benefit from it. He did the same with tax on alcohol and cigarettes.

Goodness knows when this financial crisis will end: it's all very well having mortgage rates going down to 2.5% when they were 4.5% a few months ago, but the same reduction has affected interest paid out on savings. The reduction in VAT probably isn't enough to make people go out and buy things that they otherwise wouldn't have bought. And of course we'll have to pay for that reduction and the huge payments made to banks to keep them afloat. When big high street names like Woolworths and MFI (furniture) go bankrupt and cease trading, things are getting bad.

Fortunately my business hasn't been affected (yet) - people still need their computers fixing and wireless broadband networks installing.

Yes, how does 50 mpg UK (40 mpg US) from a nine-year old car sound? That's a Peugeot 306 with a 2-litre 90 hp engine capable of 0-60 in about 12 seconds and upwards of 90 mph (if only it were legal). More modern cars with smaller but just as powerful engines can manage 60-70 mpg UK.

What we need is a pipeline under the Atlantic so we can buy diesel (or even gasoline) at US prices ;-)

I don't see diesel cars in the US making any sort of comeback, available or not, until the price of diesel fuel comes down. Currently, at least where I am, it is more than double the price of gasoline, and even when gas was around $4/gallon, diesel was hiked a couple of dollars more.

The first time around (late 70's, early 80's) was a response to the '73 oil embargo that jacked up fuel prices the first time. There were two differences then vs. now:

- gas & diesel were approximately the same price and you could expect to realize a monetary benefit from the better mileage of the diesel.

- the early generation dysfunctional pollution controls made the gasoline cars spastic dogs. Diesels were exempt from the regulations and therefore simple by comparison and (should have been) more reliable.

Don't forget Jeep Liberty.

Pete

Uh, diesel is twice the price of gas in the U.S. Also the diesels sold here during the past turned a LOT of people away from them. They were VERY noisy, low powered and STANK to high heaven. The modern engines are much better but nobody want to try the experiment and see IF they would sell. For a while there were a lot of diesels available, GM had the LUV,the S-10, Chevette, the Cutlass and a few others. Ford had a similar line up as well. Chrysler was about the only one that didn't have a bunch, but that was also the era of the Kcar rebound and they had enough problems at the time.

Currently there are a few imports available but they don't sell well except to folks who came from Europe OR ones who just want to stand out.

You also have to remember that drive distances and times are usually much higher in the US, and the small engines sold in Europe just won't take that kind of use for long periods.

Well, yes and no. Purchased at the filling station, it is. But some of us have alternative sources*. this is not easily done with petrol, unless you distill your own ethanol and buy an E85 vehicle. But then the BATF will be watching you. Rumor has it that one reason the feds were so interested in cracking down on moonshiners during the Prohibition was that they didn't want farmers running their product in their vehicles, bypassing the taxable sales outlets for petrol.

*With respect to 'alternative sources', then next time you people come up with an idea like running your cars on used cooking oil, please keep your yaps shut! Now the recyclers buy it all up and tack road tax plus a 'green fuel' premium on it.

[snip]

Well then, lets scrap the car dealer monopoly protection regulations and let people buy one overseas and import them on their own. If enough people do so, then either the dealer networks will pick them up or they deserve to all go bankrupt.

The Autobahn has its share of diesels, and they run at high speeds for long distances. I am not sure I can agree with you on this.

The purposefully constructed diesels hold up rather well.