A diesel Subaru is on its way...finally

Years back diesel in NA was also much lower cost than gasoline. Then diesel was a refinery waste the had to dispose of, mainly for furnace fuel.

Increased use of diesel upped the price.

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Spam Hater
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Yes many drive excessively large vehicles with excessive engine power. Obviously many people have too much money.

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Spam Hater

I like diesel's because you can use Biodiesel and its a renewable fuel. I think we will never run out of dino juice, it will just get so expensive it will be priced out of the market. If I remember correctly the first diesel ran on peanut oil.

mitch

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the one and only

Clinton also tried to put on a fuel tax. When enough people objected, he applied the new taxes only on diesel, since it would affect businesses mostly and not consumers, at least not directly. Since then, diesel has been about the same prices as regular gas.

Reply to
Tom Reingold

I've driven many diesels in Europe, and would love to see similar engine choices offered here in the USA. For several years I've been seeing news reports about how the "new-generation diesels are coming." I'll believe it when I see it. A lot is predicated on better diesel fuel being offered in the USA. And, it will require a good bit of marketing/consumer education before the average US consumer buys into it.

Personally, I think diesel engines are a much better choice than the hybrids. But, of course, they aren't as "sexy."

Turbo diesel engines are pretty good performace-wise. I've rented large station wagons (Opel Vectra, Ford Mondeo) in Europe with small TD engines that feel just as powerful as my 03 OBW. Yes, I know it's torque and not HP, but it still does the job.

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BrianW

In a lot of European center city areas you can't breathe because of the high concentration of diesel fumes. Diesel particulates accumulate in the lungs. Removing the sulphur from the fuel will help some, but it's still a dirty engine. The few car makers who do a good job with diesels use very expensive catalysts. For large trucks particulate trapping equipment is being developed. Subaru wants you to think they are concerned about the environment and they tout their low emission engines. And to think, our kids ride in diesel stinking school buses that idle in front of the bus loading areas. At our offices we have the UPS and Purolater diesel trucks idling at our doors while they deliver and pickup packages.

On the petroleum food chain, diesel is just a less refined fuel than gasoline. The diesel engine has been around a long time and was a good idea for days gone by. It's still okay for applications removed from population concentrations i.e. ships, tugboats, military trucks, and long haul locomotives. But choking our freeways, suburbia, and center cities with large numbers of these vehicles is not really healthy. Imagine Manahattan with all diesel taxicabs on a windless summer day!!

New Class 8 long haul diesel trucks will have to meet new emission regulations to try to stem the soot. The problem is the enormous fleet of older trucks that belch plumes of black sooty smoke as they take off from a standstill.

We need to improve and refine our hybrid technology. You can get a lot of instant torque from an electric motor. Feel a subway accelerate and realize how much weight is being moved quickly. Honda is proving that electric motor assist to the gasoline engine is one hot way to accelerate while minimizing pollution!

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Jakey

Your whole focus is on the acceleration of a hybrid. Hybrids certainly get very good gas mileage in stop and go city driving. However, for continuous highway driving, a gas-powered hybrid is no better than a pure gas-powered car with the same size gas engine as the hybrid and same coefficient of drag. Under these conditions a diesel will get much better mileage than a gas-powered hybrid.

-- Vic Roberts Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

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Victor Roberts

That's only partially true. All hybrid gas engine are based on Miller cycle, tha's more efficent than Otto cycle but only with auxilium of electric engine can have comparable performances

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S.C.

I would be careful to say "all hybrids." Many of the newer hybrids are hybrid in name only. They have the same size gas engine as the non-hybrid version and very small electric motors. They use the gas engine for all but stop and go city driving. The main function of the electric motor seems to be to raise the city mileage rating and allow the manufacturer to call the car a hybrid.

-- Vic Roberts Replace xxx with vdr in e-mail address.

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Victor Roberts

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