we'll never see this here

with 0-60 15sec you'd get routinely rear ended on american on ramps in no fault states

Looks like the VW polo has more fuel economy, faster 0-60 and still produces the same HP/ emissions. Either way, doubt we'll ever see one here...

with 0-60 15sec you'd get routinely rear ended on american on ramps in no fault states

Prius?

You won't see these Kias because they are diesels. Something we've been told we don't want. No matter how many times we ask for them.

There needs to be an exemption in US law. If a model isn't available from a US dealer, Americans should be able to import the Euro version. Then we'll see how fast they fill that non-existant market demand.

ab-so-freakin'-lutely. well said.

but i don't think it's the manufacturers/dealers, i think it's the oilcos.

1. the oilcos are where these "emissions" regs come from that are designed to stifle diesels. diesels are more efficient, so the emissions regs have been made so onerous, it's almost impossible to pass*. which keeps us driving inefficient gasoline cars. [it's also where the "emissions"-driven ethanol rort comes from - lower mpg's means more gallons of gasoline sold.]

1. that's where the "safety" regs come from that have added about 50% weight to the average car over the last 20 years and thus actually /increased/ gas consumption even though engines are now significantly more efficient.

2. it's why we can't buy small pickups any more. kia [for example, but there are others] make a great small pickup they sell in the rest of the world, but not here. lots of people here want a small pickup. it's why people keep p.o.s. vw rabbit pickups on the road at ridiculous expense. it's why people [cough] keep p.o.s. old toyota pickups on the road at ridiculous expense. because anything new is insanely over-sized and sucks gas like there's a quarter-sized hole in the tank.

• have you ever wondered why the shift to "more costly to refine" low sulfur diesel occurred without a squeak of protest from the oilcos? the answer is simple - there was a back room deal. low sulfur diesel is indeed more costly to refine. the oilcos weren't going to stand for that without some kind of quid pro quo. so the deal was, the formulation for low sulfur diesel has a lower calorie content. thus, fewer miles per gallon. thus more gallons sold. and profits exceed those possible with the old formulation. but who cares - "what's good for the oilcos is good for america"!

Like you don't get golf/jetta and lesser a4 with TDI options. and like there is no bmw 335d available stateside.

and yet JB is driving a civic (never a diesel in the states).

you folks wanna put the money where your mouth is?

rrright and how many people are willing to shell extra $4500 or so for jetta with a turbo diesel?

sought so, not many

you're still not getting it. frod make millions of small eco-diesels. they sell them in europe, but they don't sell them here. g.m. makes millions of small eco-diesels, but they don't sell them here. frod /do/ sell their euro-made transit connect here, but only with a $5k premium for a gasoline engine that they had to specifically retrofit because /all/ the euro transit connects are diesel.

bottom line, /all/ the big manufacturers make great diesels these days, but they're not sold stateside, not even when made by "usa" companies. there's a reason for that, and that reason down to the oilcos.

honda, toyota and nissan all make great diesels which they sell around the rest of the world. why can't we get them here? and more specifically, why can't i /import/ one here? [rhetorical]

i'd rather you put your mouth where your lack of political acumen is.

Isn't at least the purported reason that they're too dirty to meet Federal and/or California automotive emission standards?

key word: "purported".

yes indeed. those "standards" are laid out by unelected officials following the direction of their political sponsors. and those gutless, shameless and [morally and/or actually] corrupt political sponsors are slavishly following the direction of those who contribute to their election campaigns.

fact is, all major vehicle manufacturers produce diesels which can pass even the most ridiculous "emissions" rules. but they get leaned on in back room deals, and either price them out of any reasonable logic [mercedes, audi, vw, bmw] or they just don't sell them [g.m., frod, toyota, honda, nissan, kia, hyundai, etc.].

The reason, more than anything else, is that Americans just don't want to buy diesels.

And a lot of that comes from the godawful junk diesels that American car manufacturers tried to sell them in the seventies. Forty years later they still leave a bad taste in the mouth of the American consumer.

--scott

on the one hand, we have cummins, caterpillar and others domestically, and frod and g.m. overseas producing some excellent high tech and reliable diesels. yet a domestic couldn't produce a decent diesel car for the u.s. retail consumer? even though they managed it for the military?

i smell: