Topic: ADDITIONAL DIESEL OPTIONS - FORD, PAY ATTENTION!!

[Thinking Out Loud]

VW was looking at diesel hybrid technology (albeit 5+ years from now).

Ford has the technology (or certainly can licence it).  The Fiesta will already have been crash tested, so sending over a couple of units for final testing with the new diesel motor isn't a huge expense.

The cheapest way to get to incredible mileage is already available. 

DO IT, FORD!  Show GM and Chrysler what you are made of!! 

[2JDM]

A good, economical engine of similar capacity would render only slightly worse fuel economy.
Corolla or Civic with 1.8L gas engine could go 1000 km on a tank too.

If that was true Toyota and Honda wouldn't be building hybrids. Even the hybrids get worse mileage then diesels.

The Civic with a 1.8 litre engine is 44mpg. That's quite a bit less then a similar car would be with a diesel engine.
Can't post links. Go to the Honda UK site and check the civic 1.8L



Or a bigger diesel car with a bigger engine:
 
Check BMW UK 3 series technical


Better mileage. Heavier. The 318D is almost 60mpg. Even the 325D is slightly better then the Honda 1.8 gas civic

I am interested in real world numbers...

[Dante]

A good, economical engine of similar capacity would render only slightly worse fuel economy.
Corolla or Civic with 1.8L gas engine could go 1000 km on a tank too.

If that was true Toyota and Honda wouldn't be building hybrids. Even the hybrids get worse mileage then diesels.

The Civic with a 1.8 litre engine is 44mpg. That's quite a bit less then a similar car would be with a diesel engine.
Can't post links. Go to the Honda UK site and check the civic 1.8L



Or a bigger diesel car with a bigger engine:
 
Check BMW UK 3 series technical


Better mileage. Heavier. The 318D is almost 60mpg. Even the 325D is slightly better then the Honda 1.8 gas civic

I'm not arguing the fact that the diesels offer better fuel economy and torque than a similar size gas engine. All I'm saying is that, when you factor in the price difference to purchase a diesel model versus a similar gas model of the same car, plus the price difference of the diesel versus gas, you may not always save money overall.
It is true that you may help preserve the environment and natural resources if this is the goal, but not necessarily your own financial resources.

[MKII]

Studies done in the EU have shown consumers buying the new diesels are driving more kms per year then consumers buying gas engine cars, hence the savings per year are not savings.

[NickZ]

I am interested in real world numbers...
[/quote]

I get about 1100 km from a 47 litre gas tank.  That's a diesel car the size of a Honda Civic. Real world numbers. Driven on roads that can be 20 degrees uphill or down.

[ArticSteve]

Diesel reliability so far in Canada has been iffy.  Firstly, the climate is too cold.  Diesels at -20C and below suck.  Actually in my experience after -10C things start to go downhill including the stability of the fuel.

The other problem is that they tend to be very expensive to repair.  Although, I really don't have any experience with the small Euro diesels, the units here including VWs are usually expensive to keep running when they get past the 200K km mark.  The fuel pre heating system usually screws ups and they are ridiculously expense.

[Trainman]

I am interested in real world numbers...

I get about 1100 km from a 47 litre gas tank.  That's a diesel car the size of a Honda Civic. Real world numbers. Driven on roads that can be 20 degrees uphill or down.

How about some actual consumption figures?  X l of fuel used for X kms driven, not some general feel of how far you can go on a tank of fuel (when was the last time you ran the tank dry and noted how far you had come?  Most tanks gauges are not linear due to the weird shapes of tanks nowadays so they can not be relied upon for consumption estimates).  That is what 2hondas was looking for I think and what I would want.  Express it as Xl/100 kms or MPG, whatever works.

[vdk]

Studies done in the EU have shown consumers buying the new diesels are driving more kms per year then consumers buying gas engine cars, hence the savings per year are not savings.

But they could very well be driving the same amount of KMs w/o a diesel.. maybe high-mileage people tend to go the diesel way.. seems logical..

Financial sense.. maybe not.. BUT.. better fuel efficiency means that our grandchildren will have the pleasure of driving (a car)..