Found this interesting:

A Cummins Diesel powered Nissan Titan test mule:

Update 2: Cummins, Feds Developing Four-Cylinder Diesel for Nissan Titan - PickupTrucks.com News

 

28 mpg does sound nice...only if we could get the modern diesel rangers here.

 

Kudos to Nissan, Cummins, & DOE for this project. I hope there is a public version of the full review & market analysis.

As a consumer, thinking about some numbers: Assume base truck at $25,000 + $8,000 retail diesel option upgrade ($6,000 mfg cost), total is $33,000. Fuel savings over 6 yrs at $4/gal diesel driving 15,000 miles is $5142 (diesel 28 combined, gas 20 combined.... thinking Ford EcoBoost). According to Bloomberg New Service 6/09/2008, average premium price paid for diesel vs gas powered used trucks is +20% more. Assuming the $25k base depreciated to $12,500, the 20% resell premium is $2,500. Totaling the numbers, $2500 + $5142 = $7642. Interest cost on the $8000 option cost at 8% for 60 months is $9750.

Boils down to $2150 additional projected at the loan's end ($8k - $7642= $358 + $1750 interest charge). I would do it as I keep my vehicles 10+ years and I'd bet re-sell after 10 yrs the gap would widen.

What's your view point?

 

Small diesel engines are excellent. I really hope more of them are offered in North America. I'm always envious of the Euorpean/Overseas engine options.

 

It's a neat idea, but I am very skeptical that we'll ever see anything like this in the states. Nissan, Toyota, Isuzu, etc. have all been building awesome diesel engines and have been putting them in everything from cars to smaller Toyota and Nissan trucks, like the Land Cruiser, Hilux, and so forth. We even heard that Subaru was releasing a diesel Impreza in 2007 or 2008, along with a diesel Toyota Tundra in 2007, but those never materialized. I know the market for these trucks exists, I for one would happily spend 5-8k extra for a little 4 or 5-cyl efficient Tundra or Tacoma (Hilux) diesel, but my hopes get shot down every year. We can hope thatt the Cummins name will have some weight this time around.

 

Hell, I'd just about kill to get one of the Ford Focus Diesels from Europe.... 50-60mpg!

 

Seriously man! 67mpg would be really nice...

Ford Focus ECOnetic Diesel to Get 67 MPG (But Only Available in Europe) : TreeHugger


yeah I know it says treehugger.com....please don't hold it against me!

 

I can't figure out why more vehicles aren't fitted with stop-start technology. it makes a big difference in city driving, which is what a lot of us do.

 

To be honest, I'm glad more aren't. If I bought a car with start-stop I'd want it disabled right away, I can't imagine it's conducive to a long vehicle life, but then again, most people are replacing cars every few years nowadays, I feel like an outcast running an '84 Mercedes 300D to 440k.

 

So anyone wonder why OUR taxpayer dollars are going to make a diesel engine for a foreign car maker?

 

Amen.

They keep trying to make cars smarter and I'm convinced it just makes the drivers dumber.

My favorite car to date: 70 Dodge Dart Swinger.

 

Cause the big three are barely liquid and don't want to invest in light diesels. At this point most foreign companies have facuilities in the us anywyas so they are invested in the area.

 

Ford just invested how many millions in a light duty diesel without help from the government? If Nissan wants a light duty diesel, maybe they should pay for it themselves.

 

And then did nothing with it. Ford got a 2.4 billion dollar doe grant for hybrids.... The doe does this stuff all the time

 

For the sake of full disclosure, I was referring to the 4.4 v-6 engine, not the 6.7.

Ford got almost 30 billions from the doe during 2009!

http://m.bnet.com/blog/electric-cars...-car-plans/759