Another Perspective
Diesel Deliverance
American Spectator

Published 10/6/2005 12:07:38 AM
We could be driving powerful, stylish vehicles that get 35-45 mpg -- if we lived in Europe.

In the land of $4-$6 per gallon gas, about half the passenger cars in service are diesel-powered -- and not just ancient Mercedes 300Ds chuffing along in the left lane at 45 mph, either. There are sleek and swift high-performance diesel luxury sedans like the BMW 530d -- with 231 horsepower and 369-lbs.-ft. of torque -- capable of 155 mph on the top and 0-60 in 6.8 seconds. Or how about the Land Rover LR3? Its 2.7 liter turbo-diesel V-6 delivers 190 horsepower -- and 35 mpg on the highway. That's Honda Civic mileage -- from a two-ton, mid-sized 4x4 SUV.

Just a sampling for you.

In Europe, buyers can choose from dozens of vehicles, in all classes, sizes and price ranges -- with efficient diesel power the only common denominator.

We, in contrast, have virtually no choice when it comes to diesel-powered passenger vehicles.

Mercedes and VW -- and that's it.

Instead, we're offered gas-electric hybrids -- which is fine, but far from inexpensive (and thus far from economical). Hybrids cost around $2,000-$10,000 more to buy than conventional, gas-only versions of the same car with similar trim and equipment. Even at $3 per gallon, you'll have to burn an awful lot of fuel before reaching break even. Indeed, a number of recent stories have "done the math" -- and found that, for the average buyer, a hybrid can be more expensive to operate than a "gas guzzling" conventional car.

And there's always the risk -- downplayed by the automakers but real, nonetheless -- that down-the-road upkeep/maintenance costs of complex hybrid technology (especially the battery pack) could be very, very expensive indeed.

Meanwhile, the diesel engine is rock solid, proven technology -- 100 years old and refined to the "nth" degree. Modern passenger car diesels, in addition to being as indestructible as the Terminator, are also smooth, quiet and very powerful. They now match (or surpass) equivalent gas engines in every category of performance -- and blow them away when it comes to economy. Six seconds to 60 -- and 40 mpg.

Good luck finding that in a gas-powered anything.


SO HOW COME WE'RE deprived of these great engines? Is it a conspiracy? The evil machinations of the Illuminati?

Nope.

The reason is as close as your local filling station. The diesel that's available in this country is fine for big rigs -- but terrible for modern high-efficiency passenger car diesels. The stuff we have is laden with sulfur -- and putting high-sulfur diesel into a modern high-performance/high-efficiency turbo-direct-injection diesel passenger car engine is like pouring Karo syrup into the tank of your Pinto. The results, in both cases, are not pretty.

European-spec. diesels are precision machines that need high-grade low sulfur content fuel. Fed properly, they deliver all the good things -- high specific output and great mileage -- with none of the bad stuff -- clouds of smoke, high-emissions output and warranty/repair problems.

But thanks to short-sightedness on our part, we did nothing over the past 10-20 years to get high-quality (low sulfur) diesel into the pipeline; the sooty, high-sulfur swill we had was A-OK for the big rigs -- and that, apparently, was good enough for us.

Hey, when gasoline's only $1.40 per gallon, why bother with diesel... ?

This is why we don't get the BMW 530d, LR3 diesel -- or any of the other state-of-the-art diesel-powered vehicles currently available in Europe. The manufacturers are not about to sell vehicles that won't run properly on the available fuel. Indeed, there are so many potential problems in terms of emissions issues alone that they'd be crazy to even try. Next to the IRS, the EPA is the last government agency you want drawing a target on your back.

So, until we can get decent quality diesel fuel -- sometime in 2007, supposedly -- we'll just have to wait.

And pay.

 

Thats all well and good, and I LOVE diesel vehicles. But to get that ultra low sulfer "clean" diesel you speek of we would be paying just as much as they are, in refining costs. Would it cost that much extra to manufacture? NO, but they can always raise the price when they make an improvment. But I would love to see more diesel powerd passenger cars myself. What is it gonna raise the cost to opperate farm equipment? Food prices will go up. How much extra will it cost to ship goods? Your gonna foot the bill for that too ya know. In the long run would it truely save anything? These are all just speculations and me taking a SWAG. But id say it is most likely what would happen.

Bone

 

Yeah, that's all well and good, but I have a suspicion that when we get low-sulfur fuel, that's precisely the same time we get $4 to $6 gas AND diesel.

Just like they have in Europe.

Deliverance? I think not.

"Is it a conspiracy? The evil machinations of the Illuminati?" Probably.

 

by that time, my expenses will be so great that I'll have a horse instead of a car or truck to drive me around town.

 

Bio-diesel has zero sulfur content. Too bad that common rail pressures are so high.
OTOH, the old school diesels got just as good of mileage with lower injection pressures.
I used to get 43 mpg going 75 mph with my old VW Dasher.
Fill them with Bio and they don't smoke unless badly overfueled.

 

guys I did not write the article, it came from American Spectator

 

I think the article from American Spectator is pretty accurate. One thing they didn't touch on is our current lack of diesel fuel refining capacity (main reason it's now more expensive than gasoline) and distrubution. How much harder is it to find diesel than gasoline at the local station? It's out there but not at every station, and some times not even local if your in the boonies.

I agree the EPA issues and fuel quality (sulfer etc.) has scared most manufactures away from bringing in modern diesels to the USA. It's a pitty since many people would like the option and we COULD start to reduce our overall petroleum consuption, especially since we have a penchant for driving large vehicles where the diesel engine can make the most difference. Just be prepared to pay the extra $$$ for the engine option, usually $3K-$5K extra. With the current high price of diesel fuel it takes some mileage to break even much less come out ahead of a gasoline engine purchase.

It just doesn't have to be this way. The Gov't COULD give tax incentives for high mpg vehicles, reduce the red tape to build new refineries, and standardize our requirements with Europe and Asia so other manufactures don't have to make special "USA only" engines. The solutions aren't that hard if the powers that be have the will to make it happen!!!

It's similar to the current status of cell phones in the US. We are 2-5 years behind what most countries have becuase we aren't on a worldwide standard and cell phone companies don't want to build USA specific models. We get the left overs.

Should we talk about SAE bolts/threads and measurements compared to metric?

We have to do our "own thing" and so we get left behind.

 

they say history repeates itself, maybe soon we will all be driving horses again..

good article.

Diesel Rod