Actually we have one of the later versions. I bought a 1985 diesel ranger from a wrecker, rebuilt the engine and dropped it in the place of a 2.9 EFI in a 1987 ranger. Its a great little engine and I think it would have sold very will if it were offered for more than just 2 years.

The early 2.2L mazda diesel was N/A and only came with a 4 speed manual transmission with 59Hp, so it doesn't supprise me that not many wanted them.

However, the later 2.3L mitsubishi diesel was a turbocharged, overhead cam engine that runs more like a V6 of the era. 86 Hp isn't much by today's standards, but they came with a 5 speed transmission, and power was good considering this was the 80s (its enough to peg the speedometer on flat ground in a 4x4 ranger thats slightly lifted). I suspect after the initial release of the mazda diesel, nobody wanted the later one even though it was a night and day difference in performance and smoke reduction.

That era was also lived in the shadow of the chevy 350 diesel, so the idea of diesels being more reliable than gas engines was no longer believed. Emissions changed in the late 80s, and that made it impossible to market an affordable diesel like the ranger in north america. Larger heavier 3/4 ton trucks were for a long time still exempt from the more strict standards. This is probably why chevy stopped offering their diesels in 1/2 ton frames toward the late 80s even though the 6.5s and 6.5 turbos were not much heavier than the original 6.2s.

I have no doubt that if the same emission standards were imposed on trucks like mine back when they first started building them in the mid 80s that they too would have been killed off. Nobody is going to pay a higher price for a truck that gets lower fuel economy then last years model. Just look at the 6.4L.....(Although the DPF falls of for some reason)

 

dosnt jeep have a few diesel in there us models

 

I think in the liberty not the standard jeeps that I know of.

 

They did briefly offer the jeep liberty with a mercedes diesel engine, but I thing its since been pulled (some one correct me if I'm wrong). From what I heard, the fuel economy was better, but not good enough to make up for the price premium. Mercedes used to make the among the best light duty diesels in the world, but their more recent engines haven't been as good. If I were to convert a light vehicle to diesel again, I would probably go with a 1984 300TD inline 5cyl.

The VW diesels were able to easily match the fuel economy of the prius hybrids even in urban traffic (unless you were dumb in driving habits) and blow them away on at speeds of 70 MPH and up. However, that was back in 2006. In 2007, I think they were temporarily pulled from US markets because of such strict EPA standards that came out. They are available again, but with unreasonable emission standards, lower fuel economy, and the high price of diesel in 2008, they didn't do so well. Although lets face it, no automaker is really doing well right now.

 

I was orignaly planning on buying a grand cherokee with the mercedies, I saw a comparoson between them and the SRT modle of the same year when the diesels came ot in them and it was only a few tenths slower in the 1/4 mile. I wasn't too thrilled about the mercedies diesel but did like that 99% of the technolagy used on it was the same that had been used in europe for 5 years prior to the US relase. But At the time the economy was good and it was hard for first time buyers the only new vehicle in anything I wanted I could make the payments on was a 2006 2500 6spd 5.9l cummins but when we ran the credit I found that salie mae had lost a few of my payments and never bothered to notify me at the time I was doing real good on money lots of OT and didn't notice. I ended up getting my 350 and a matco 3 bay tool box for less than the dodge but the payments are more combined because i got a shorter loan on my 350.

I had a teacher at UTI with a golf TDI and he had bought a bunch of european engine parts for it injectors injection pump and some other stuff and was getting 70mpg oh and it still passed smog.

 

My son has a Jetta TDI that gets/got ~52 MPG, He loves his TDI.

Unfortunately it now has a hole through the head! Thanks to a VW Specialist!

-Enjoy
fh : )_~

 

It was actually made by an Italian company called VM Motori, a company partially owned by DaimlerChrysler’s Detroit Diesel. When Daimler split from Chrysler, so did VM Motori. Hence why it is gone.

 

Cerberus Capital Management LLC only bought 81.1% of Daimler's Chrysler Division.

Daimler (AG) retained 19.9%.

 

ND when I read that it was a couple years or more not exactly sure who owned itbut whoever it was they were the same as chrysler co and this was before smart car started importing them. As they were building them overseas for overseas they tried to keep smart car from buying them and importing them. I'm not even sure who owns smartcar now the only reaspon I got interested in the article was because I had just seen a fortwo and thought it was funny that the company that built them would sue somebody to keep them from buying there product.

 

There is absolutely nothing at all unusual about that. Car companies will routinely try to control their markets and customers by allowing different models to be offered strictly in markets of their choosing. If a car is not available in a region where you are than tough beans. In the more extreme cases, they will even destroy cars that are already built to prevent them from ever being sold like in the case of electric cars.

Its one of a long list of reasons I don't buy new vehicles even if I did have money to burn. If I really wanted to, I probably could afford to make payements on a new truck, but I would be stretching myself thin and I already have more vehicle than I need.

 

Actually the Italian VM engine was droppeed for..........SUPRISE!..................emissions reasons!
US emissions laws are D.U.M........dumb!

I'm pretty sure the Smart cars are a Mercedes product.

 

Unless it has changed smart cars do not build cars in the beginning they were buying fortwos and shipping them to cali and retrofitting them to sell in the US. chrysler were building the fortwo and sued smartcar that was based in cali.

 

I'm far from knowledgeable on this subject but isn't the parent compant Daimler (Mercedes), the little cars are Smart (brand name) and the model is SmartForTwo?

That's what I've always understood, I've never heard of Chrysler/Dodge actually manufacturing them.

Like I said, I don't know for sure.

 

Not the way I read it and I seen fortwo with my own eyes in canada before I ever heard of smart cars. Seems like they are manufactured in china not sure about though.


Just in case you better have one in your driveway make it a lime green. You can tell your green neighbors you brought it in to feed your fords.

 

It appears you are at least partially right. couldn't find anything on the lawsuit but I know I read it and now there is going to be a smart forfour wander why yugo never built a wego they probably would still be around lol.

I want one of the convertible gt models.
Are U.S. drivers ready for tiny smart cars? - Green Machines- msnbc.com