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[elcoyote]

Toyota Diesel news

As reported by Reuters in IndustryWeek magazine Aug 2008:

"Toyota Motor Corp will build a diesel plant in Thailand for $US162 million to meet rising demand for its IMV vehicle series. The company plans to churn out 150,000 units a year at the facility which will be built on the site of an existing engine factory 43 miles south of Bangkok. IMVs, which stands for Innovative Multipurpose Vehicles, consists of pickup trucks, a line of SUVs and a minivan. Once production begins, the plant's output will raise Toyota's annual diesel engine output capacity to 350,000 units in 2010 and create about 700 jobs."

 

[mauricio_28]

My TDI D40 Nissan Navara is assembled in Thailand...Here in Indonesia we already have two IMV vehicles, the Kijang Innova and the Fortuner, with diesel engines. The engines on those vehicles, however, are pretty anemic...

 

[JeepinBear]

2010
Toyota Tundra, Sequoia, Land Cruiser (4.5L V8)

Does anyone have any additional detail on when the Landcrusier 200 series will be offered in the US with the diesel engine?

 

[haven]

No additional details. The 4.5L V8 diesel is already available for purchase in markets around the world, so there's no problem making it fit in the USA version of the LC.

What will need to be changed is the emissions control system. The diesel emissions standards in Europe will tighten up in Fall of 2009, making European models very similar to USA models in emissions. I think this is why Toyota and other manufacturers are waiting until the 2010 model year to introduce new diesel models.

Incidentally, the German magazine "Auto Motor und Sport" tested the Land Cruiser with V8 diesel in March. The results were mixed. The magazine reported poor assembly quality, poor braking performance, and much worse fuel mileage than promised by government mpg ratings.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/03/03/toyota-land-cruiser-diesel-does-poorly-in-german-road-test/

Chip Haven

 

[haven]

A few months back, Navistar reached an understanding to purchase GM's medium truck division. This made sense for Navistar, because Ford has plans to stop using the Navistar V8 diesel in their medium duty trucks in a couple of years. Navistar planned maintain production levels at its International engine plant by substituting the International engine for the GM/Isuzu Duramax diesel engines used in GMs medium duty line.

Now Autoweek is reporting that the deal has been scrapped. Navistar must have decided that GM's truck division is worth less today than the price agreed on six months ago. GM really needs the cash, so maybe the two parties will re-negotiate.

Chip Haven

 

[haven]

Jettas with diesel engine are available for sale now at VW dealers in USA. Most of the initial shipment of diesels is already sold.

Hopefully VW will speed up the introduction of the diesel-powered Tiguan SUV. I saw a gas engine Tiguan on the road the other day, and it looked good.

Chip Haven

 

[haven]

Somebody with a lot of time on their hands
modified an 1982 Olds into a replica
of the classic Buick GNX, that turbocharged
V6 that was GM's quickest car for a couple of
years in the 1980s. Then they stuffed a early
2000s 6.6L Duramax diesel under the hood.

The result is pretty convincing. The diesel
is fast (estimated sub-13 second quarter mile)
and still very frugal (28mpg in everyday driving).

Here's the story
http://www.dieselpowermag.com/features/0711dp_1982_buick_regal/index.html

So what does this have to do with expedition
vehicles? Nothing other than to point out that
in a lighter weight vehicle the 6.6L diesel can
provide impressive performance. The GM pickups
of the 1970s and 80s are everywhere, the parts
are readily available, and the 6.6L diesel will bolt
in with a minimum of mods. The older 6.6L diesel
is available for $4500 to $6000 as a complete
engine.

Chip Haven

 

[Ryanmb21]

AutoBlogGreen is reporting that the BMW 330d will have an EPA rating of about 30 mpg combined, maybe a bit higher. Not bad for a car with 425 lb-ft of torque and a zero to 60 time in the mid 6 second range. In comparison, the 335i gasoline engine produces 130 lb-ft less, and is rated about 26 mpg combined.

Let's see: 30 mpg / 26 mpg = 15% improvement in fuel economy for the six cylinder diesel.

Last week, the national average price for diesel fuel was $4.73 a gallon, and gasoline $4.11 a gallon, according to the Energy Information Administration, the US government office that tracks fuel prices.
$4.73 / $4.11 = 15% more money for a gallon of diesel.

So the cost of fuel per mile should be about the same for the diesel and gas engine vehicles.

No word yet on the price BMW plans to charge for the 330d in USA. In Europe, the diesel engine models are a couple thousand USD cheaper than the gasoline engine versions.

This Fall, the BMW X5 will receive its own version of the 3.0L diesel used in the 330d. Since the X5 is 1300 lbs heavier than the 3 series cars, the diesel's torque should make a larger improvement in fuel economy.

BMW has no plans to sell the 320d or X3 with the 2.0L 4 cylinder turbodiesel in USA. The 2.0L was named best new engine design for 2008, and is rated at almost 50 mpg in combined driving in European trim.

More info, test and pics here:
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/d...=131473?tid=edmunds.il.home.photopanel..1.*#3

41mpg and 6.1 to 60. I want one bad.

 

[haven]

Here are a few facts from the Edmunds Inside Line test cited by Ryanmb21 above.

They drove the European version of the 2009 BMW 3 series sedan with its new 3.0L 6 cylinder diesel engine. The euro engine produces 245 hp and 383 lb-ft, and has a 5400 rpm redline! BMW claims the new 330d is quicker to 60 mpg than the 330i gas model.

The 330d returns 41 mpg in the European combined fuel mileage test. The test vehicles were built to European standards, but the new diesel meets 50-state EPA standards as well.

The BMW diesel we'll see in USA in 2009 is different. It's the same 3.0L six, but it has twin turbos, boosting hp to 265 and torque to 425. So it should be even faster than the vehicle tested by Inside Line!

BMW plans to introduce this diesel engine in the North American 3 series sedans and X5 SUV in late 2008. It seems likely that a diesel 5 series sedan would follow in 2009.

Performance of the X5 35d should be great. The 35d produces 50 lb ft more than the 2008 4.8L V8 gas engine in the X5. The 35d should see combined mpg ratings in the low 20's, a big step up from the 15 mpg of the V8 gas engine.

The gas engine requires premium fuel, so the difference in price to fill up with diesel will be small, while the range per tank will be significantly improved.


Chip Haven

 

[haven]

An alternative to diesel

Ford is partnering with Ethanol Boosting Systems, LLC of Cambridge, Mass. (EBS) to develop a gas engine with ethanol-injection system. EBS is claiming that a 5.0L gas V8 can produce 500 hp and 700 lb-ft if equipped with turbos and ethanol injection. This is more HP and torque than produced by today's 6.4L Powerstroke diesel.

EBS principals include a couple of MIT scientists and a former Ford engineer. This is probably how they talked Ford into trying ethanol injection in a couple of its Eco-Boost turbo gas engines to evaluate the technology.

Ethanol has very high octane, so it can control detonation in a gas engine that has high compression and turbocharging. (Most of today's gas turbos run relatively low compression to keep from blowing up!)

The cost of adding ethanol injection to a gas engine is estimated at about $1400. A diesel with similar performance costs at least $5000 more than a conventional gas engine, and burns a more expensive fuel. Part of the diesel cost is the extra emissions control equipment. The ethanol injection engine can use the same emissions controls as a conventional gas engine.
The ethanol injection engine uses about 1 gallon of ethanol to every 10 gallons of gasoline.

EBS claims to have technology that will boost the performance of flex-fuel vehicles, too. E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) is becoming more common, and it's cheaper than 100% gas. But it doesn't perform as well as 100% gas. EBS technology would remove the performance penalty.

Interesting ideas for challenging times. I'd like a 2.5L four cylinder ethanol injected engine that produces 350 lb ft of torque, please!

Chip Haven

 

[Redline]

Me Too !!!:luxhello:

snip..

Interesting ideas for challenging times. I'd like a 2.5L four cylinder ethanol injected engine that produces 350 lb ft of torque, please!

Chip Haven

 

[haven]

Subaru has released information about the diesel engine
available in the Euro version of the 2009 Forester. The
2.0D flat four cylinder turbodiesel will produce 147 hp and
258 lb-ft of torque.

Those power numbers compare well with the 2.5L gasoline
engine, which produces about 170 lb ft, and the turbo gas
engine in the XT models, rated at 224 lb-ft. EPA fuel economy
figures for these engines is in the low to mid 20 mpg range.

In the Forester, the diesel produces 44.8 mpg in the European
version of mpg tests. That's somewhat better than the
VW 2.0 diesel in the VW Tiguan.

In January, Subaru announced plans to make the 2.0L diesel
available in models for North America in the 2010 model year.

Chip Haven

 

[mauricio_28]

All these VW, BMW, Mercedes, etc. engines are indeed interesting. Nevertheless, again, for the purpose of mid-size "expedition", off-road 4WD vehicles, I still think that the benchmark, the engine to beat is the Nissan's 2.5L powerplant that puts out 402Nm (297 ft.lb.) and 174HP while returning 24mpg on a two-ton vehicle. That engine has now been around, everywhere but North America, for three years.

 

[haven]

The folks at Pickuptrucks.com noticed a sticker on the A/C unit in a 2009 Dodge Ram 1500 pickup. The sticker said the A/C unit was OK to use with the 5.0L V8 diesel engine! This is the first acknowledgement from Dodge that a new Cummins engine is on the way.

http://www.pickuptrucks.com/html/news/chrysler/future/is-2010-dodge-ram-1500-diesel-5-0-liters.html

The 6.7L Cummins diesel produces 650 lb-ft, so the new 5.0L V8 diesel should produce around 480 lb-ft. The 5.7L Hemi gasoline engine produces only 410 lb-ft when installed in the Ram 1500.

The 5.0L V8 diesel would be a great fit in the Dodge Powerwagon, which is built on a Ram 2500 series platform. 480 lb-ft would be more than enough power when run through a transfer case with low range.

The 5.7L gas engine fits in the Dodge Durango SUV. I wonder if Dodge is planning to offer the Cummins V8 diesel in the Durango as well as the Ram.

Now all we need is the rumored 4.2L V6 diesel from Cummins. That would be a great engine for the Grand Cherokee, but maybe too heavy for the Wrangler.

Chip Haven

 

[ChuckB]

Now all we need is the rumored 4.2L V6 diesel from Cummins. That would be a great engine for the Grand Cherokee, but maybe too heavy for the Wrangler.

Chip Haven

I'd be in the market for a 4-door JK diesel :bowdown: