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[haven]

2011 diesel HD pickups: GM wins

http://www.insideline.com/gmc/sierra-3500hd/2011/2011-heavy-duty-truck-comparison-test.html

Edmunds Inside Line compared the 2011 HD pickups from Ford, GM and Dodge. Result: GM wins narrowly over Ford, Dodge is in third.

The Edmunds test crew said that the GM accelerates, brakes, handles and tows better than the competition. The GM gets about 10% better fuel mileage. The GM cab interior and dashboard layout were not as good as the Ford and Dodge, however.

In addition to the test results, the article includes specs and information about options pricing. This latter information is eye-opening. The three trucks cost between $56,000 and $65,000.

 

[haven]

new study: diesels cheaper to own

http://www.tepper.cmu.edu/news-multimedia/news/news-detail/index.aspx?nid=461

Carnegie Mellon University's School of Business has released a report that claims that the average car owner can recover the premium to buy a diesel engine vehicle within 18 months. After that, the diesel is cheaper to own and drive than conventional gas engine or gas/electric hybrid vehicles.

The researchers found that diesel vehicles get up to 30% better fuel economy than gas cars, and the resale value of a diesel is 30% better than comparable gas models.

 

[Greggk]

i know there is a great new forum that has been created that covers a wide variety of diesels www.dieselforums.com tell them that ZombieSoldier is your referral

 

[The Adam Blaster]

http://www.tepper.cmu.edu/news-multimedia/news/news-detail/index.aspx?nid=461

Carnegie Mellon University's School of Business has released a report that claims that the average car owner can recover the premium to buy a diesel engine vehicle within 18 months. After that, the diesel is cheaper to own and drive than conventional gas engine or gas/electric hybrid vehicles.

The researchers found that diesel vehicles get up to 30% better fuel economy than gas cars, and the resale value of a diesel is 30% better than comparable gas models.

I quickly browsed that article, but I didn't see what they used as the owner's yearly mileage to base their conclusions on...

EDIT: I sent an email to the contact listed at the bottom of the article. Hopefully I'll get to see some more detailed information.

 

[haven]

Please let us know what you learn from the CMU folks.

Average miles driven per year in USA is between 12,000 and 15,000, according to a variety of sources. That would mean 18,000 to 22,500 miles in 18 months.

 

[The Adam Blaster]

I got a full copy of the paper/study from that contact.
It's 40 pages long, and I've been looking at it here at work, so I mostly skimmed through it.
However, they talk primarily about the term of ownership being the average (in the US) of 3-5 years, and they used 15,000 miles/per driven as another average.
Something else I found interesting is the mpg figures they used from the EPA estimates, we all know those are not 100% accurate. But, I don't blame them for that so much since it would be difficult to get real-world mpg figures from dozens of different vehicles especially since this is an academic paper, whose funding would essentially be nil.

Anyways, they figure that after 5 years of ownership and 75,000 miles driven that the upkeep during that time along with the respective resale values are proprotionally higher for the diesel/hybrid vehicles compared to their more conventional gasoline powered vehicles.

The resale value thing doesn't surprise me at all, you just have to pull up kijiji and look at VW's both diesel and gas and see the price discrepancy.

 

[haven]

VW says they plan to produce a Golf sedan that gets 83 mpg US by 2020. The technology they intend to use is a diesel electric hybrid. The diesel is a two cylinder 800 cc turbo. The engine is based on the current 1.6L 4 cylinder diesel.

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/02/08/report-vw-shooting-to-launch-83-mpg-golf-by-2020/

 

[Bill Beers]

VW says they plan to produce a Golf sedan that gets 83 mpg US by 2020. The technology they intend to use is a diesel electric hybrid. The diesel is a two cylinder 800 cc turbo. The engine is based on the current 1.6L 4 cylinder diesel.

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/02/08/report-vw-shooting-to-launch-83-mpg-golf-by-2020/

While that's encouraging, I wish they would just import a 1.2L diesel Lupo/Polo type car now.

 

[haven]

Dodge RAM fans have watched from the sidelines as GM and Ford leapfrogged each other in a race to provide the highest torque numbers from their diesel pickups. Well, the wait is over. New RAM 2500 HD and 3500 HD pickups with the 6.7L Cummins diesel will now enjoy a whopping 800 ft-lbs of torque at 1500 rpm. That's a 23% increase.

The high output diesel will be available only with the 6-speed 68RFE automatic transmission. The 6-speed manual is still available, but will have "only" 650 ft-lbs.

Pickup trucks.com has a chart comparing the old and new engine timings here
http://news.pickuptrucks.com/2011/0...creasing-heavy-duty-diesel-power-ratings.html

I'm a little concerned that the new motor's torque curve is so variable. In comparison, the old model's torque output is very consistently 650 ft-lbs. The new motor makes more torque from idle to 3000 rpm than the old motor, but the actual number varies a lot.

I'd be interested in a fuel economy comparison of the 800 ft-lb and 650 ft-lb models.

 

[haven]

GM Insider News is reporting that GM is working on a diesel powerplant for the Chevrolet Cruze compact sedan. The engine will likely be a 2.0L turbo diesel producing about 235 ft-lbs of torque. A similar engine is produced in Australia today.

The diesel Cruze is expected to be introduced for the 2013 model year. The diesel Cruze would be a natural competitor for the new diesel-powered VW Jetta, which is a considerably larger car than previous Jettas.

Reading between the lines of the article, I think it's likely that GM is planning to use the diesel engine for an export version of the Cruze, rather than for a model to be sold in USA.

 

[Storz]

Reading between the lines of the article, I think it's likely that GM is planning to use the diesel engine for an export version of the Cruze, rather than for a model to be sold in USA.

Saw that on Autoblog this morning as well, from what I gather it is going to be sold in the USA.

http://www.autoblog.com/2011/02/21/report-diesel-chevrolet-cruze-confirmed-for-u-s/

 

[haven]

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011...diesel-natural-gas-at-260-degrees-below-zero/

Here's an article describing how UPS and other companies are experimenting with liquified natural gas as a substitute for diesel in heavy trucks. The engines still use diesel to start, but run on LNG 95% of the time.

The advantage of LNG primarily is in lower fuel cost per mile driven. Also, natural gas is one resource that USA and Canada have in abundance. No need to fear a shortage of natural gas for many years to come.

The disadvantages are high equipment costs (the LNG engine and fuel delivery system costs double what a conventional diesel engine costs) and lack of refueling facilities.

 

[overlander]

I'm very encouraged about the BMW add during the superbowl that introduced the new TDI sedan, and their attempt to let Americans know that today's diesels are not yesterday's diesels (and the associated negative impressions).

 

[SSF556]

2011 European Jeep Grand Cherokees to get Diesel engines...but nothing for us...

http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1055689_official-jeep-grand-cherokee-to-get-new-diesel-at-geneva-motor-show

 

[haven]

Nice find!

According to the Chrysler press release, the engine is a VM Motori V6 diesel that uses Fiat's MultiJet II injection technology. The combination produces 406 pound-feet of torque.

The Grand Cherokee with this engine is rated at 28 miles per USA gallon in combined driving. That's a 17% improvement in mpg over the Mercedes diesel V6 installed in the Grand Cherokee in years past.