Glenn

It wasn't a Powerstroke in that truck. It had a 12V Cummins with about 90 PSI of boost. It is Richard "Mad Dog" Madsen's truck. I have the video.

krasher

Hey guys,
1st time caller, long time listener. This particular topic greatly interests me as I own a '98 VW Jetta TDI. I thought I would chime in. What better place for my 1st post.

My Jetta is a fantastic vehicle. I initally bought it for the fuel economy. Upon further research and digging, I found they were VERY mod friendly. Stock I ran 96HP and 119 ft lbs of torque, or along those lines. By merely chipping it I increased to 119HP and 198 ft lbs of torque, roughly. It went from a dog to drive to now giving ricers a run, just with a chip. If you want to get freaky, bigger holes(new injectors) and bigger fuel pump will make it a resectable racer AND get 40+ MPG to boot, as long as you don't lay into constantly. I currently avg. about 45-50 MPG. Winter diesel stinks, so my MPG goes down. It is STILL more cost effective to drive than over a gasser, at least in my area (MN). I forgot to mention the best part, the smoke!
WOT, she mokes like a muther. Built in jet stream!

Well, without patronizing, preaching or pissing off anyone,(Where am I going with this? ) I would love a TRUCK/SUV offering from the land of the rising sun.
The Toureg TDI is well received in the US. Problem is, it is also about 60k loaded and VERY well received overseas. Therefore, US comes 2nd when filling orders. I have a '99 Taco TRD. I love this truck. Rock solid and a blast to drive. I would love a diesel engine in my Taco. Torque, fuel economy, longevity in an engine can't be beat. Plus, if you wanted to work at it, you can buy a veggie oil conversion kit and run it for darn near free off of oil from the local resturant. Just filter the oil and go.


Until the avg. american opens their minds to alternative fuels than gasoline, we may not see more offerings here soon. Gasoline is expensive in europe, hence their abundance of different manufacturing offerings there for diesel. Someday...

I'll now dismount,
and stop spreading the gospel of diesel.


-keir


I don't smoke, but my car does.

Ocelot

The differences in diesel prices around north america amazes me. Here diesel is $.20CAD/Litre cheaper than gasoline. I love diesel engines and would love to get an SUV with a diesel. Tons of torque nice and low down, and excellent fuel economy, combined with the fact that diesel here is cheaper than gasoline, makes the perfect package.

Import laws here in Canada are pretty lax, anyone know what diesel they offered in the 3rd gen? And anyone know if they made a LHD version? Might be interesting to import one.

And I agree with Flamedx4, the 4.0L I6 from Jeep is a terrific engine!

I personally will not buy a hybrid (gas/electric or diesel/electric) vehicle for the reasons stated above (weight of the bateries, fording rivers, etc) and because right now the technology provides little advantage in SUVs (The ford escape hybrid only gets 13-22 mpg). I'm not one to normally trust magazines, but motortrend had a pretty decent article on it the other day: http://motortrend.com/oftheyear/suv/...ng/index5.html . Then if you plan on keeping the vehicle more than 100,000 miles you have to pay $4000 for new batteries.

Cheers

BT17R

That comes close to describing the Hybrid Synergy Drive modular 4X4 system set to debut 4/15/05 in the Lexus RX330h and soon after in the Highlander HSD. The Toyota system uses three electric motors (one on each rear wheel), a CVT planetary gearset to keep the ICE at optimum power, and regenerative braking to charge the battery when coasting or braking. The modular system will eventually be applied to every series of Toyota car and truck. The present 500V battery resides in a sealed compartment under the rear seating area well protected from the elements and has all sorts of fail-safe circuitry.

There's a thread or two around here about Toyota's diesel future in the U.S. It's likely coming, although CA and other states that adopt their proposed emission regs might be excluded. Diesels will be one of the Next Big Things due to the low sulphur content fuel coming online next year combined with advanced common rail (D-4D) and diesel specific cats (D-CAT).

kyle_22r

huh? the AMC i6 is a damned good engine.

anybody have specs on the liberty diesel? i'd like to figure out what kind of tranny i could put behind it to wedge it in my toyota....someday...

Ocelot

Its a 2.8L TurboDiesel I4, 161bhp @ 4000rpm, 295ft-lbs @ 1800 rpm, gets 35 mpg in the ~4500lb liberty

Flamedx4

It is an interesting topic. A small fuel efficient diesel offering - an updated version of the Yota turbo diesel I4 of the 80s, would be a good thing. To get power similar to say, the 4cyl gas with 30-35 mpg in a compact 4x4 would be worth having. (Guess they already have that don't they - everywhere ELSE!)

I have no interest in big diesels, to live with all that noise and smoke, to pay a big sticker premium to get it in the first place, and only get 3 to 5 mpg better and no better driveability than a gas V8 is not an attractive option. I do need the full size V8 for towing, but I don't need the big diesel's towing capacity either. The average cost of the diesel option is $5300, if you assume gas & diesel are both $2 per gal (it's about that around here) and 14mpg for gas V8 and 18mpg for the diesel - you need 11 years @ 15,000 miles per year to break even. But the maintenance is higher on the diesel, so it would actually take longer. On the other hand, the diesel will out last the gas engine - but will the rest of the truck?

On the other hand, I could use a perfectly driveable daily rig that gets really good mileage - something the automakers aren't bringing us much of. Even the anemic little basic transportation gas cars don't get great mileage, at least not good enough to make we want to own one. Would YOU drive a Kia for 40 mpg? Not me.

But I could get real excited about a Tacoma with say a 110 hp/ 225 ft lb of torque, and get a real world daily mpg of at least 30, preferably 35 mpg, and cost no more than say $2500 up front over the gas engine.

Meanwhile we all need one of these - 31% better mileage fur shur! !!www.turbonator.com

Flamedx4

161 hp sounds like ad - hype to me. The Yota 3.0 turbo diesel is only 111 hp and 232 ft-bls. But of course the 4000 rpm number tells you something - in the real world you wouldn't be driving an inline 4 Diesel at anything near 4000 rpm if you want it to hold together.

Put that engine in the Wrangler Unlimited with the 6 speed manual and I bet you there would be a year long backlog of orders, including mine.

sswearin1

I am surprised, all you conservative types (no farmers out there?) haven't discussed the benefits of an SVO conversion for a diesel engine. I run biodiesel on by 85 mercedes 300 and have looked at SVO kits (converts the car to run on straight vegetable oil). Last time I was at COSTCO veggie oil was only like .50 a gallon.

2000 4runner SR5 sport with factory locker and 4.10.
coming soon, bling my ride. What mods should I do first? And do I need to be baptized in motor oil to join your club? I think I might be the first leftie/enviro gearhead.

Vato Loco

Central & South American carry all the LHD diesel 3rd and 4th gens. How I know you asked? I saw them myself, when I was down in El Salvador this year. They have so much torque in them, made my 3rd gen feel like it had the same amount of torque like my 106hp Civic.

krasher

This is where its at:
www.greasecar.com

Free fuel, just a bit of work to filter. Most resturants have to pay to have it hauled away and will happily give it to someone for free. Plus, you smell like the statefair driving down the road! MMM, deep fried cheese curds.

ianshoots

I'm afraind i'd make you at least the second.....and that would be on the naieve assumption that I was the first. I wish this had a spellcheck.

ianshoots

For what its worht (which is probably about 4 or 5 grand tops) My little bother drives a Geo Prizm Sedan (its a Corolla). About two years ago I drove it for about 6 months while he was in Boliva. No matter what type of driving I never got anything lower than 33mpg. My best was about 40, and he told me his personal best (North Carolina to Ohio) was around 45mpg, rolling at 70-75mph. Not everybodies idea of the perfect car, but its got toyota reliability, better seats than my tacoma and handles like sports car in comparison to my truck. He drives a manual (like everyone else in my immediate family).

n1das

I'm with ya. I own a bone stock 2002 VW Golf TDI with 140k miles on it already(!). I drive about 1k miles/week. People are blown away when I tell them I only have to fill it up every 700 miles! Performance and mileage only continue to improve (at 140k miles!) as the engine is just now entering its prime of life. Winter cold starts are also no problem. It starts better at -20F than most gassers do in the dead of winter and with no block heater.

Fundamentally, there are 3 reasons why I bought a DIESEL car: Economy, Longevity, and Performance. I drive a lot, so these factors are important to me.

I recently acquired my parent's 98 Yota truck (3.slow V6, auto, Xtracab) with 170k miles on it as a second vehicle for those times when I need a 4WD truck. It's still in good shape for its age and it has next to no rust on it because it spent most of its life in Virginia. I love the truck but I wish it were DIESEL!!!!!!

I've also decided that all future vehicle purchases shall be DIESEL vehicles. No more gassers if I can help it!

BTW, I got a rare opportunity to test drive a VW Touareg TDI. It has a V10 TDI engine, putting out 310HP and 553lb-ft of torque. It is a TORQUE MONSTER!!! It launches with authority and gets up and goes and pulls like a locomotive. The one I test drove had a $64k price tag on it, so I'll never own one. :cry: A friend of mine was a salesman at the dealer, so that's how I got to test drive it.


~ n1das

rearviewmirror

Well said... I too will never buy another non-diesel car if the option exists. I became infatuated with them when I lived in Germany for 5 years. My company cars was the 115HP (RED TDI badging) Golf TDI. I commuted from Bitburg to Brussels almost daily, driving about 230 miles/day. (It was rural Autobahn so I could do the drive in about 1 hour 15 minutes or so). The Golf took a pounding running at ~ 110MPH twice daily for 2 years. But the Diesel engine was flawless! The reason I brought up this thread about the Diesel Liberty is that it shows there is hope. Euro Auto makers aren't stupid, in fact based on quality of cars I'd say they are a lot smarter than American Auto makers and Diesel is the #1 selling engine over there. For so many reasons. Longevity being one of them. Honestly performance differences are negligable now. Hell BMW won the 24 hours of Liege in a Turbo Diesel 318i. The car stopped for fuel a lot less than their Benzin competitiors.

So Toyota if you're listening! Bring the TD 4Runner's to America! I promise I'll buy one.