Posted on 04/18/2013 2:25:41 AM PDT by Olog-hai
If you didn’t have to pay for Union political donations and corruption it would cost $3000 less than it does at least
Not to mention the Jetta is $3K cheaper.
30 years ago I used to drive a 12 ton International 466 diesel truck that get the same mileage as my 327 Chevy, and have wondered for a long time why diesels were not more prevalent. I also think diesel-electric would be feasible for SUVs etc. for superior MPG.
I don’t care if the Cruze gets 3,000 mpg. I will not under any circumstances buy a GM product, new or used, ever again. After the corrupt bailout, that company is dead to me. Even if GM is the only company with something I really want, I’ll wait until VW, Toyota, or Honda has a similar product, and I’ll willingly pay more rather than support GM.
Won’t buy anything from GM as it helps Obama.
One third of the new purchase price goes to buy Viagra for UAW members. (They’re the world’s largest purchaser of the drug as they get it free on their Insurance.)
My VW Jetta TDI Sportwagen will beat the wheels off any GM econobox for drivability and acceleration.
The VW was $28,000 the Chevy Cruse is $24,000 base with $8,000 for the diesel so; $32,000.
http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/Chevrolet_Cruze/
The resale on the VW (any VW) will beat the Cruse (or any Chevy.)
The $4000 difference in price buys you 1,000 gallons of the fuel of your choice. That’s 39,000 miles on my average 39 mpg.
Can somebody explain why I’d want to buy a Chevy?
GM doesn’t really know HOW to build light vehicle Diesels. Their record on this goes back to trying to convert the big-block V8’s to Diesel, a bad job of engineering to start with. The most experienced of all automobile Diesel manufacturers, Mercedes, started with a clean drawing board when they designed their first Diesel-fueled engines, and built them from the inside out to withstand the additional demands of the Diesel combustion cycle.
There was a 1.8 liter four that was produced back in the early 1950’s, widely used in taxis all around the world, that had impressive records for durability, often racking up a million kilometers of more, without major engine overhaul. The Mercedes four-cylinder Diesel had an exhaust note that was unique in all the world, and while it was probably a low performer in terms of acceleration or top speed, it could run all day with seemingly no signs of strain, and make impressive mileage under most conditions, whether sitting idling in traffic, or out on the highway. On the minus side, it did stink, and had a tendency to coat the back of the vehicle with soot. Both these objections have been met in recent years with the improvements made in the Diesel fuel available, and with the application of urea injection, and the relatively leisurely throttle response has been much improved with the addition of turbocharger boost.
But don’t rely on GM to take advantage of all this newer engineering. Their engineers still have a hate for Diesel that is almost palpable.
I hope they are better now than they were back in the 80s.
That’s why they can’t compete anymore.
And to think they were the founder of Detroit Diesel, too; they could have developed a diesel for passenger cars if not for that bizarre aforementioned corporate culture. That division was sold off to Daimler AG (Mercedes-Benz) back in 2000.
Volkswagen Introduced 261 MPG Diesel/Electric Hybrid
The XSL-1 is not exactly a powerhouse. It reportedly has a top speed of just 99 mph, and in all-electric mode, it can manage just 50 mph. Acceleration is fairly poor: Going 0 to 60 takes 11.5 seconds. But with its batteries fully charged and 2.6-gallon gas tank loaded, it has a range of 700 miles. Not bad for about $10 of gas.
And now for the bad news. Hand-built in Osnabrück, Austria, the Volkswagen XL-1 is expected to have a production run of just 1,000 units and sell for about $50,000 each. (Most customers are expected to lease, not buy, the car.) And it’s not expected to ever be available in the United States. In fact, Volkswagen expects virtually all XL-1 sales to be limited to Germany and Austria. http://news.wyotech.edu/post/2013/03/volkswagen-introduced-261-mpg-diesel-electric-hybrid
110-MPG Jeep Renegade Concept Gets 400 Miles With Diesel-Electric Combo: Detroit Auto Show Preview
The Jeep Renegade Concept is powered by dual 200-kW (268 -hp) electric motors juiced from a lithium-ion battery pack. The Renegade uses one electric motor per axle, a true low range and locking differentials, which, if brought to production, would bring true 4X4 capability to the world alternative fuel vehicles.
Like Chrysler’s ecoVoyager concept, the Renegade’s electric mode has a range of 40 miles. However, utilizing a range extender 1.5-liter 3-cylilnder BLUETEC diesel engine, this Jeep can handle a 400-mile trip. The whole shebang translates into fuel economy as high as 110 mpg. www.popularmechanics.com/cars/news/4244409
Bosch is hoping that diesel will reach just a 10 percent North American market share by 2015. Diesel definitely has some advantages, including 30 percent better fuel economy overall, huge driving range (up to 800 miles) and widespread availability (it’s in 52 percent of American gas stations).
Diesels were starting to make a comeback around 2008, but then the economy tanked and fuel prices (of both gasoline and diesel) spiked. Diesel lost a modest price advantage at the pumps, and many clean diesel projects were canceled. The fuel is on an uphill trajectory now: 30 percent of consumers say they’d consider a clean diesel as of August 2011, versus just 13 percent in 2006.
On European cars with a diesel option, such as the VW Jetta and Audi A3, 35 percent of American consumers are now checking the box. Chevrolet is set to offer a diesel option on the Cruze (right) in 2013, and that same year Chrysler will have a common rail diesel in the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
But I don’t expect to see diesels dominate in the American market anytime soon — we’re too set in our ways, and hybrids and EVs have captured more of the public’s attention. Bosch predicts that we might have 3.1 million EVs of all types — hybrids, plug-in-hybrids and battery electrics — being sold annually by 2020. But since the world vehicle market (including trucks) could top 107 million by then, the numbers aren’t huge. In 2020, only 0.9 percent of light vehicles (less than six tons) will be electric cars or plug-in hybrids, and 2.2 percent hybrids, the company says.
You have to contrast that with the bullish projections of the Electrification Coalition, which thinks that 75 percent of all the vehicle miles traveled by 2040 will be “electric miles.” The truth may be somewhere between these two poles. http://www.mnn.com/green-tech/transportation/blogs/forget-electric-vehicles-here-come-the-50-mpg-gas-and-diesel-cars
VW forecasts that a plug-in diesel-electric hybrid system as in the CrossBlue would be rated at 35 mpg in a city/highway mix, and 89 mpg-equivalent in electric mode.
The diesel-electric hybrid concept recalls the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles, a joint venture begun in 1993 between the government and U.S. automakers. It was designed to suspend anti-trust concerns and eliminate red tape for a cooperative effort to create 80-mpg family sedans with mainstream prices.
Never happened. Too expensive.
The only way that car companies could come close to the mileage goal was with diesel-electric hybrid powertrains. But diesels, which get superior mileage, are inherently more costly than gasoline engines. Electric motors, big battery packs and high-tech controllers to make it all work together likewise were — still are — pretty dear.
PNGV was canceled in 2001. The project yielded demonstration vehicles rated 72 to 80 mpg, but they couldn’t be priced right. http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2013/01/14/vw-diesel-electric-hybrid-detroit-show/1828117/
Ditto. They burnt bridges and stole from the senior debt holders under color of law. They and their government partners are corrupt to the core.
My dad’s last logging truck was a 1968 IH with the biggest, most powerful V8 on the road back then. The only thing it couldn’t pass on the road was a gas station or the 1000 gallon gas tank and pump we had at our home.
.... were the founder of Detroit Diesel
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GM owned a majority stake in ISUZU for decades ... ISUZU makes the absolute best small diesel engines... but GM wasted their investment.
Diesel technology is mature, clean and efficient.
Deploying diesel engines is the easy route to reduce our need for imported oil.....far easier than the investments we have made in electric and hybrids.
Now, we just have to convince many states to reduce the taxes on diesel fuel (implemented to punish those evil trucks that deliver all our products).
$7755 buys a lot of gas even at $3.50 a gallon.
I want a Kia Forte.
I drove from Frederick, Maryland to my driveway in NE Ohio on a half a tank of gas in one of those.
46 mph?
That was a sad story, for GM more than Isuzu.
Off-topic (due to dearth of automobile diesels), but GM’s failing in its European automobile markets too; Opel is going to close its plant in Bochum, Germany next year (this might give the German government an opening to get Opel away from GM for good).
It all starts with a 2.0L turbocharged clean diesel engine designed in Italy, built in Germany and installed in the Cruze at our factory in Lordstown, Ohio. The 2014 Cruze Clean Turbo Diesel comes equipped with the very latest clean diesel technology which helps reduce emissions while also boasting 148 horsepower and 258 lb.-ft. of “low-end” torque that you’ll have to experience to believe. …That MSRP is going to hurt them, no matter if the engine lasts a million miles.
After 35yrs of Jeeps, I won’t buy another Chrysler (Daimler) product, or a GM Suburban or GMC Acadia, which I wanted to replace it with.
I’ll just keep my pristine 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo, until I can find a Ford SUV I like.
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