Posted on 06/04/2008 12:09:36 PM PDT by C19fan
This time, a high mile per gallon number was recorded in Europe and not with a Peugeot. A group of German motor journalists managed to get 3.2 l/100 km (73 mpg U.S.) in a Skoda Fabia TDI Greenline. The car had a 1.4 TDI (diesel) engine good for 80 HP. The thirty-six journalists (we're guessing not all of them at the same time) drove the Czech subcompact for 124 km (about 80 miles), using normal highways between Austria and Germany and never going below 60 km/h (40 mph). The only "trick" they used was maintaining as constant a speed as possible. The 73mpg figure handily beats the official EU highway cycle figure, which is 4.1 l/100 km (57mpg). Skoda belongs to the VW group and is based in the Czech Republic.
We can’t buy them here because they’re serious polluters and as such are not clean enough to be allowed into the US.
Besides, diesel emissions are carcinogens.
One reason EPA!
The Skoda is a good car. They were bought by VW a while back. I have family in Poland that drove them for years.
Diesel “Knock” Ping!
I never saw an auto show model with so much clothing! Wow!
Trick, indeed. What about people who can't take a freeway to work and have to deal with stoplights and city traffic? Or those who always run into creep and crawl traffic jams on the freeways? That covers a lot of folks.
How about a non-trick test under real conditions.
Now that’s sharp! I’d even downsize to one of those.
The regulatory agencies are working at cross purposes. The EPA wants high mileage/low emissions, Transportation wants safety, which means weight, performance and gizmos, hese mostly reduce mileage and increase emissions.
If the government wants to be in the auto regulatory game, and it is, it must decide ONE thing for which to create corresponding incentives and penalties.
If the emphasis is going to be on mandatory safety, cars will cost more, weigh more, emit more, use more gas.
If the emphasis is on low pollution and CO2 (will leave aside the lead battery pollution problem, as that has not yet become part of the equation). Cars will either cost more (hybrids, plug-ins, other alternatives), be comparatively unsafe (as weight, minimum engine performance and safety devices like airbags get dumped), and will mostly be of poor utility for large families or people who have to bring a lot of stuff with them.
If the emphasis is on less fossil oil usage, diesels come into play in a big way, alternative fuels [and not just ethanol, but methanol, CNG and bio-diesel as well, which are both better alternatives) as might plug-ins and hybrids. And those same cheapy cars without the safety features become available. However, the price span would be all over the place. (A cheap Skoda, for instance could be purchased and driven).
Of the three, I would rather promote the reduced oil consumption. If the government just kept out, I think we would see temporary price spikes that would eventually fade. A little of that is happening now, but everyone is waiting to see where the government is going to put its big heavy thumb. A regulatory change or a subsidy for or against can put you out of business overnight.
State-of-the-art diesel cars are not “serious polluters” any more. If they were, do you think the socialistic, safety-and-health conscious Euros would allow them? Diesel cars will be coming soon from Japan (Honda & Subaru, at least), and are the most practical short-term response to increasingly expensive hydrocarbon fuels.
Nice cars! I would settle for 50 mpg!... bring them on, I might get one at this rate.
Its a shame diesel fuel is so expensive, but even with the 20% "surcharge" for going diesel, thats still the equivalent of about 60mpg. Sweet. I may be moving soon, and my commute will be much longer than it is today, all highway miles, however. This car would totally rock for me.
According to former colleague of mine, Skodas are not really cars. The one he had when he lived in the Czech Republic had a plastic body and a 2 cycle motor. Everytime he got gas, he had to add oil. He bitterly hated that thing.
And speaking of the superiority of Diesel vs the Otto (gasoline) cycle engine (diesel cycle is more efficient at part throttle and steady state), does anyone know why most hybrids today use gasoline engines? It seems to me the one “drawback” of the hybrids is that their highway mileage is comparatively lame. Combining diesel with electric seems like a good idea, no?
![](http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:R8sR7daexSBGmM:www.ted-kyte.com/3D/Pictures/Spark%2520Plug.jpg";)
Rest In Peace, old friend, your work is finished.....
If you want ON or OFF the DIESEL ”KnOcK” LIST just FReepmail me.....
This is a fairly HIGH VOLUME ping list on some days.....
> Nice cars! I would settle for 50 mpg!
Wait a few months for the new VW Jetta TDI.
It won’t be “settling”.
Economy, performance, and a bit of luxury.
50 mpg is not out of the question.
That’s what I get with a 2003 model of this.
Benzine ain’t?
“Combining diesel with electric seems like a good idea, no?”
http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/03/revealed-volksw.html
While clinging to his Bible and guns?..............
That should be long term. A barrel of oil produces less gallons Diesel than gasoline. BUT Diesel can be made from many sources, (sewage, garbage,meat industry offal, algae, etc), but most of all COAL! Which we have enough for centuries...................
keep spreading FUD, if they are so bad why do the Euroweenies have them.
Mmmmmm... tasty sandwich!
Are you bragging or complaining? :) Still, an interesting improvisation from this lady on the standard mullet.
80 hp engine? Put even one more passenger in this vehicle and watch the mileage drop. A roller skate with a two cycle engine would get great mileage too.
Not true, the TDI and other engines have low HP and high torque, another passenger is no problem.
I had a VW FOx GL which had a total HP of about 80hp, and I saw little difference having 4 people in the car vs 1. 5 Speed Manual transmission tied to that little 4 gave me all the accelleration and speed I needed.
I think you will find out you dont need 250hp to go 75mph
Lemme guess... Not available in the US.
Not yet....VW owns them......so they may.....
Wrong. We can’t buy them here because our regulators have arbitrarily chosen to focus on NOx, while letting VOCs proliferate.
If you consider VOCs as the chief pollution problem (which is not an unreasonable position to take, given the relative balance of the two), the Prius and other gasoline hybrids are much dirtier than any diesel car.
Each has over 450k+ miles, average 46 MPG year-to-year, city and highway driving.
Four-cylinder engine rated at 72HP.
Actually, they do allow them. They do have clean diesels, or I should say cleaner diesels - but the fact remains that European emissions controls have always been looser than ours. See the difference in power between US market cars and their European market twins as far back as the 80s and extending even to today.
A lot of Euro market *gasoline* engines are too dirty to import to the US as well. It’s weird that the socialist greenies are like that, but there you go.
As I recall, it’s not just NOx, but the particulates that are the problem.
See my post above. I can get a Jaguar over in Europe that makes 30 or more horsepower over what the US model does - because they have less restrictive emissions.
He said that the 2 cycle engine made it sound like a chainsaw coming down the road.
It also broke down and left him & his family at the side of the road - as he was defecting from the country!!! I learned lots of Czech profanity when he told me that story.
No, particulates are no longer a problem, now that ULSD has been rolled out. Particulate filters are standard now.
How long ago was that? Skodas aren’t the equivalent of a Trabant any more. They’re part of Volkswagen AG, and are generally a slightly downmarket cousin to VW using many (most?) of the same platforms.
Complaining!
Nah. If it were, somebody wooda caught on. Yer not gonna run a railroad that way ...
Benzene is carcinogenic as are some constituents of gasoline. However, the Benzene is burned and becomes CO2, H2O and CO. The new diesels actually are less polluting than a gasoline engine.
Selective Relativism.
Selective Relativism.
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