Diesels only in EXPENSIVE Foreign cars and EXPENSIVE US TRUCKS....here's WHY

[Capricious]

I worked at the Petro Canada refinery at Southdown Rd in Mississauga . They were set up to take the odds , ends and cast offs from the other refineries. At a cost , they could make anything out of anything. Products ranged from grease, motor oil, lube oil , diesel, gasoline and high octane unleaded up to 116 octane in the Hydrobon reformer. The isotherms would make 87 octane gasoline out of just about anything that would pour and burn.

You mean Suncor? Wasn't Southdown converted to strictly lubricants a decade or two ago?

Oakville was shut down 4 or 5 years ago.

 

[Garandman]

Chevrolet Cruze well-mated to diesel engine

We have two Cruze turbodiesels as well as a Cruze Eco. The TD's get good mileage overall and phenomenal mpg on the highway. But diesel costs as much as premium and they cost around $3,000 more than the gasser. You can buy a **** of a lot of gas for $3,000.

The best selling diesel, by far in the US is the cheapest: the VW Jetta TDI.

Tinfoil hat theories like the OP's abound. We would have more diesel cars if the government discounted diesel fuel the way they do in Europe, and had tax policies which promoted them.

 

[buickanddeere]

You mean Suncor? Wasn't Southdown converted to strictly lubricants a decade or two ago?

Oakville was shut down 4 or 5 years ago.

It was BP at one time. Changed to Gulf and then Petro Canada. Suncor owns it now iirc. 1990 was the last time I was in the place. A rather impressive facility.

 

[buck boost]

We have two Cruze turbodiesels as well as a Cruze Eco. The TD's get good mileage overall and phenomenal mpg on the highway. But diesel costs as much as premium and they cost around $3,000 more than the gasser. You can buy a **** of a lot of gas for $3,000.

The best selling diesel, by far in the US is the cheapest: the VW Jetta TDI.

Tinfoil hat theories like the OP's abound. We would have more diesel cars if the government discounted diesel fuel the way they do in Europe, and had tax policies which promoted them.

I have a '13 Jetta TDI. It is a great car. 18 months and 30K miles later, I'm very pleased with it.

I totally agree about the buying a lot of gas for the price of the diesel engine. My friend and I built a very careful cost analysis spread sheet for our vehicles. Crunching the global numbers for 5 years of driving at 22K miles a year, the price difference between vehicles (same car gas vs diesel), fuel, projected maintenence, MPGs, ect ect, the cost difference between the two is marginal. Around $3500 dollars savings with the diesel, OVER 5 years. There abouts anyhow. Which could be eaten by one costly repair to the emission control system.


One has to put a great deal of miles on (I would say 18K+ annually) to rationally consider a diesel engine for a commuter car as a cost saving measure.

Diesels aren't for eveyone!

 

[Garandman]

Our calculation at work boiled down to over 30,000 miles per year, a diesel works.

But OP please note that nearly one third of all the diesel cars sold in the US are the two cheapest models. The Audi, BMW and Mercedes diesel SUV's sell in relatively small numbers.