Diesel Cars

[TimberXX]

There seem to be more diesel cars now than ever. Unfortunately, many are premium brands such as mercedes, bmw, and audi.

Who has never diesel cars? What do you have, would you buy another, has reliable has the car been other than the engine.

We had a 77 Mercedes diesel that we ran for 435,000 miles. It was a great car. But I don't see the mercedes reliability there anymore.

 

[thatguy]

My parents had some Isuzu diesels..

Car = Imark early 80's model-ish.. 5 spd, 55 mpg - it was a great car..
Truck = p'up, early to mid 80's model .. 5sp 45 to 50 MPG - again a great car..

They ran both until they had close to 200k on them - no major repairs on either..

they were great car growing up as a teenager.. Diesel was <$1, run all weekend on $5 worth of fuel..

I would buy another small diesel vehicle in a heart beat.. BUT it has to have more guts (ir hp/torque) than those Isuzu's..

brian

 

[DAY]

Diesel cars are rare here- because they are all in Europe!

 

[Haoleguy]

I still have my eyes on a new VW Golf TDI. Also I wouldn't reject an ~2006 Mercedes E320 CDI. Both depend on whether I think I will be trapped in a long commute in the future.....Gary

 

[kiotiken]

Diesel cars are much more common in Canada than the US. They pretty much disappeared in 2006 because of stronger emission standards, but they're back with a vengeance now. I test drove a 2009 VW Jetta TDI clean diesel a few years ago. 140hp, 265ft/lbs torque, no more diesel smell, very little diesel sound (or sound of any kind) and lower emissions than a Prius with 1200Km per tank (720 miles). I really regret not buying it.

 

[jonyyuma]

I still have my eyes on a new VW Golf TDI. Also I wouldn't reject an ~2006 Mercedes E320 CDI. Both depend on whether I think I will be trapped in a long commute in the future.....Gary

TDI, it depends if you can service the car or not and does it have a timing belt or gears?The new VW is pretty pricy on service charges at dealer for timing belts. I changed my own belts on my Isuzu powered S-10 pu. Cost was $20.00 a pop at 80 k miles? Some will need to be done before 70k, Oil filters and Fuel filters can be a simular problem. just depends? Now some new Diesels require special attention to Emission related equipment and use diesel exhaust Fluid ??

 

[kiotiken]

TDI, it depends if you can service the car or not and does it have a timing belt or gears?The new VW is pretty pricy on service charges at dealer for timing belts. I changed my own belts on my Isuzu powered S-10 pu. Cost was $20.00 a pop at 80 k miles? Some will need to be done before 70k, Oil filters and Fuel filters can be a simular problem. just depends? Now some new Diesels require special attention to Emission related equipment and use diesel exhaust Fluid ??

BlueTec (sp?) is from Mercedes and does use exhaust fluid, hence it's name. VW does not. Not sure of others. All my parents older VW TDI's had timing chains.

 

[whiskywizard]

There are fewer diesel cars in North America now than in the past.

It's down to the 4 Germans; VW leads the pack with 4 models. Audi, and BMW each have 2 models. MB has 3.

It's too bad - both GM and Ford have decent small diesels overseas, but can't bring them into NA because of market constraints caused in part by California's emmission limits. Same with Subaru; they have some great diesels "over there" but not enough demand to bring any here.

What I'd really like here is a Toyota Hilux - small displacement diesel engine in a mid-size pick up.

 

[houstonscott]

I own a BWM 335d. It's a very nice car. I have seen 42mpg on the freeway, but that's down at 60mph, up at speed 70mph it does 38mpg. And its very fast too. With 425 foot pounds of torque it puts you V8 pickup to shame.

HS

 

[jonyyuma]

I was told that the new VW had to be serviced for a timing belt. I did not follow up on it as we found a car we liked better and get 30 mpg most of the time?