Tom_H
Veteran Member
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( [Actually, Toyota did market small diesel trucks in the US during the early to mid '80s.]
Ford also had a diesel Ranger in that same time frame. )</font>
In 1980 I bought a VW diesel Rabbit pickup. Some might not consider it a real pickup as it was so small. The body was one piece rather than separate cab and bed, which was like the Ford Ranchero and a similar model Chevy had. It was FWD. It got 52 mpg. hwy., 40 mpg. city. I had lots of problems with mine: water leaking into and ruining the electrical system, 3 blown head gaskets & 2 cracked blocks in 143k mi. It was actually a modified gas engine though-cast iron block, aluminum head, and a variety of "super alloy" head bolts that didn't seem to do what VW claimed. I babied that car. Nevertheless, I've heard from others here on TBN who passed 300k mi. on the same vehicle with no problems. I remember reading reviews in 1980 of some shops doing custom turbo mods on the same vehicle and getting around 73 mpg.
On a different note I have a question for the chemical engineers out there. I am curious about the ultimate efficiency of gas vs. diesel. I know that 1 gal. of diesel has more BTUs than one gal. of gas, but what volume of crude does it take to distill one gal. of diesel vs. one gal. of gasoline? (I know the grade/type crude makes a difference.) Also what is the refinery production cost to produce one gal. of diesel vs. one gal. of gas? (Again, grade/type crude matters.) Let's say you took 2 vehicles which were identical except that one had a gas engine and the other a diesel. Suppose the gas model gets 20 mpg. and the diesel gets 30 mpg. If it takes 50% more crude to produce a gal. of diesel than it does to produce a gal. of gas, then each vehicle is consuming the same amount of crude per mile. The refinery would simply be concentrating the potential energy in the benzine-ring based molecules into a smaller volume, while both engines are burning the same number of BTUs per mile. Now I have no idea whether this is the case, or if it is even the opposite. I have wondered about this however, and I think it these questions would have a big impact on this debate. Anybody know???
Ford also had a diesel Ranger in that same time frame. )</font>
In 1980 I bought a VW diesel Rabbit pickup. Some might not consider it a real pickup as it was so small. The body was one piece rather than separate cab and bed, which was like the Ford Ranchero and a similar model Chevy had. It was FWD. It got 52 mpg. hwy., 40 mpg. city. I had lots of problems with mine: water leaking into and ruining the electrical system, 3 blown head gaskets & 2 cracked blocks in 143k mi. It was actually a modified gas engine though-cast iron block, aluminum head, and a variety of "super alloy" head bolts that didn't seem to do what VW claimed. I babied that car. Nevertheless, I've heard from others here on TBN who passed 300k mi. on the same vehicle with no problems. I remember reading reviews in 1980 of some shops doing custom turbo mods on the same vehicle and getting around 73 mpg.
On a different note I have a question for the chemical engineers out there. I am curious about the ultimate efficiency of gas vs. diesel. I know that 1 gal. of diesel has more BTUs than one gal. of gas, but what volume of crude does it take to distill one gal. of diesel vs. one gal. of gasoline? (I know the grade/type crude makes a difference.) Also what is the refinery production cost to produce one gal. of diesel vs. one gal. of gas? (Again, grade/type crude matters.) Let's say you took 2 vehicles which were identical except that one had a gas engine and the other a diesel. Suppose the gas model gets 20 mpg. and the diesel gets 30 mpg. If it takes 50% more crude to produce a gal. of diesel than it does to produce a gal. of gas, then each vehicle is consuming the same amount of crude per mile. The refinery would simply be concentrating the potential energy in the benzine-ring based molecules into a smaller volume, while both engines are burning the same number of BTUs per mile. Now I have no idea whether this is the case, or if it is even the opposite. I have wondered about this however, and I think it these questions would have a big impact on this debate. Anybody know???
