Your towing rigs and trailers

[Redlands Okie]

What expenses are there on North American diesel engines that we dont have ?

Here in Holland, road tax is 3x as high on a diesel car, but because of fuel savings and diesel being 25% cheaper, fuel costs usually half of a petrol car.

When it comes to maintenance, i remember spark plug and coil replacements which i never did on a diesel. My friends V70 2.4 gas needs more maintenance than my V70 D5 and they both need synthetic oil...

USA diesel coat more per gallon than gas. All of the maintenance cost more. Fuel filters ( often times two of them) , oil, air filters cost more. The oil often cost more and quite a bit a few quarts are usually in a diesel here than a similar gas engine. For some reason labor charges are more on diesels. If parts are needed same problem

 

[aeblank]

USA diesel coat more per gallon than gas. All of the maintenance cost more. Fuel filters ( often times two of them) , oil, air filters cost more. The oil often cost more and quite a bit a few quarts are usually in a diesel here than a similar gas engine. For some reason labor charges are more on diesels. If parts are needed same problem

That's probably all true, but I still loves my diesel.

I've mitigated some frequent failures by doing things. Also do my own maintenance, too.

The ease with which it pulls my camper is worth a lot. It is no more tiring for me to tow than not tow. That's mostly the over size truck, but I'm convinced the diesel is a (admittedly small) portion of it.

By all means, buy the gasser. No skin off my rear. Hope it's everything you want and more. My next one probably will be one too.

 

[Renze]

Interesting... i get 50 mpg, 55 when i try hard. My friend gets 30mpg. He has coils and spark plugs to replace, i havent replaced anything else than oil and filters on my previous S70 TDI. Thats with blindcapped EGR.

The V70 D5 has DPF, but they seem to be trouble free as im told. My mate needs synthetic motor oil in his gasser too because of hydraulic valve tappets.
Indeed my Common Rail fuel filter costs 35 euro where the VP37 TDI could do with a 15 euro filter. But those are minor expenses compared to the fuel savings.

I must add, i only buy well proven cars, i dont need to buy new vehicles to stay ahead of rust, like you do with pickup trucks.. I picked a 2007 model because it has a soot filter so i dont pay additional soot tax and can drive in inner cities where non dpf diesels are prohibited, and because the 2006 model had cam and follower wear issues because Volvo started prescribing 0w/30 fuel saving motor oil in 2006, but upped the cam and follower hardening for my 2007, and gen 3 from 2008 onwards has more electrical issues.

The problem with pickup trucks is that when the mechanics are old enough to have proven reliable, the frame or body rots apart, so you have to gamble with unproven technology every few years...

 

[lman]

Interesting... i get 50 mpg, 55 when i try hard. My friend gets 30mpg. He has coils and spark plugs to replace, i havent replaced anything else than oil and filters on my previous S70 TDI. Thats with blindcapped EGR.

The V70 D5 has DPF, but they seem to be trouble free as im told. My mate needs synthetic motor oil in his gasser too because of hydraulic valve tappets.
Indeed my Common Rail fuel filter costs 35 euro where the VP37 TDI could do with a 15 euro filter. But those are minor expenses compared to the fuel savings.

I must add, i only buy well proven cars, i dont need to buy new vehicles to stay ahead of rust, like you do with pickup trucks.. I picked a 2007 model because it has a soot filter so i dont pay additional soot tax and can drive in inner cities where non dpf diesels are prohibited, and because the 2006 model had cam and follower wear issues because Volvo started prescribing 0w/30 fuel saving motor oil in 2006, but upped the cam and follower hardening for my 2007, and gen 3 from 2008 onwards has more electrical issues.

The problem with pickup trucks is that when the mechanics are old enough to have proven reliable, the frame or body rots apart, so you have to gamble with unproven technology every few years...

What are you towing while getting 50 mpg? What vehicle are you talking about? I would love to get that kind of mileage when hauling 3 horses or 10,000 lbs. Of hay.

 

[BigBlue1]

Interesting... i get 50 mpg, 55 when i try hard. My friend gets 30mpg. He has coils and spark plugs to replace, i havent replaced anything else than oil and filters on my previous S70 TDI. Thats with blindcapped EGR.

The V70 D5 has DPF, but they seem to be trouble free as im told. My mate needs synthetic motor oil in his gasser too because of hydraulic valve tappets.
Indeed my Common Rail fuel filter costs 35 euro where the VP37 TDI could do with a 15 euro filter. But those are minor expenses compared to the fuel savings.

I must add, i only buy well proven cars, i dont need to buy new vehicles to stay ahead of rust, like you do with pickup trucks.. I picked a 2007 model because it has a soot filter so i dont pay additional soot tax and can drive in inner cities where non dpf diesels are prohibited, and because the 2006 model had cam and follower wear issues because Volvo started prescribing 0w/30 fuel saving motor oil in 2006, but upped the cam and follower hardening for my 2007, and gen 3 from 2008 onwards has more electrical issues.

The problem with pickup trucks is that when the mechanics are old enough to have proven reliable, the frame or body rots apart, so you have to gamble with unproven technology every few years...

What vehicle are you referring to that gets 50-55 mpg? I haven't heard of that great of mileage since the 80's or 90's before all the modern emission stuff got piled on diesels. That's great!

Also, what modern day gas engine vehicle has to replace coils and spark plugs anywhere near enough to be a real maintenance concern? Most gas engines in the past couple of decades could go 60-120K miles on plugs and coil packs are not wear items but only replace if failed, and that is super rare (in my experience). The diesel maintenance costs listed by Redlands above are noticeably higher than any gas engine vehicle of similar type.

Diesel engines certainly have a place and can be fantastic. My point isn't to counter that, just to call out the real world differences in cost. I know a lot of people who tow enough to make the costs worth it. But also tons who are far better suited by a gas engine in their less-frequently used tow vehicle.

 

[ning]

Interesting... i get 50 mpg, 55 when i try hard. My friend gets 30mpg...

Is that miles per gallon England style?
If so, most readers of this forum should knock ⅙ off of the number to get the equivalent USA mpg, and you should add 20% to USA mpg to get numbers you're familiar with (the difference being UK mpg uses imperial gallons).

 

[Fallon]

Is that miles per gallon England style?
If so, most readers of this forum should knock ⅙ off of the number to get the equivalent USA mpg, and you should add 20% to USA mpg to get numbers you're familiar with (the difference being UK mpg uses imperial gallons).

Ya, US gallons are 4 quarts. English gallons are 5 quarts. Which accounts for a fair bit. European cars tend to be smaller than US cars, which accounts for a bit. Some of the testing is different between the US EPA & European equivalent. So the same exact car gets a higher rating in the European test than the US ones.

 

[ptsg]

I'm pretty sure it's US mpg.

On my sister's 2015 Renault Clio with a 1.5L turbo diesel engine producing 90 HP, it will do easily 60 US mpg and I've squeezed 65 mpg out of it a couple times. I know it sounds like very low HP but it's plenty for the car it is and moves in the traffic just fine.

 

[ning]

We were in Ireland in 2013 and rented pretty good sized car (6 seater, 3 rows) and if I recall it got about 50-55 mpg US. Not a rocket, but definitely sufficient.

I've personally thought most cars in the US are vastly overpowered for a long time, especially for what they're mostly used for - commuting. For a while we had a '74 VW Westphalia camper van, and when our "commute" car (a Mazda 626 - rocking 90hp!) was in the shop, I commuted in the vw over a congested mountain highway (CA17) and I recall being passed by, and passing later, various furious sports cars, and leaving the highway 45 minutes later with the same fancy cars I'd gotten on with in the first place.

Now my wife's family car has 50% more power than my own sports car once had (Mazda Rx7 turbo II), but it's driven only slightly faster than that old VW was.

 

[Renze]

Is that miles per gallon England style?
If so, most readers of this forum should knock ⅙ off of the number to get the equivalent USA mpg, and you should add 20% to USA mpg to get numbers you're familiar with (the difference being UK mpg uses imperial gallons).

I take 1 mile = 1.6km and 1 gallon is 3.8 liter. I run 20km per liter average, commuting, and can get a trip average of 23km per liter if i try.

With 163hp and 340 Nm i spin the tires at 1500rpm in 1st and 2nd gear when towing on wet streets, so i have no need for the 185hp version of this engine unless it comes with AWD, but AWD doesnt get this fuel mileage so i'm good with this