Friends bought diesel Rabbits in the early '80s. I took a trip with one once; they had to look for diesel at gas stations. I think it was cheaper, as well as delivered more miles to the gallon. I worried about small engines withstanding the high compression. My survey of the current market shows no small diesels in the US but some overseas. And almost every gas station has diesel now and it’s more expensive. Is this a result of pollution restriction? Or something else?
The advantage of a small vehicle powered by a diesel engine was always to bit of a stretch. When the price of diesel fuel started rising (in the 1990’s?), that small advantage disappeared!
If I am not mistaken it looks like 2019 was the last year for passenger cars, hatchbacks, compact & midsized crossovers and SUV’s in the USA for diesel engines…
And looks like midsized Jeeps and trucks diesel engines ended in 2022/2023…
Ford and Dodge ended their small diesels in 2021 & 2023, GM/Chevy still offers a baby diesel in it’s 1/2 ton trucks…
My theory is Hybrids pushed out most all small Diesel vehicles for various reasons, and one of the reasons is there just not enough of a market for them anymore…
That is one big reason. The equipment required to meet emissions is expensive and a bit of a headache to maintain. It also hurts fuel economy. Combine that with the price of diesel fuel and it not longer makes economic sense to sell them here. I doubt the big SUVs and pickups that are available with diesel engines are selling that well right now.
And the biggest supplier of small diesels was caught cheating:
There aren’t any currently that I’m aware of. There was a Chevy Cruze diesel back in the mid 2010’s. I want to say that it was gone before 2020. VW’s diesels stopped selling in the US in the mid 2010’s, and I want to say that BMW’s diesel offerings stopped around that time as well. But the market for diesel powered cars in the U.S. was never nearly as big as it was in Europe. But these days even over in Europe emissions regulation has really stifled automotive diesels. They aren’t as prevalent as they used to be. In the U.S. diesel cars were always more of an oddity than something you’d see regularly, especially after the first go with them in the early 80’s. The demand for diesel cars in the U.S. has always been tepid at best. Overseas diesel was historically taxed a bit less than gasoline, and with the fuel economy benefits, it made a compelling reason to buy one. But in the States, gasoline was usually cheaper than diesel, and the added upfront cost of a diesel made them less attractive even with better fuel economy.
+1
In addition to VW, the other “major” purveyor of diesel-powered cars in the US was Peugeot, and they disappeared from the US marketplace. Peugeot stopped selling cars in the US in 1991, and I still recall leftovers sitting in a NJ dealer’s lot as late as 1996. Even at drastically-reduced prices, it seemed that few US consumers wanted a Peugeot… whether it was gasoline-powered or diesel-powered.
Some may disagree with this . . .
Imo, diesel has been politically demonized, at least in some areas
There have been links between respiratory conditions/illnesses related to people living in proximity to ports, where diesel-powered rigs unload containers, as well as living near warehouses, where these containers are stored
Our fleet has been procuring less diesel powered vehicles, in favor of more CNG and gasoline
And, yes, diesel vehicles are complicated and expensive to keep emissions compliant
Diesel was big during the 70’s and 80’s because diesel was cheaper than regular unleaded. The people I knew who bought diesel cars bought one for gas mileage (which was significantly higher than a comparable ICE vehicle). Then in the 90’s hybrids came onto the scene. Diesel cars have lost their appeal and people lost interest. For a while Jeep even had a Diesel Grand Cherokee (at a substantially higher price).
Exactly. My BIL loved his diesel RAM but when it came time to buy something new, the price difference between the diesel and gas versions was too great to justify the diesel and so he went with a gas engine.
The EcoDiesel in our 2021 Ram 1500 pickup now has 107,000 nearly flawless miles. It gets about 25-26 MPG around town, over 30 on the interstate (when not towing) and about 14 MPG when towing a 6500 lb travel trailer.
These numbers are about 30% better than any gasoline or hybrid engine currently in any 1500 class truck, so with the current insanity with diesel prices diesel is costing me about the same as gas.
Where diesel excels is in towing performance. The diesel engine is just as powerful and efficient at 6,000-14,000 feet as it is at seal level. Diesel has much more torque. The hybrid version of the V8 has less torque than the diesel. Plus the Ram hybrid system had the reliability of a poorly trained dog. Nobody has made a hybrid with as much power and range as a diesel. Which is why the Lightning was such a dud. The diesel engine is dead quiet compared to gas in heavy duty use. Redline is about 5,000 RPMs, yet I’ve never even been close to that. I can talk in a normal voice even under heavy acceleration up a steep grade towing a trailer. When towing my truck has a range of close to 500 miles, which makes a huge difference when traveling across the country with that trailer. Range is about 900 miles on the interstate when not towing. With a 33 gallon tank.
Maintenance of the little diesel engine has been less than my last V8 truck. By this time my gas truck needed its spark plugs changed at significant cost. Oil changes were once every 5,000 miles with heavy duty use. The diesel engine recommends oil changes only as indicated, up to a max of every 20,000 miles, depending on if the truck is doing heavy duty. The truck computer tracks usage automatically and usually tell me that the oil needs to be changed between 8,000 and 13,000 miles.
At the time the diesel engine was $2,500 more than the V-8. Would I buy it again? Absolutely.
The F-150 hybrid with the Powerboost V6 makes about 190 more HP and 150 more lb/ft of torque than your 3.0L Ecodiesel. Doesn’t beat it in highway MPG, but get’s about the same/slightly better overall MPG. With a larger fuel tank (36 gallons vs. 33 gallons) , highway range should be comparable though.
The Lightning is a pure EV, not a hybrid BTW.
Look now. Around here, 2026 same model 2500 is more than $20k difference between gas and diesel.
Diesels used to be very popular in the UK. Many “repair” websites cry about overly complex diesel emission issues for cars/vans in the 75k-125k range. They seem to say the emission add ons are made worse by owners who do little maintenance. Uk cars need periodic inspections to be road worthy. MOT?
I would say the other “significant” purveyor of diesel automobiles in the US was Mercedes-Benz which introduced the 180D in the US in 1960. They continued to sell a small but significant number of cars through the 1970s.
Our neighbor loved 300Ds and owned several of them. His last 300D didn’t run well, and that cured him.
They sold quite a few for many more years, the newest I could find on cars.com was a 2016.
I stopped once to talk to a potential prospect. Upper 30s, long flowing hair from under his cap as he was working on his MB diesel. I kept the pitch short since he wasnt really the type to buy what i was selling. Next stop a widow with a late model Olds. Ya gotta pick your fights.
That’s the 2500. Mine is the 1500 and they don’t even make the ecodiesel anymore.