Well…I just wanted one to say I have one maybe…I dunno. It was fun cruising around Tuscany and Rome in a little MB 200 series Hatchback with a 6sp Manual. It was fast and fun and torquey…and I wanted something similar under the hood of one of my cars just to play around.
As for the expensive additive? I flush TONS of that additive down the toilet every month. I will show you Urea injection fluid. LOL Just joking.
Well I see at least there are plenty of reasons why we dont have these little engines here. To tell you the truth…I didnt know many of them, so I definitely learned something here. That was the point afterall.
We just got back from Tuscany and Rome but we were in a bus. My wife was not happy tooling around the back roads in a bus though. Drivers usually don’t get car sick though zipping around curves and up and down hills.
@kmccune Kev, I would guess they don’t need any igniter. Liquids have to vaporize and compress first to ignite where it is already vaporized. I would be interested to see the diesel natural gas version in action. Everything is pressurized so my guess is you just use injectors with a regulator. We will still have big time needs for fuel oils. We still have the airline industry, heating oil, the military etc.
Car & Driver did a test of a Euro-market CRV with the Diesel in 2009 and while it did perform fairly well (with the manual transmission that the USA will probably never get) the turbo lag and the noise at idle spoiled the fun. Mazda was also planning to offer a diesel engine here but I think it’s on hold for now.
@dagosa: Except that CNG has very high octane–exactly what you DON’T want in a diesel. Unless they want to engineer in a mega-compression ratio, CNG probably needs a cetane-happy primer.
@Dag,MJ,right on,anyway there will always be a need for diesel fuel,we really just dont need it for personal transportation,I realize in the past a lot of Power Shovels and the like were electric powered,but stringing all that cable wouldnt work very well on the jobs I’ve been on,nowthe electric systems are usually compound,with a diesel engine driving a generator,which powers an electric motor,which serves as a traction motor and transmission,which hybrids are soon to be more incorparated into heavy equipment(because the extra weight of the hybrid system is usually a plus in heavy equipment)
The thing is, as @insightful alluded is that you’re not really getting 65 MPG. That 65 MPG figure is in imperial gallons. For U.S. gallons that about 55-56 MPG, not bad at all, but still nothing a Prius can’t do. Then we have to factor in the BS that is the EU Urban/Extra Urban testing methodology. No A/C use, extremely leisurely acceleration, etc. You can lop another 20% off to reflect the kind of mileage one might expect in the real world, and you left with about 45 MPG. Which again isn’t bad, but it’s about the same as you’ll get with VW TDI and about 9 MPG better than what you can expect with gasoline powered Civic.
In the UK a diesel powered Civic costs about £2500 more than a gasoline powered Civic. In the U.S. where diesel carries a 40-50 cent a gallon premium over regular gasoline, it’s going to take a while to recoup the initial outlay in fuel cost savings. It’s just not that an attractive proposition for most people in the U.S.
The article that I read was already properly calculated for US and Imperial Gallon adjustment. It was a solid 65MPG…no further adjustment required. I’m actually not familiar with how well a Prius can do…but if they can get 60+ I would be very surprised…that would be Awesome.
I often wonder why we don’t use the system that is found in Locomotives…the Diesel engine powering a generator…which either powers the electric motors for propulsion…and or charges a batt pack. It would be fun to see that system…shrunken down and in a car. Wonder what the Mileage would turn out to be. It would be fun just to see it I think.
Chevrolet sold 2779 Volts during the first 4 months this year. Toyota sold 1699 Prius PHV cars during the same time period. The Volt is the 4th highest selling plug-in vehicle in 2015. How is this a failure?
Those Volt sales are far less than GM had planned on. From a few weeks ago:
"GM has announced that they will be halting production of the Chevy Volt plug-in hybrid this May in order to “prepare for the new model generation.” Yes, that is one reason why they are stopping production, but there is another, more important reason.
Chevy currently has a 210 day supply of Volts waiting to be sold. The ideal supply for an automaker is 60 days. This is 3.5 times that, which will be a burden on dealers to move through before the new car goes on sale. That means that a lot of incentives and discounts will probably be coming to the current Volt before the 2016 model goes on sale.
Sales of the Volt have declined every year since 2012, and are down 48 percent for the year so far. Not ideal."
I guess that means the sales of all plug-in vehicles are disappointing, with the possible exception of the Tesla, which is selling about 1000 per month. The lack of sales may also be indicative of interest in the new model. We’ll have to wait until next year to find out.
HBB,the old diesel electric locomotives arent really hybrid in the sense we generally(some new ones will be) take it,I would call them compound,the gen set(about what it amounts to.powers these huge electric motors which provide the high torque and traction needed for something like a 100 ton locomotive,with a precision and control that wasnt possible with the steam powered monsters(not cheaper-but better) one thing although,driving the motors in gen mode provided dynamic braking,by running the generated current through a resistor set.
Yes electrics and hybrids are here to stay and I think most Folks have very little problem achieving 50 mpg in their Prius cars and the Cmax seems to be close behind(good hunting,but I’m still waiting for your diesel conversion,if you have the time and money-make the little Hot Rod)-Kevin
Uh- ,one other thing HBB, Lowes sells a hybrid riding mower-ATV and I really want one of those things,it seems like all I do is carry gas to my old craftsman and I had a heck of a time getting it going in cold weather,I use it for trailer duty in the winter,firewood,mulch,etc; And I have heard tales about Chevy Volts consuming only enough gas under certain conditions to satisfy the on board programming,sounds like a good deal to me(had a Volt blast past Me on an on ramp the other week and He was honking)
Diesel locomotives with hydraulic transmissions were common in Europe, and were tried here, but not much liked. Most European diesel locomotives are a lot smaller than the US ones as the main lines in Europe are mostly electrified, with diesels used mainly on branch lines. The diesel electric was a very practical solution to the problem of getting power to multiple axles simply, and doing so with both abundant torque for getting started and the ability to run at high speeds. Different windings in the generators could be selected to get different results. As another noted, they didn’t recover any power lost from braking. Most locomotives have long had dynamic brakes, but all they do is burn off the excess power in resistance grids. Some railroads operating in the flat bits of the Midwest bought models without dynamic brakes, saving a bit of money. They didn’t have to do much braking out there so could get by without them.
For a car an electric transmission adds cost and complexity and only makes sense if regenerative braking is used. The Volt is actually very similar to a Prius in concept, but operates with the ICE off more of the time. I suspect the Volt didn’t sell well because it was cramped and strange looking, inside and out, and other hybrids were more practical. The new one looks more conventional and is supposedly much roomier. GM does sometimes learn from their mistakes.
There are a certain number of people that will chose an higher price economy car to save on fuel. Should Honda offer the 1.6L diesel in the US, will it sell more Civics or just be a forth engine option for those who have chosen the Civic?
Honda currently offers a 45 MPG Civic, a 60 MPG Civic would save 83 gallon of fuel a year (@15,000 miles/year). Is this enough to draw interest in the US? Or just bragging rights over the competition? The difference between a Prius, Volt, Camry HV, Fusion HV isn’t more than a pocket full of money. A significant difference would occur if people could be taken from there trucks and put into a passenger vehicle.
Blackbird, how much fuel would you save each year by driving a Civic diesel over your current vehicle?
Well...I just wanted one to say I have one maybe...I dunno. It was fun cruising around Tuscany and Rome in a little MB 200 series Hatchback with a 6sp Manual. It was fast and fun and torquey...and I wanted something similar under the hood of one of my cars just to play around.
The car costs $31k+(gas) in Canada is doomed for failure in the US. I think part of the glamour of those cars is you are visiting another nice country and they make sense there as you rent and enjoy yourself. I will add I got a Honda Accord Estate diesel(first gen Acura TSX in wagon form) in France and it was wonderful on my honeymoon. Came here tried the closest thing Acura TSX and thought it was small and jittery but a blast when decided to drive a bit nuts.
Sort of like people who want and complain about no manuals in cars anymore. They offer one and there is very little uptake. I am just thankful one of our target cars 2015 Accord Sport 6mt offers one and is priced well for what it is.