AZEqualizer
12-28-2007, 01:07 PM
The Case for Diesel: Clean, Efficient, Fast Cars (Hybrids Beware!)
The dark horse of fossil fuels has cleaned up its act, allowing automakers to create cars for the U.S. that are ultra-efficient and high-performance. Here comes the 75-mpg revolution.
By Ben Hewitt - Popular Mechanics Jan 2008. (http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237945.html?page=1)
For now, at least, diesel vehicles are an intriguing option if only because they promise a viable alternative to hybrid vehicles—and drivers like to have choices. Especially choices that offer the bold, torque-heavy performance of some diesels. Nearly all the major carmakers say they’ll deliver clean-diesel models to the U.S. market within two years. German carmakers may have a head start. Audi, BMW and Volkswagen all plan to offer multiple models within two years. Honda is preparing a diesel Accord to be sold first in the U.K., and all three major American car companies plan to introduce diesel cars by 2010. But they won’t be cheap. The manufacturers will begin by introducing the technology in V6 and V8 engines, rather than in four-cylinder versions. And while little pricing information is available, Volkswagen says its clean-diesel Jetta will carry a premium of about $2000 over its gas-powered sibling.
Sadly, the real fuel misers of the diesel world—inexpensive three- and four-cylinder wonders like the Volkswagen Polo on our cover, which gets 74.3 mpg—probably aren’t coming to the U.S. anytime soon. Right now, even the best of these European diesels don’t meet the emissions standards in the five states that follow California clean-air regulations. So far, manufacturers have been mum about whether they will modify these vehicles to take advantage of ULSD-ready emissions controls.
But diesel has outsize potential even without these models. According to the EPA, if 33 percent of U.S. drivers switched to diesel vehicles, the country would reduce its oil consumption by about 1.5 million barrels a day, cutting oil imports by more than 10 percent. The agency’s Oge, for one, is optimistic that the technology will leave behind its dirty old image and win a whole new generation of fans. “This is going to be remembered as the decade when we transformed diesel.”
The dark horse of fossil fuels has cleaned up its act, allowing automakers to create cars for the U.S. that are ultra-efficient and high-performance. Here comes the 75-mpg revolution.
By Ben Hewitt - Popular Mechanics Jan 2008. (http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4237945.html?page=1)
For now, at least, diesel vehicles are an intriguing option if only because they promise a viable alternative to hybrid vehicles—and drivers like to have choices. Especially choices that offer the bold, torque-heavy performance of some diesels. Nearly all the major carmakers say they’ll deliver clean-diesel models to the U.S. market within two years. German carmakers may have a head start. Audi, BMW and Volkswagen all plan to offer multiple models within two years. Honda is preparing a diesel Accord to be sold first in the U.K., and all three major American car companies plan to introduce diesel cars by 2010. But they won’t be cheap. The manufacturers will begin by introducing the technology in V6 and V8 engines, rather than in four-cylinder versions. And while little pricing information is available, Volkswagen says its clean-diesel Jetta will carry a premium of about $2000 over its gas-powered sibling.
Sadly, the real fuel misers of the diesel world—inexpensive three- and four-cylinder wonders like the Volkswagen Polo on our cover, which gets 74.3 mpg—probably aren’t coming to the U.S. anytime soon. Right now, even the best of these European diesels don’t meet the emissions standards in the five states that follow California clean-air regulations. So far, manufacturers have been mum about whether they will modify these vehicles to take advantage of ULSD-ready emissions controls.
But diesel has outsize potential even without these models. According to the EPA, if 33 percent of U.S. drivers switched to diesel vehicles, the country would reduce its oil consumption by about 1.5 million barrels a day, cutting oil imports by more than 10 percent. The agency’s Oge, for one, is optimistic that the technology will leave behind its dirty old image and win a whole new generation of fans. “This is going to be remembered as the decade when we transformed diesel.”