My guesstimation is that 2% of the cars on the road here run on diesel. Diesels were kind of a trend in the mid-80s but never as popular as in Europe and then hardly sold here starting with the 90's. They only started to catch on again when the TDI came along and when clean diesel, bio-diesel and waste oil conversions became more well known. I'm not sure if diesel cars will ever be popular here like they are everywhere else but they have a following and there is almost sense of camaraderie among their owners. I'm not talking about our big trucks and big pickups, that's a different matter. I think if you drive a diesel car here people think you are weird and frugal, especially if you are driving something old, slow and smelly despite your ability to afford "something better." It's not "normal" here, whatever that means. For me, it doesn't matter, I already know I am weird and frugal. My VW "GTD" is economical, reliable and gets me all around Southern California while I enjoy the drive. It does that very well even though it doesn't do it in style.
I'm not sure if diesel cars will ever be popular here like they are everywhere else but they have a following and there is almost sense of camaraderie among their owners. I'm not talking about our big trucks and big pickups, that's a different matter. I think if you drive a diesel car here people think you are weird and frugal, especially if you are driving something old, slow and smelly despite your ability to afford "something better." It's not "normal" here, whatever that means. For me, it doesn't matter, I already know I am weird and frugal. My VW "GTD" is economical, reliable and gets me all around Southern California while I enjoy the drive. It does that very well even though it doesn't do it in style.
I like the weird and frugal part
, people sometimes like to comment that I should "upgrade" to a newer car, I usually don't bother telling 'em that I have to be able to tinker with it and to me new cars aren't any fun to play with
. I actually really ENJOY fiddling with my baby
I think generally people here in the US still think of all the horror stories of diesels in the 80's.. Aside from noisy smokey and slow, One of tHe first things most people think of is Oldsmobile diesel...
Fuel quality was poor (the biggest downfall of the Olds diesel IMHO). This made diesels sound even worse when stories of several hundred dollar parts failing early started to surface..... Alot of people I talk with feel that with the increased initial expense of a diesel and higher repair and maintenance costs still makes a 30mpg gasser a more economical option..
Heck diesel pickups were still not looked at as too much of a viable option till Dodge got the Cummins, Ford got the Powerstroke, and GM finally stopped trying to design their own diesel and used a Duramax...
After the crazy fuel prices of last summer alot of people are finally taking a second look at diesel vehicles..
And bajacalal, I don;t think I woudl want a diesel engine after the Amish have had their way with it.. Generally speaking most Amish don;t know much more than how to put fuel in them and get them to start.. Maintenance is unheard of, even simple things like checking the oil or coolant.. I know that some downright think they are saving a few bucks by doing this, but the majority just don;t know about it... When an engine runs out of oil and starts knocking, then they'll fill it back up.. If it starts overheating, same thing... Things get welded and rigged backtogether that never should be.. I'm not saying this about all of them, but quite a few,once again mainly because they just haven;t been educated.. When they are done with something, it's usually because that particular item is done for...
I heard, (I can't remember where) that the USA has some of the worst refined diesel on the planet. The cetane here is 40. The quality of the diesel is what's holding back mfgs from bringing more diesels to the US.
Anyone else heard of this? There are a lot of countries that have cetane numbers in the 50-55 range.
Dragging this up a bit but...
Some small Ford diesels are good. I now have a Focus TDDI estate, it is very good. I would be willing to bet if I had a Mondeo TDDI i'd find that very good too.
I wouldn't dream of buying a TDCI though. May aswell just burn your money. Research tdci injectors.
All I can say to you NA members. Imagine the Focus as this;
basic 90bhp DI engine very similar to 1Z/AHU, but sounds a bit more petrol-like when revving.
Gearshift similar to 020 rod, but a bit better
Handling, steering and braking like a mk2 GTI
Mine is 2002 model, 255k miles and it cost £500.
Now this may make me sound anti-VW, far from it I still love Golf TDIs, once my TDI is back up and running i'll probably forget all the above and sell the focus!
the first of the mondeo had the 1.8 idi td engine big heavy lump of scrap 2 timming belts , then there was a 2.0 tdi 16v with a bosch E pump , 2 years thay ran same engine in the first of the fwd transits to, then the mondeos had the 2.0 common fuel rale
Funnily enough, my friend got himself a Mk3 Golf TDI.
He picked up a beauty in Germany on the cheap, and the cool thing is, I'll have a lend of it for the month of August while he's away in Colombia!