1951 diesel beetle...maybe a modern reality?

[bajacalal]

What made them so ***ty then? They were idi, a rotary pump?

They used a 22:1 comp ratio, so its not like they weren't being efficient. Just doesn't make sense.. It could be half as good in that small light car and probably still pull some good numbers..

So for it to be that miserable.. I want to know why lol

Injector designs improved between 1950 and 1980, cylinder head designs improved, engines became more efficient in general given the same displacement and let's not forget that things like tires and the actual shape of the car, the Beetle, as mentioned, is not aerodynamic. Have you ever driven one at speed? The front end becomes noticeably lighter, like it's gaining lift!

There ARE air cooled diesels, however, and they do actually work pretty well. Two German companies- Deutz and Hatz made them (and still do), I'm sure there are more, and they made a wide range of engines from tiny to large, I have one, a single cylinder Hatz with a pull (pull your arm off) start.

[srgtlord]

It says right in the article I posted that one of the cheif engineers remebered driving the vw van diesel for engineering errands all those years ago. And said it got between 37-40 mpg. I think it lasted Long enough. It was only a 1.3 diesel beetle and vw van. I read in an article  that the main reasons for cancelling production was the infernal noise,  and that when the head of vw went to visit america, he concluded americans would never drive vehicles with so little perceptable power at idle. In 2008 they brought the same diesel out of hibernation for rudolph diesel's 150th bday.