Does America Have Diesel Powered Cars?

[TVRKing]

Dunno if this has been asked before, but does America have them? And how many companies use them?

Just curious.

 

[Jugend]

The 350 chevy diesel was used in several sedans back in the 80's.. Nowadays I dont know.

 

[milefile]

Trucks. I don't think anyone is making cars right now though.

 

[Boost Lee]

Volkswagen with the TDI series. Turbo Diesel Injection

 

[milefile]

I thought he meant America manufacturers.

 

[Fenrir51]

There have been some diesel american cars, imo they sucked. Cant remember the make or company but a friend was talking about one of his first cars in the 80's that was diesel with a 3500 rpm redline and a 35 to 1 compression ratio sounds mean but it only had 100hp or around that.

 

[LoudMusic]

Plenty of trucks, but no cars that I'm aware of.

 

[retsmah]

It's pretty rare to see a diesel car in the states, which is odd, you'd think Americans would love diesels with all of their low end power. There were some old American diesel cars as mentioned above, but from what I've heard they weren't good. My dad had one a long time ago, said it was always broken.

There are old Mercedes 300Ds still around, one of my neighbors has one with over 300k miles on it, still runs fine. They've got another one too, not sure how many miles it's got.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Why do they need Diesels?
OKay you need them for their low end power....America's solution, add an extra litre to the engine.
You might say fuel ecconomy.......Their fuel is CHEAP! i dont care what they say, i recentley went for a holiday out there and it was amazing how cheap it was.
And also.... for travelling along america's vast highways, why would you want to go in a car that vibrates like hell when its so cheap to have a petrol.

 

[slimer90210]

we don't have many diesel cars here because when the companies here first tried it all they did was try to convert gasoline engines to diesels and that did not work well, so the consumers here stoped buying them....

 

[milefile]

Originally posted by ExigeExcel
You might say fuel ecconomy.......Their fuel is CHEAP! i dont care what they say, i recentley went for a holiday out there and it was amazing how cheap it was.

I didn't drive when I was in Canada but would I be correct in thinking I saw gas for under $1.00 a gallon about a year ago in BC?

 

[Jugend]

I know it's had, not have, but the chevette...

 

[ExigeEvan]

now i know this is a good few years old but its just somthing to show you what i mean. Its form 2001

UK $5.05
Norway $4.54
South Korea $4.52
France $4.28
Japan $4.16
U.S. $1.52
China $1.34
Ukraine $1.00
Kuwait $0.76
Indonesia $0.45
Venezuela $0.40

 

[ShobThaBob]

Like it's been said, the only diesel powered vehicles made by US manufacturers (road going) are the bigger trucks.

 

[1X83Z]

...and the only new diesel cars sold here are made by Volkswagen (Golf, Jetta, Beetle) as was said.

 

[ExigeEvan]

So, the americans wont go to diesel to be more envioronmently friendly......how long will it take you to get to hybrids (i mean electric/petrol), LPG, or hydrogen. Just dont let your fumes blow over the Atlantic. From now on im gonna support wind farms on the atlantic coast

 

[milefile]

Originally posted by ExigeExcel
Just dont let your fumes blow over the Atlantic.

Deal. And you don't let your government blow. . . oh wait. Too late. It already blows.

 

[Firebird]

Diesel is not particularly environmentally friendly. It is more fuel efficient, but the emissions from the tailpipe are far worse than those of a comparable gasoline-powered vehicle.

As for gasoline-electric hybrids there are three on the American market.

LPG is used extensively in fleet vehicles, as well as CNG.

And hydrogen? Do you see any hydrogen-powered cars in Wales? I didn't think so...

 

[ExigeEvan]

i know my goverment blows, be have borrowed 37bn, health service sucks, public transport sucks, or blows as u like to put it. Never insult the british goverment, cause us brits know it suck already

 

[wee_man]

I don't know whoose worse. The moron you americans have leading your country or the morons who bum lick mr. w bush over here .

 

[milefile]

Okay well when you've muddled your way through it let us know.

 

[1X83Z]

Originally posted by ExigeExcel
So, the americans wont go to diesel to be more envioronmently friendly......how long will it take you to get to hybrids (i mean electric/petrol), LPG, or hydrogen. Just dont let your fumes blow over the Atlantic. From now on im gonna support wind farms on the atlantic coast

Originally, yes, diesel products were banned for environmental reasons, but now, they aren't purchased because of customer tastes - since diesel was banned in the 1980s, it has made substantial improvements, but Americans still think (incorrectly) that it's the same smelly, loud system it was when Mercedes was forced to stop making diesel products in the 1980s. Because of these tastes, foreign companies are afraid to enter the market with a diesel product.

 

[Firebird]

You also have to take into consideration that almost all of the diesel engines offered in North America are exclusive to North America because European diesels are designed to run on low-sulphur diesel. European diesel fuel has sulphur levels of about 20ppm. North American diesel fuel is around 300ppm. Most diesels would be damaged and simply cease to function if they used North American diesel.

And then there's the American obssession with acceleration. Anything with a 0-60mph time of over 7 seconds is considered slow...

And finally there's the simple fact that diesel is not widely available. You have to hunt down filling stations that carry diesel, because 90%+ do not.

 

[Firebird]

And M5Power, I have no idea where you got the idea diesel was banned in the 1980's...

 

[1X83Z]

Originally posted by Firebird
And M5Power, I have no idea where you got the idea diesel was banned in the 1980's...

California banned diesel automobiles from Mercedes in the 1980s. Because California was Mercedes' largest diesel market, Mercedes cancelled diesel cars altogether. No other maker (excepting trucks exempted from California's classifications) used diesel until Volkswagen began again a few years ago.

 

[Boost Lee]

Originally posted by slimer90210
we don't have many diesel cars here

because when the companies here first tried it all they did was try to convert gasoline engines to diesels

and that did not work well, so the consumers here stoped buying them....

True, false, and false.