Amazing: the US automobile industry discovers the Diesel engine...

[Mike O'Dell]

Indeed i meant "in the US" - although the rest
of the world is not afflicted by the corn-based
ethanol disease so there was a hint. (grin)

one advantage Diesels have now they didn't
back in 1979 when I bought a Diesel Rabbit
is much more sophisticated gearboxes.

an 8-speed computronic tranny makes it much
easier to keep a Diesel spinning in its "Max Grunt"
torque sweet spot with the turbos whizzing smartly.
that and new materials reduce the weight
penalty.

the BMW 3 series twin-turbo inline 6-cylinder is
much snappier than most US gas-burning V6s
and easily gets twice the mileage. the gearbox
is a big part of making the most of the turbos.

What I do not miss, however, is my friend's Mercedes 240D -
the archtype "nasty truck Diesel in a in a big heavy
passenger car". The noise and smoke had the
"wife acceptance factor" of being trapped in an elevator
with a flatulent basset hound. And even a casual drive was always
excessively exciting because one had to plan so far ahead
to deal with a 0-60 time best measured with a calendar.

I always thought the 240D did more to harm the
notion of a civilized automotive Diesel than anything except
the execrable "Dieselized" gas engines that GM tried foisting
on an unsuspecting public. That demonstrated malice aforethought.

     -mo


On 4/25/12 9:49 PM, Andre Kesteloot wrote:
> On 4/25/2012 21:10 PM, Mike O'Dell wrote:
>> [''']
>>
>> Maybe the impending popularity of Diesel engines
>> will finally put a stake through the heart of
>> the corn-based ethanol madness.
>>
> Mike,
>  let's be specific, whenyou write "the impending popularity of diesel 
> engines", you mean *_/in the US/_*"
> Diesel automobiles in Europe have been popular for a quite long time now.
> Whenever I travel to Europe, I rent a mid-size car (diesel of course) 
> and I regulalry get 50 miles to the gallon.
>
> 73
> André

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