Diesel cars in the USA

[tunnanxwd]

If you can remember back to the first gas crisis of the 1970's, diesel was cheaper than gasoline. That was when the only car you could buy in the US (to my recall), was the Mercedes 190 or 220d and such.

Gas crunch hits and Nissan and a few others start selling diesels and wham, the price goes up. This just about negated significant gains that folks like my uncle had enjoyed for years with his Mercedes. A typical market reaction but that is just life I suppose.

My bud had switched over to Volks diesels for his last two cars (he had been a GTI die hard since the first one rolled off the line), but last year, finally (for better or worse), switched over to a Saab Combi 2.0. As a loyal VW follower (engineer and former rally partner), it really hurt him but he was not only tired of replacing the turbos of the the diesels, but with the ham-handed repairs that would damage other (wiring and such), as they replaced the turbos. I think it was the 4'th replacement that finally got to him.

I have been tempted to look around for a 190d Mercedes as a spare or second car since I liked the 1989 gas that I had, but they are horrible in snow, even with snow tires and a pile of roof shingles in the trunk.

Frank, the old Mercedes were known for durable and long lasting diesel engines that had lots of "swept bearing area", the only weak spot was body rust, I would hope they carried out that tradition when it came to the engines. I don't know if they had an AWD "D" series but the early Mercedes "4-Matic" did not have a good reputation back in the 80's, so that left me out. Twice I had "base" model Mercs on order, the 190 when introduced was about the same as a base Saab, and the ML-320 AWD ... in short Merc jerked me around because I ordered the lowest models without sunroof and options and they had no intention of delivering a base car (even though advertised), after waiting over 6 months ... screw em' and their "bait and switch" ads.

[nordwulf]

I used to have a 1990 300TE a few years ago. it can be quite a challenge when you live on a hill and have to powerslide just to have enough speed to make it to the top on a curved drive. Yeah, not so good in deep snow.

I don't think they made the 4-matic for the diesel cars. I have never seen one at least. I looked around for a 4-matic gas version but also read about the poor reliability for the awd system. Great cars, just not as much fun to drive compared to a Saab.

[nordwulf]

These days, diesel ($2.89) is less expensive than regular gas ($2.92) where I live. And quite a bit less than premium ($3.30). Too bad there still isn't much choice in vehicles with diesel engines. The only affordable car is a Golf/Jetta and that's about it.

Wanting a Benz W124 diesel..

[Shazam]

I've been loving my little diesel! It's got a bit more oomph than my dad's Jetta SportWagen had, so now it falls into "regular" car speeds, though it seems even regular cars are quite quick these days. So maybe it falls into "regular car" speeds of 10 years ago.

Lifetime MPG is 46 mpg, and that's with a probably 20% city 80% highway (going 70~75). It's been a great car. Really quite, handles nice (steering a bit numb) and the manual has a nice feel. Currently at roughly 3,500 miles.

I stand by my statement that diesel stations can be a bit tricky to come by--or at the very least you may find yourself at a gas station that doesn't have diesel. Diesel is currently $2.859 while regular is $2.619 at the local Costco (cheapest near me). Also, keep some wet wipes or hand sanitizer and paper towels in your car. The pump handles are filthy (Costco withholding... they seem to actually clean them!).

[Gepe]

Have had a range of diesels - VW Golf estate (65bhp). then a Tdi (90bhp) but pulled like a train and better mid-range than the GTi.
Cost here break even at about 30,000 pa but diesels are almost like driving an automatic.
Then a Skoda Octavia estate (115) best fuel consumption was high 50's when running to the South of France fully loaded for three weeks holidays.
First SAAB was a 9-3 SW (120) low 50's on the same run but more responsive and comfortable.
Current 9-5 Ttid (190) high 40's over the Easter break on the same run.
Would I change back? NOPE! I'll keep the 9-5. BTWmy wife has a new Volvo V40 D2 and has run the tank through at 65 mpg.
Happy motoring

[Lex Andrews]

My Citroen C5 is absolutely, how to say this politely is crap on fuel. We did the Annual South of France trip a few weeks ago. According to the trip computer we'd done 3,174miles start to finish. MPG 34.2. I know it's a 2.2 HDi with 19inch wheels. No space left in the thing. The Swede did similar mileage run in similar weight conditions at 35MPG.
I did use a quarter of a tank less in fuel this time than last.

My Mother has a MK3 2004 Ford Mondeo 2.0TDCI. Backwards and forwards on A/B and city roads gets 46.8MPG.