is it true the civic will get a diesel in 2010?
Diesel fuel is more expensive in USA from the gasoline. It will be very hard to sell diesel car in USA especially in the northern states with strong winters.
what has winter got to do with it? don't you have diesel trucks and diesel trains and diesel generators up north?
Diesel is more expensive but the mileage from diesel autos is about 30% greater than a similar gasolene fuel vehicle. The problem is diesel engines cost more than gas engines. In Europe it is generally considered that over 20,000 miles per year a diesel auto becomes cheaper to run and own than a gas power vehicle.
North America does not aggressively favor diesel with lower taxes the way much of Europe does. Don't overlook the "green" factor. Hybrids are so expensive you'll never recover the extra purchase price in fuel savings, but the Prius is awfully popular on account of its "green" image. I can see the Prius demographic also flocking to diesels as the new "green" image cars. Such people often have a strong desire to wear their "greenness" as a fashion statement, and I suspect the new diesels would be marketed as such. Diesels are much better in cold weather than they used to be. I believe the only two makers that sell diesel cars in Canada are Smart and Volkswagen. Nobody seems to have any trouble getting them started in the winter up here.
Regardless of the reason for the fact, the fact is that it is more expensive. I do not see how diesel is any greener than a regular gasoline... Do they really have lower emissions than gasoline engines? I doubt it... Maybe they are, but anybody owning in the past an older diesel with some of the engine compression lost will have very bad memories I am not that surprised about Canada... They solved the winter car problems long time ago. Engine block heater is a standard equipment in Canadian cars. I visited Calgary some time ago and I saw almost every public parking lot had 120VAC sockets to plug your car in, even when parked for an hour or two for shopping in front of a mall. In USA, situation is much different, at least in Chicago. I consider installing such a device in my 2004 accord coupe. I live in Chicago suburbs and winter can be harsh enough for this device to be useful if your car is parked outside overnight. Especially that original honda parts cost below $50 and some other brands even less than that. The only problem is that I could use it only in front of my building - 120VAC sockets are not that popular in Chicago, unfortunatelly. Here are installing instructions for V6 http://www.handa-accessories.com/accord/03-BLOCKHEATER.pdf I saw somewhere similar paper for 4-cyl version.
I am guessing you have never own a small diesel engine in a passenger car, so you have no idea how much pain it is during freezing weather...
If this is true, than it would make sense even with higher price per gallon Does it take into the consideration lower price of diesel in Europe compared to petrol?
I have owned diesel Volkswagens in the past. If you allow the engines to cycle before attempting to start them, it doesn't matter what the temperature is outside.
I wanted to check if this 30% is true or not, so I visited Volkswagen UK website: http://www.volkswagen.co.uk/#/new/passat/which-model/engines/fuel-consumption/ I have to say their website is very nice and easy to use. Very informative comparison! Amazing number of many different engines to choose from, compared to the US market!
actually, i have and it's not. if it's indirect injection, either the glow plugs are eroded or they're not getting current. if it's modern common rail direct injection, you simply don't have that problem. again, diesels are infrastructure and they operate just fine. there is a waxing issue at very low temperatures, but that's solved at the pump with different mixes.
not per mile. you "doubt" it??? why don't you bother to look this stuff up? you have a computer and an internet connection! anybody with /any/ poorly maintained vehicle will have bad memories. and if you use synthetic oil, you don't even need that.
But I do not have the time on my hands to do the research right now. True, but gasoline engines with their starting being less dependent on a good compression and excellent battery charge and overal condition tend to be more forgiving than old diesels engines with a lot of miles.
The difference between fuels in various countries is ALL tax. That's critically important. It's the IMAGE that counts, not whether it's actually "green" or not. You sell the image, you sell the product. Diesels are still smelly, noisy and expensive. The fuel is the same price or more expensive than gas at the pump. So they haven't got a lot more to sell other than cachet. OH yeah... And remember those GM automotive diesels of 1979? Forty below is tough on any engine, gas or diesel. In the US I don't think even Alaska ever gets 40 below, which is common in Alberta in the winter. Cars are fine to at least -20F without any block heater at all. The primary usefulness for block heaters in the East is to help the interior warm up more quickly.
that's not true! thing is, these days, a good common rail injection system is /so/ good, many people have great difficulty recognizing such an engine as a diesel. not true. they offer better efficiency, so mile for mile, they're cheaper to run. they were badly converted gasoline engines. hideous.
so what are your fears based on exactly? diesels typically last /much/ better than gasoline engines so for your criteria to be true, the engine will have been significantly better than the gasoline engine at the same mileage...
It depends which European country you are refering to. In some countries it is marginally less expensive in others more. The spread against unlead gasolene is of the order of 5%. As diesel engined vehicles are much more efficient the fuel cost/mile is considerably less than for similar gas powered vehicles. If you take all costs opf ownership into consideration, including capital cost, the case for a diesel engine auto depends upon annual mileage.
