honda accord turbo diesel for USA ?

Is Honda going to import their awesome new Accord turbo diesel
sedan into the USA ? It got 52 mpg on the UK emissions test !
And, 0 to 60 mph of 9.4 secs.

http://www.carkeys.co.uk/launches/honda/2502.asp

Lynn

 

That model is sold as Acura TL (I think) in the USA. The US Accords have
different styling. Wonder if Acura will sell a TDi. Lets see...

 

You'll never see it in the US.




____________________________________
How to turn off 'Maintenance Required" light:

1. Hold trip/reset button on dash
2. Turn key to "ON" or start engine
3. Hold button til light goes out
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That model is sold as Acura TL (I think) in the USA.

Wrong. TSX.




____________________________________
How to turn off 'Maintenance Required" light:

1. Hold trip/reset button on dash
2. Turn key to "ON" or start engine
3. Hold button til light goes out
---------------------------------------------------

 

Regulations have been proposed by the EPA to cut diesel emissions by
90% by 2012. This is the same percentage reduction required by the 1970
Clean Air Act for gasoline engines in the US.

I would not expect a new manufacturer to enter the US diesel market now.

 

Volkswagen started selling a Passatt TDI this year. Diesels have come a
long way. Honda usually tests the water at home in Japan and in more
market friendly places where a Turbo deisels are established. Expect it
in the US market in the next couple of years if the Passatt TDI sells well.

 

The article does explicity say it's only for the European market.

 

That should be "explicitly".

 

Americans aren't generally fond of diesels. Diesel fuel (especially
the good stuff) is not always easy to find and despite the advances,
these cars still run dirty. I met a couple - a friend of a friend
deal - and the guy was a fanatic for the VW TDI Beetles (they had his
and hers copies.) He showed me the pictures of how he tears down the
intake/exhaust system every 30-40K to clean the soot out. You
wouldn't believe the pile of carboniferous crap that he removed in
this 8 hour project. Not surprisingly, performance suffers a lot by
the time you have to clean it out.

 

Cleaner fuel is mandated too. Once that happens it's just a matter of
sticking on a catalytic converter. Diesels normally run lean so there's
no delicate air/fuel ratio to maintain.

Here's a good link on industrial diesel catalytic converters:
http://www.nett.ca/faq_diesel.html

 

Passat Tdi (automatic only) is only 10-15% more efficent on fuel than an
Accord autom. If there is a point, it still has to be seen.

 

Instead Honda will be selling a hybrid Accord with a special 6 cyl
engine.....no diesel though.

 

Instead Honda will be selling a hybrid Accord with a special 6 cyl

Hmmm. Everything I see lately says that the milage on the Hybrids is
not much better than that of the regular cars. And, if you are running
the A/C, the gas motor never shuts down (here in Housto, Texas,
we run the A/C for 8 to 10 months a year).

Lynn

 

Liar
Thief

Lost another job pervert?

 

You're right, it is the TSX. Get confused too easily when the TSX and TL
look so similar, especially the front-end.
Thanks

 

Here in Tampa, Florida i use A/C zero months a year!
How do I manage that? Well, if you lived in Africa for 20 years, then you'd
adjust easily ;-)

 

The A/C seems to knock 2-2.5mpg off the mileage of my 2003 Civic Hybrid CVT.
Doesn't it also affect any other car? I had heard 5% once. That 5% gets
to be a real number on a high mileage car, unnoticeable on a 10mpg car.

The defroster turning on the A/C in the morning was hitting my mileage if I
forgot to turn off the A/C separately after switching the defroster off.

 

Go to priuschat.com and you'll see a lot of testimonials. Seems
like the majority there get 45-50, with quite a few higher.

As to the Honda diesel, remember two things:
The 52 mpg quoted is *imperial* gallons which are 1.2x US gallons.
So, that's 43 mp(US)g.

Diesel is about 12-13% denser than gasoline. So if you want it
for its environmental/ghg benefit, then derate by that, ie about
38 mi/gallon gas-equivalent (yes, that terminology is used in the
business). Still excellent, but not quite the 52 first quoted.

 

Yup, an auto a/c is about 3 kW or so. So if you have a big truck
that consumes 30 kW going down the road, that's a ~10% hit (when
on, but it cycles so the effect might not be that high). Now if
you have an Insight that only takes 10 kW, it is a *30%* hit. In
reality, I'd bet the Insight has a much smaller a/c. The numbers
above are just for demonstrative purposes, not actual effects.

Also, I think the Prius system is now designed such that a/c
engagement doesn't require the IC engine to cycle on. But I
suspect the Hondas' hybrid systems might be too small for this.

 

On the highway, no. And why would it be? The benefits of the battery
system are in the city driving.