D_D, I plan to. I've got a drive with Ford's 2 liter diesel lined up, as well.
That new Ranger is fantastic. After a short drive in one, I can understand why Ford didn't send it there... Just too little differentiation from the F150. And it's likely that a diesel that America will want, like the 190hp 3.2, would push the price too close to the F150, as well. I'm betting the truck would jive well with the naturally aspirated 3.5, though.
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Originally Posted by slowmover
I think I might clarify my post above. The Cummins/Dodge combo is a de-rated commercial engine. Light duty pickup truck work is a no sweat proposition. It is overpowered for nearly all non-commercial users.
But will the 1/2T truck small diesel be pushed too hard by owners? (thinking cooling system capacity and transmission). Higher fuel mileage, but at the price of gasoline engine service life. May be hard to make a case for it on purchase price premium.
Nothing I've come across tells me that the earlier Jeep Liberty with CRD lasted much past 150k without expensive repairs.
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The problem is that not many high pressure systems last past 150k miles without costly repairs. Even the best CRDI fuel systems eventually succumb to bad fuel thanks to high rail pressures, piezo injectors and dirty diesel. Then you have the issues with variable geometry turbos and oil coking. Plus modern CRDI systems allow manufacturers to use engines that are not massively overbuilt, not like engines of old. At least VM Motori systems are relatively less sensitive to fuel contamination than Denso systems.
But most of these longitudinal mount engines like Mitsubishi's 2.5 are re-engineered old school diesels, so they should be RELATIVELY tough, unless they've been upgraded wi lightweight low friction internals. I don't know about the new Cummins. I know it's related to the older 300k mile engine, but I don't know how much is carried over.
Also, asian trucking is tough on equipment, so I don't know how equipment life cycles translate to US use. We consider urban use here as equivalent to three or four times US highway use in terms of engine wear.
Still, a lot of us are worried about the developments in diesel tech. The new motors are great when new, but I wouldn't touch a ten-year old CRDI with a ten foot pole. Not unless I had an extra two or three thousand dollars to repair any issues with the fuel system. Old diesels, on the other hand, would run forever.