Eco-Modding and diesels?

[worthrj]

I am trying to figure out why volkswagen diesels are not more popular with eco modders who seem to opt for the hybrid or lean burn cars? Is the efficiency just not there for a diesel? Cost of the fuel too high compared to gasoline? Can somebody give me the official explanation? Thanks so much.

[deejaaa]

this is "my" official explanation:
I get 60 mpg hypermiling on a small scale, (very little aero mods, tires to 50 psi, Ultragauge, slower than average speed, EOC, DWL when possible).
it's said a turbo will coke if using EOC. i haven't experienced it myself.
diesels cost more in a new auto. used hold their premium unless wanting to fix a lot to get it roadworthy again.
i spend less than 40.00 every 8-10 days, every 930 avg miles. this is my 4th diesel to own but the first to hypermile.
therefor they aren't as plentiful, people don't understand them, some are leery because of the negative connection to the GM diesels from the 80's.

[jamesqf]

1) Volkwagen doesn't have that great a reputation for reliability.

2) Diesels have the reputation of being noisy and stinky. Yes, I know (or at least some people say) that it's possible to build a quiet, low-emission diesel engine, but the people who buy diesels (in the US, anyway) are attracted by the noise and stink, and will even add aftermarket mods to make them noisier & stinkier.

[UFO]

I've relaxed a bit in my fuel saving driving techniques on my TDI. Mostly because I don't gain much with the automatic, and my fuel is B100. I get 40mpg without significant effort.

[Ecky]

I find diesels attractive in concept, but there aren't a lot of diesel cars that are available in the US that I would be interested in. I've been scared away from VW by reliability statistics, and there aren't many other small diesel cars.

It used to be that diesel engines held a huge efficiency advantage over gasoline engines, but Honda and Toyota had gasoline ICEs in the 90's (and possibly a little earlier, I dunno how efficient the D15B6 from the CRX HF was) that nearly matched the thermal efficiency of diesels.

Diesel fuel has something like 14% more energy per gallon than gasoline, and in the past as been priced similarly or even lower. However, more recently we've seen diesel pricing spike significantly higher.

[just671]

My current daily driver is a 1984 Mercedes 300D. They don't get the greatest mileage (24-26) mpg average. And My commuter is a 1995 Civic VX. When the engine blows up I've considered swapping a diesel into it. I've seen several posts where people have put diesels into astro vans and rangers and they get incredible mileage gains. My VX runs real well right now so I'm not sure that'll be anytime soon.

[Frank Lee]

The biggest problem is that those engines are surrounded by Volkswagon. :/

[deejaaa]

Originally Posted by Ecky

I find diesels attractive in concept, but there aren't a lot of diesel cars that are available in the US that I would be interested in. I've been(1) scared away from VW by reliability statistics, and there aren't many other small diesel cars.

It used to be that (2) diesel engines held a huge efficiency advantage over gasoline engines, but Honda and Toyota had gasoline ICEs in the 90's (and possibly a little earlier, I dunno how efficient the D15B6 from the CRX HF was) that nearly matched the thermal efficiency of diesels.

(3)Diesel fuel has something like 14% more energy (it's actually 11.6%) per gallon than gasoline, and in the past as been priced similarly or even lower. However, more recently we've seen diesel pricing spike significantly higher.

i'm not disagreeing with ya but some of your statements are sketchy.

(1) trade in index quality: what years are these figures based on? what parts of the cars are judged? MK4(99.5 to 03) VW TDI has the best engine. VW interiors are sub par after 180K, fenders rust when exposed to salt and not rinsed. diesel engine will run way beyond that(400-500K) unless it: goes into run away, runs out of oil, is modded so much that the bore is out of round or timing belts are not replaced on time.
(2) does the 90's scenario still hold true today? VW hit their mark with the MK4 and make 50 mpg (5 speed MT) straight out of the box.
(3) the only time diesel was lower than gas was before 2004. here are some of the reasons. Why Diesel Costs More Than Gasoline | NACS Online
Why are diesel, gasoline going opposite ways? - Business - Answer Desk | NBC News

i still get better value with diesel than gas in a similarly equipped car.

here's something to consider:
New Study Finds U.S. Diesel Vehicles Have Lower Total Cost of Ownership Than Gasoline Vehicles New Study Finds U.S. Diesel Vehicles Have Lower Total Cost of Ownership Than Gasoline Vehicles | Diesel Technology Forum
Fuel Efficiency: All of the diesel vehicles had better miles per gallon than the gasoline versions with the diesels having between 8 to 44 percent higher miles per gallon.
- Fuel Costs: All of the diesel vehicles had lower fuel costs than all the gas versions of comparable vehicles, with 11 of the 12 vehicles showing double digit reductions in fuel costs, ranging from 10 to 29 percent.

[PremierSprinter]

I think that the true reason is that people just generally don't know how to work on and diagnose diesels as well as they do gasoline cars, diesel can be harder to find when you are getting low and need fuel ASAP, diesels are usually more expensive to buy and modify and the good/efficient diesel cars are VWs which have an unjust stigma of unreliability around them because VW owners tend to not do the maintenance that they are supposed to and just let them fall apart.

I'm in the middle of an eco-orriented build here:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...mpg-31997.html

I haven't found too many others building from the ground-up specifically for fuel mileage, only the occasional question of which tires, nozzles, tunes, etc.. would be best for MPG without sacrificing power, traction, etc..

[Hersbird]

What about the Cruze diesel? Anybody around here with one of those? They are probably $15-17k for a used 2014. $23-24k for a new 2015.
Here the diesel has been much higher then the gasoline per gallon but that has actually narrowed over the last 5 months. My diesel truck never beat my gas truck in price per mile because of that. Power was sure sweet.