Ford 1 litre turbo 3 cylinder ecoboost.

[RunningStrong]

Originally Posted by niky

Except when going between countries, where you're on the highway, Europe isn't laid out much like America, with big, wide roads and endless miles of nothing. You have lots of small towns to drive through and lots of narrow, winding roads. Couple that with the higher prices of fuel, and people think nothing of going long distance with an "underpowered" car... versus the US, where you can spend long boring hours with the throttle pinned to the floor between states.

Maybe in the 1970's but Britain has a rather good network of motorways these days which are used by a lot of people, a lot of the time. This is shown by how well diesel, and the turbo diesel, have been embraced in the British market.

And going a long distance in the UK certainly doesn't mean driving through small towns as nearly all major routes have a bypass around population centres.

Oh, and get back to GTP!

[niky]

I've been found out! Hey, I"ve been lurking on and off here for years, I used to mod a green subforum in the Philippines, so I joined here out of curiousity. (hfs?)

It's the historical precept that dictates the current situation. And you still can't stick a brick on the pedal in the UK and drive in a straight line for several hours. But yes, the prevalence of the new turbodiesels indicates the changing conditions and the desire for power... but still tempered by the incredilbe (by American standards) fuel prices.

Thanks to concerns over high fuel prices, there's bound to be a convergence in markets as everyone gravitates towards similar cars.

[payne171]

Unless the tax rates change, Americans will never like diesel as well as Europeans. Furthermore, because of these differences in preference, American refineries put out a lower percentage of diesel fuel relative to gasoline, and fixing that would require wholesale refits for the refineries. Add that to the efficiency advantage diesel has enjoyed but is now shrinking due to high pressure direct fuel injection, and I believe diesel will always be a bit player in the States.

[tjts1]

Passenger car diesels don't stand a chance in this country. Hybrids have broken under $20k with 50mpg combined. The cheapest diesel is $5000 more and diesel fuel still costs $0.50-1.00 more per gallon.

[sendler]

It's not just the fuel cost per mile holding diesels back in the US. It's tailpipe emissions. It costs a fortune to make a diesel engine run as clean as a gas engine.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by payne171

Unless the tax rates change, Americans will never like diesel as well as Europeans.

Diesel comes with so many extra issues these days, that it isn't a solution to the problem.

I'm far from the only one having particulate filter issues.
These DPF then apparently only reduce the particle size to below the particle size that's being measured, but makes the particles even more harmful because they go deeper in the lungs.
Good call on making these things mandatory , EU !

Euro 4 (with DPF) and Euro 5 (mandatory DPF) cars have a lot of extra gear to bring down their emissions - it all comes at a stiff price, and it's not exactly free of problems.
Euro 6 standards - with reduced NOx - will make it even tougher on diesels to meet emissions standards.

With todays DPF systems, biodiesel is also out of the question, unless in small percentages. With it comes oil dilution and increased wear.
At the moment, we're having 5% biodiesel in regular diesel, possible 7.5% in future.

I'll steer away from diesel in the future.
So it's good to see this downsizing of petrol engines.

[TheEnemy]

Low horsepower used to be ok here in the US. My old VW rabbit only had 65hp and was pretty spunky due to its low weight. My Jeep stock only had 115hp, a friends toyota 4X4 only has something like 95hp all early to mid 80's.

I have been looking at trying to get the 4cyl version for the Jeep, one of the problems though it the ecu is also tied into the transmission and the only thing available is an automatic transaxle 2wd only.

[payne171]

I believe VW takes the 1st generation Honda Insight approach to passing emissions; it runs rich for a little to burn off trapped NOx emissions. Not very expensive, but not enough on bigger diesels (aka BMW and trucks) and inherently cuts into FE.

[Daox]

Back on topic.

It sounds like we're getting the 1.0L turbo in the Fiesta AND Focus which is news to me. Of course, the same article also perpetuates a rumor about an electric supercharger... I also have huge doubts about the Focus hitting 50mpg without some pretty major aero enhancements.

3-Cylinder 2014 Ford Focus EcoBoost To Deliver 50 MPG-Plus?

[sendler]

The Focus and the Fiesta have very similar mpg ratings in the US. The pricing is close as well. Ford would be wise to offer the 5 door Focus with the small engine as it will be easier to sell than the Fiesta.