montreal_speed
20/01/2005, 10h35
Le diesel a vraiment évolué durant ces 10 dernières années. Sont taux de pollution a également baissé jusqu'au point que certaines marques affichent des diesels moins polluants que certains moteurs à essence.
Pour moi personellement je n'ai jamais acheté de diesel à cause de la puissance et de son régime souvent limité à 5000 tour/min pour les plus puissant. J'aime pousser dans les tours quelques fois.
Mais en voyant la 530d E60 de BMW ou le AMG Diesel de Mercedes, je me suis dit qu'un diesel ne serait pas mal non plus.
Il a un très mais alors très grand couple, consomme moins et peut faire du 0-100 en 6,7sec des fois.
Et surtout avec la sortie de la Peugeot 406 Coupé Diesel ou la Serie 3 Coupé diesel ou le CLK diesel de Mercedes et BMW, je serai vraiment tenté à me prendre ce moteur dit économique. VolksWagen a sortit le Touareg V10 de 310ch en plus alors quoi demander de plus au niveau puissance??
Reste maintenant le seul inconvénient que le carburant Diesel est mal déservie en Amérique du Nord mais ça commence gentillement à venir avec la hausse du prix de l'essence, les gens changeront de mentalité et au lieu de s'acheter des 5,7l ou 3,5l il prendront plutot un 2,0d ou 3,0d car ca coutera moins cher en consommation.
Vous que pensez vous? seriez vous prêt à acheter des diesels si les concessionnaires ou un importateur les mettaient en vente au Canada ou USA??
Stéphane Dumas
20/01/2005, 16h13
parlant de diesel, j'ai repéré cet article sur un autre forum http://biz.yahoo.com/wsj/050113/sb110565716565625766_2.html
The Diesel Surprise
Thursday January 13, 10:55 pm ET
By Jonathan Welsh Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
When Robert Puster saw gas prices hit $2 recently, he decided it was time to buy one of the more fuel-efficient cars around. But he didn't pick a Toyota Prius or one of the other new gas-electric hybrid cars: He bought a diesel.
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The Elkhart, Ind., outdoor-advertising consultant says he loves his Volkswagen Jetta's 40 miles per gallon, and calls his new car an upgrade over the diesel he drove in the '80s. "The engine doesn't drown out my voice at the drive-through window," he says.
With all the talk lately about hydrogen fuel cells and hybrid cars, you might have missed car makers' push for another high-mileage technology -- one straight out of the Carter administration. Diesel engines are showing up in a growing range of vehicles, including some surprisingly expensive models.
Mercedes-Benz, which hasn't sold diesels in the U.S. for several years, just started selling a $50,000 diesel sedan that accelerates faster than its gas counterpart. Chrysler's Jeep unit, known for primitive '80s diesels, is pitching a model with about 30% better mileage than gas. Want the most powerful Volkswagen SUV on the lot? That's a diesel, too, with a big engine and a $58,000 price tag.
For the auto industry, this is one of the more daunting attempts at an image makeover in recent memory. Diesel engines have an enduring reputation as loud, smelly and weak. Environmental groups criticize their high emission levels. Diesel fuel is carried at only about 30% of filling stations nationwide -- and now often costs more than gas. The timing, too, could hardly seem stranger: Many drivers who want higher mileage are buzzing about newer technologies, with makers from Ford and General Motors to Lexus using this week's big auto show in Detroit to preview high-tech, high-mileage alternatives to diesel.
Even so, diesels are grabbing a bigger share of the market. There are now 14 diesel models for sale in the U.S., up from 11 last year. Makers sold nearly 500,000 diesels here in 2004, according to Power Information Network, up 31% from 2002. These vehicles accounted for 2.9% of the U.S. light-vehicle market in 2004 -- up from 2.2% in 2002.
So is there a new diesel appeal? To find out, we test-drove the latest ones from Volkswagen, Mercedes, Jeep and others, and we also previewed diesels that buyers may see soon in the U.S., including Chrysler's PT Cruiser and BMW's 7-Series sedan. We timed their acceleration, checked engine noise with a decibel meter and even came up with a way to gauge soot in the exhaust. Sure, our masking-tape-and-coffee-filter test was not exactly scientific -- but we did find one rig with an exhaust that was visibly sootier than the rest. We also found models with surprising power and mileage numbers, including a few that nearly made us forget we weren't driving with gas.
Skeptics say diesel is far from the next big thing. One big selling point of these engines, after all, is that they tend to last longer than gas engines and are more economical, typically getting about 30% more miles per gallon. But diesel-equipped cars also often bear higher price tags than their gas counterparts, negating initial fuel savings. Moreover, while diesel fuel has historically cost less than gas, lately it has been more expensive: Average gasoline prices across the U.S. are now $1.77 per gallon, compared with $1.94 for diesel, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Few customers will feel compelled to switch to diesels or other high-mileage options, some experts say, until gas prices climb much higher. "Gasoline prices were over $2 a gallon several times last year and that didn't make people buy that many diesels," says Michael Omotoso, an analyst with researcher Global Insight. "I think the threshold is closer to $3 a gallon."
Another knock against the engines: Compared with cars that run on gas, diesels emit a higher level of pollutants. Some states have passed strict emissions regulations that crimp their sales, with California, Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont banning the registration of new diesel cars. (Owners can generally register used diesels in those states.) The Union of Concerned Scientists, an environmental group, says that a small passenger car running on gasoline typically emits about three grams of polluting particulates per thousand miles driven; a comparable diesel traveling the same distance, it says, emits closer to 43 grams.
Much of the problem can be traced to sulfur in the fuel, which inhibits catalysts in exhaust systems from filtering out pollutants. Currently, diesel fuel sold in the U.S. can contain up to 500 parts per million of sulfur, compared with levels of about 15 parts per million in Europe.
For their part, makers say that advancements in engine technology have made the cars cleaner. They also point to new Environmental Protection Agency emissions regulations, set to go into effect next year, that could shift the momentum toward diesel. Starting in June 2006, the EPA will require refiners to produce diesel for sale in the U.S. with the same maximum sulfur level currently found in European fuel. Auto makers say cleaner-burning fuel should prompt more drivers to consider diesels -- which in turn, they say, should result in a more competitive market for diesel, which should make the fuel more widely available and cheaper.
In the meantime, manufacturers have other incentives to push the cars. Diesel engines cost relatively little to incorporate into existing models: European and U.S. auto companies have already spent the past two decades improving the technology for sales in Europe, where fuel prices are higher. (Overall in Europe, according to Mercedes research, diesels make up about 50% of all passenger auto sales.) And now, makers have an additional reason to sell the cars: The federal government requires auto makers to continue to raise the overall fuel economy of their fleets to meet corporate average fuel economy, or CAFE, requirements. Companies that sell high-mileage cars are able to raise their average -- freeing them to sell additional low-mileage vehicles such as SUVs, which tend to have higher profit margins.
Diesel engines have been mainstays of long-haul trucking since the 1940s. In the passenger-car market, their big moment came in the 1970s, when gas prices were rising toward their 1981 peak of about $3 per gallon in today's dollars. Drivers were drawn to models such as the 1983 Volkswagen Rabbit, which could get 50 miles per gallon in city driving, a match for even today's hybrids. By the mid-1980s, diesel was an option in everything from tiny Chevrolet Chevettes to pricey European sedans. But when gas prices fell again, the diesel incentive receded.
As makers jockey for position ahead of the new U.S. low-emission fuel regulations, they're hoping to sell customers on diesel as a luxury amenity -- capable of performing better than gas. Volkswagen, for one, says it expects the big 10-cylinder diesel engine in its Touareg SUV will attract buyers not only to that vehicle, but provide a "halo effect" that will attract people to its less-expensive cars. "Who would have ever thought people would aspire to own a diesel?" says Volkswagen spokesman Tony Fouladpour.
Here's our look at the latest diesels:
Jeep Liberty CRD Limited, $26,860
DIESEL ADVANTAGE: Fuel economy is 30% higher than gas
DIESEL DISADVANTAGE: It also costs $1,635 more
Slipping behind the wheel of this Jeep Liberty, due to go on sale later this month, we couldn't help remembering what it was like to start a diesel of two decades ago. There was the 10-second wait for the "glow plugs" to warm the engine chambers, the coughing start, the cloud of black exhaust, the rattling rear-view mirror. "Those were tough times," says Jeep spokesman James Kenyon, recalling in particular the Jeep Cherokee diesels of 1985 to 1987. "As we get more of the new vehicles on the road, more consumers will begin to come around."
So we were pleased when our test vehicle started in a split second. Still, there was no doubt we were in a diesel: Its engine rattled and emitted a familiar chug, and when we rolled down our window to back out of our driveway we caught a whiff of distinctive exhaust. The engine got us across intersections quickly, but at higher speeds it reminded us somewhat of anemic diesels of old.
Chrysler says it's using its Jeep unit in part to test U.S. demand in the segment, and begin catching up with longer-established rivals like Volkswagen. The company says it will start cautiously: While it says 50,000 people have expressed interest in a Jeep diesel, it plans to build only about 5,000 Liberty CRD models annually, compared with the 167,000 gas-powered versions it sold last year. It's also already at work on its next big thing: At this week's Detroit auto show, Jeep showed a truck called a Gladiator, with retro looks and a diesel engine.
Volkswagen Passat TDI, $23,360
DIESEL ADVANTAGE: Big family car gets 40 mpg highway
DIESEL DISADVANTAGE: Can't get one with all-wheel drive
Driving along Connecticut's I-84 in search of fuel, we spotted a sign for diesel and pulled our VW Passat off the highway -- and found ourselves at a vast truck stop. Cashier Sue, standing at a counter just to the left of a row of musty showers, explained how to work the huge double pumps designed for twin-tanked semi trucks. When we started pumping, fuel gushed out so quickly it overwhelmed our 16-gallon tank. It took us days to get the diesel smell off our hands.
That's particularly bad news for Volkswagen, which has perhaps the highest stake in diesels here: VW sells five models in the U.S., up from three a year ago. It is also pushing diesel aggressively. While makers generally charge a premium for these engines, the Passat TDI costs a relatively modest $205 more than its gas counterpart.
Smelly hands aside, the Passat TDI required few sacrifices. It was easy to drive on long stints, with no fumes or excessive noise. It accelerated quickly, going from zero to 30 in a quick 4.2 seconds. At higher speeds, however, it was more deliberate: Its four-cylinder engine puts out 21% less horsepower than the one in the gas-powered Passat, and it took us 10.5 seconds to hit 60.
Volkswagen says next year's Passats will have upgraded engines, and we think it may be worth the wait. Already, the company is offering the newer technology in its Touareg SUVs, which had enough juice to hit 60 in 7.5 seconds -- dusting even most big gas SUVs.
Mercedes-Benz E320 CDI, $49,075
DIESEL ADVANTAGE: Zero to 60 mph in 6.6 seconds -- faster than gas
DIESEL DISADVANTAGE: Limited production
Mercedes-Benz offered its first diesel in the U.S. in 1958, and by 1982, eight out of 10 Benzes sold here were diesel. But after interest dwindled in the '90s, Mercedes stopped offering diesels here altogether in 2000. When more customers began asking about the engines, it decided to offer the option starting late last year on its bread-and-butter E-Class sedan. The German maker says it's planning to sell 4,000 of the cars annually in the U.S. (The company sold 221,000 cars in all in the U.S. last year.)
Although the diesel E-Class has 20 fewer horsepower than the gasoline version, it puts out 59% more torque -- essentially, the power an engine generates at low speeds, or its ability to get a car moving from a standstill -- and it was the fastest of the group in our zero-to-60 tests. It was also the quietest, just two decibels louder than a gas version of the same car while idling. The bad news: While the diesel E-Class costs just $575 more than a comparable gasoline model, it would take about 40,000 miles of driving -- based on costs of $2 a gallon for both diesel and gas -- to make up the difference.
BMW 740d, $70,000
DIESEL ADVANTAGE: Quiet as a gasoline version
DIESEL DISADVANTAGE: You can't get it in the U.S. -- yet
BMW won't confirm it's planning to sell diesels in the U.S., but the German company is giving some hints. It already counts on diesels for 40% of its European sales, and has brought over a mini fleet of diesels for its own in-house test drives. From the garages of the company's U.S. headquarters in Woodcliff Lakes, N.J., we checked out a 7-Series diesel -- filled up, even, with low-sulfur fuel from drums BMW had shipped over. BMW hopes that 2006's low-sulfur fuel regulation will allow its cars to pass emissions regulations in all 50 states, which it signals would be an opportunity to begin selling its cars here.
Like the Mercedes, this 7-Series felt as fast as gas-powered models but had the mileage of a small economy car -- about 35 mpg on the highway. It was also the hardest of the bunch to distinguish from its gas counterpart: Its V8 engine sounded little like a diesel, and its acceleration was peppy, smooth and quiet.
Ford F-250 King Ranch, $48,200
DIESEL ADVANTAGE: Tough engine sound will turn heads at Home Depot
DIESEL DISADVANTAGE: Engine package costs $5,100 more than similar gas-powered version
Of all the vehicles we drove, this big pickup most recalled the diesels we thought we'd left behind. It clattered. Its exhaust smell seeped into the cab. When we stood five feet from its front end with our decibel meter, we registered 68 decibels at idle -- only about as loud as chamber music, but well above the others' 58 to 61 decibels. It also came out worst in our exhaust test: We taped a cone-shaped coffee filter onto the tailpipe, started the engine cold, and after a minute we removed the filter to check for smudges. This one left a mark akin to a water spot on a white sweater, noticeably darker than the others. (A Ford spokesman says the truck is quieter than in the past, and called our soot test "unconventional.")
Still, Ford leads the U.S. consumer diesel market, selling nearly 200,000 F-Series diesels last year, almost twice the number of the Dodge Ram, its nearest competitor. And this big rig had some surprising giddyap. In the wee hours of the morning, we ran a series of acceleration runs on a level entry ramp onto New Jersey's Route 3. Once we figured out how to mash the pedal without spinning the tires, we were able to reach 30 miles per hour in four seconds, and hit 60 in nine seconds -- faster than the Liberty and the Passat. Not bad for a three-ton truck.
Write to Jonathan Welsh at jonathan.welsh@wsj.com
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