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A car buyers lament: USA gets the crappy cars!

Av8r3400

Gone Flyin'
(Be careful the races you pick...)

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwg228Kjhmo"]YouTube - Dodge Cummins vs. Mustang GT[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV0XJePUitI&feature=related"]YouTube - Dodge Cummins Smokes Viper[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sbd26N1u7gI&feature=related"]YouTube - 92 1st gen Dodge Turbo Cummins Diesel vs 2001 Corvette @ Bandimere[/ame]
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Anyone remember the Rabbit diesels? Neighbor of mine ran one back in the late 70's and got 54 mpg. back then. Was a little rattly but very cheap to run. Early 80's Dodge pickups had a Mitsubishi diesel that was good for mpg but not real good on horsepower. I would sure like to see a small diesel in a pickup with about 230 hp and 24 mpg. It would not win a race but would get the job done.
 

Adillo303

Diesel Truck Fan
GOLD Site Supporter
Thank You Av8r power by poole is one of my fellow TDR members. The Cummins Rams will do some amazing things.
 

Trakternut

Active member
Just to kick in my $0.02 worth. My co worker is a long time Ford owner. He has a '94 F350 with the 7.3, pre-power stroke. He says that was a great engine. He has little use for anything after that. Says his next pickup truck may well be a Dodge Cummins.
 

Bulldog1401

Anybody seen my marbles?
SUPER Site Supporter
My 90 Mustang GT puts out 400 HP with 375 ftlbs of torque on 19 mgp now and no spring chicken. I might add if you line the two up in a quarter mile the Mustang will clean your clock and a 2 mile road race you would be even more embarrassed.

I would not be embarrassed at all. You see, a car like your typically weighs approx. 3300 lbs. My truck weighs approx. 8500lbs. 2.5 times as much. I am sure you could get somewhere before me in a race on dry pavement.

However, If we both put two more cars like yours on a trailer behind us, and started out towards a destination, I would arrive towing 5 mustangs and two trailers....
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I clearly stated it was my opinion. Point is I'm a little thin skinned at this point since I said I owned two diesel cars with two of the member here questioning what I owned. ...

Joe, as I started this thread and as I responded by asking you what the cars were, and as I have been following this thread, I think that the people posting are simply trying to fill you in on the development of the modern diesels that are in modern cars now. My late father-in-law bought an Oldsmobile with a diesel, worst car ever, swore off diesel engine forever. Can't say as I blamed him. Your experiences seem to be similar, but, just as his were, yours are based primarily on old designs.

The new engines are pretty amazing. At one time I owned the largest fleet of Iveco brand trucks in the US, the engines just ran on forever, were quiet, and sipped fuel. Too bad the rest of the truck wasn't up to that standard. But those engines proved to me that modern diesels are a whole lot better than the old designs. The successor to the smaller Iveco vans in the US seems to be the Freightliner/Mercedes/Dodge SPRINTER and that is again proving to new diesel owners that the diesel trucks are amazing vehicles.

I've already given information about the modern VW, Audi, and Mercedes Benz diesel engines. They simply are better, more efficient, and run much longer than gas engines. They are quiet, they don't rattle.

I understand that nobody will convince you, and I'm not trying to. I didn't start this thread to do that. I started it because I think the US car choices suck. Me, I'd probably be happy with a Subaru diesel 4wd car, but I'd really prefer a Volvo or M-B with AWD and a diesel powerplant.



I would sure like to see a small diesel in a pickup with about 230 hp and 24 mpg. It would not win a race but would get the job done.
Yup, that would be a great vehicle. A Ford Ranger with a 200hp TDI class engine, actually would probably get closer to 30mpg (city/hwy average) and have plenty of low end torque.
 

Av8r3400

Gone Flyin'
Thank You Av8r power by poole is one of my fellow TDR members. The Cummins Rams will do some amazing things.

I've been a TDR member since it formed. I still have issue #1. (I'm Av8r on their forum, not very active though.)

Muleman said:
Anyone remember the Rabbit diesels? Neighbor of mine ran one back in the late 70's and got 54 mpg. back then. Was a little rattly but very cheap to run. Early 80's Dodge pickups had a Mitsubishi diesel that was good for mpg but not real good on horsepower. I would sure like to see a small diesel in a pickup with about 230 hp and 24 mpg. It would not win a race but would get the job done.

I had a '86 VW diesel Jetta. 1.6L non-turbo, 42 hp. Wouldn't hardly get out of it's own way. I consistently got 52 mpg with it. When I reluctantly sold it (due to spousal edict), still running great, it had 325k miles on it. The neighbor kid put another 100k worth of brutal miles on it before the body gave up.

In 1977 Dodge marketed a pickup with a 5.7L Nissan diesel. I think is made somewhere around 80 hp and got 25 mpg.

I'd love to have a Jeep Wrangler with a manual transmission and a 150 hp TDi type diesel. Maybe that motor/tranny in a Dodge Nitro or Jeep Liberty? Kool.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
VW has announced some good news at the Detroit Auto Show. Their Tennessee plant with be building the new VW Passat midsize car . . . and they will offer it with a diesel engine that gets 43mpg highway. Average real world combined fuel economy is expected to be roughly 35+mpg for city/hwy driving. Not bad for a car bigger than a Camry or an Accord and base priced at roughly $24,000 (with TDI engine).
 

300 H and H

Bronze Member
GOLD Site Supporter
I'm with Bob on this one. The Governmant is tring it's hardest to kill the engine of the economy, the diesel. Come on here, dosn't this sound familiar? Legislate our way to an early end? Spend money we don't have, strangle our diesel engines and make them nearly useless to force us to "change" to something greener. With diesel engines the greeneis have had their way. Now they are demanding nearly impossible efficiency standards to go with our only ones like them on the planet emissions laws. They don't want America to suceed, they want it to fail so they can say I told you so.....The sooner they can do this the happier they will be. Mass extiction of the human species from the planet would make them happy, cause there wouldn't be all this polution if there were alot less people on the earth..............................................

My rant for the day.

Kirk
 

waybomb

Well-known member
GOLD Site Supporter
Diesel:
 

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muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
VW has announced some good news at the Detroit Auto Show. Their Tennessee plant with be building the new VW Passat midsize car . . . and they will offer it with a diesel engine that gets 43mpg highway. Average real world combined fuel economy is expected to be roughly 35+mpg for city/hwy driving. Not bad for a car bigger than a Camry or an Accord and base priced at roughly $24,000 (with TDI engine).

Hope the 4wd option is available. If it is I will have one for sure.
 
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