Originally posted by pepperberry farm somebody explain to me why we cannot get small diesels in this country, like the above Hyundai?
1) On The Grand Tour the other day Jeremy Clarkson was reading from a survey of US car buyers and fuel efficiency was the 27th-highest rated attribute when buying a new car. Presumably several spots below the material used in the headliner, and the color of the tire's valve stems. Diesel's primary reason to exist in small cars is fuel efficiency.
2) Car-based diesels of a generation or so ago were miserable. Many still remember 1980s Oldsmobile diesels chugging out smoke like a locomotive and sounding like a tractor, while getting 16 mpg instead of the gas version's 12.
3) People concerned with fuel efficiency in the US tend to buy hybrids. Maybe in part due to #2 leading to nobody buying them, so then companies stopped offering them.
4) Taxes. In a lot of countries diesel was favored in tax structures, so it was a lot cheaper then gas/petrol. Not sure if that's still the case. Not true in the US, where diesel is usually pretty comparable to gas.
5) Performance. Diesels don't rev as high, but have more torque. Great for pulling out stumps, or your 12,000 lb fifth wheel. But a diesel Mini, for example, is the slowest Mini offered in Europe. They don't sell it here.
---------- Post added 02-19-18 at 09:31 AM ----------
Originally posted by qblade I owned a 2011 VW Golf TDI. Loved that car - fantastic torque, great mileage, was extremely solid on the freeway and handled like a sports car on twisty roads. The interior was great as well. Unfortunately, we all know what happened with VW diesels.
The good news was that I got enough from VW that I was able to buy a brand-new VW Golf Alltrak station wagon for the money we got (partly because even though we had the car for 3 1/2 years, we only lost about 3 grand on it with the buyback, and partly because our local newspaper has an online auction twice a year and one of our VW dealers had the Alltrak listed. I waited til the last 3 minutes of the auction and bid just enough to win it. Got one heck of a deal on the car.)
It's been a great car - we got it last April and have put about 14,000 miles on it since we got it. I retired at the end of 2017, and this Wednesday we are taking off for a 45 day driving and cruise vacation. (11 days from Minneapolis to LA, with stops at various places along the way, then a 15 day cruise from LA to Hawaii and back, then another 2 weeks or so back, with additional stops at National Parks and other places of interest.) We plan on putting about 5k miles on the car. It handles pretty much the same as the Golf did, but has the additional benefit of all wheel drive when needed (a good thing in this part of the country).
We had hoped to put about 300k miles on the Golf - it'll be fun to see how much we can put on the Alltrak before it needs to be traded in.
When I was looking at cars three years ago VW teased the new Golf R Sportwagon at the Detroit car show. Just to taunt us. A 300 hp wagon with all wheel drive and sport suspension, not for sale in the US. Closest we get is the Alltrak or the regular Sportwagon.
I bought an Audi S4. But still lust after the Golf R Wagon or the S4 Avant.