New Diesels

[zak]

I recently read in Autocar Magazine, a brash British weekly car mag,  that all the big boys - Audi, MB. BMW and even Range Rover still offer new 2022 diesel powered cars for sale.
I was surprised to read that. I thought new diesels were verboten and extinct.
Although 90 % of the articles were about the new EVs.

I am happily driving my 2015 MB ML diesel Blutec as my daily. I think it was the last model year into the US and it can still scoot pretty well at 150 K miles.
Any diesel drivers still out there ?

jz

[Garry]

A majority of SUV sold in Australia are diesel at the moment. 
Electric cars are the rare minority at just a fraction of a percentage of total cars sold which is about a million a year here.  More than half would be SUV’s.


Garry

[Mike Hughes]

Any diesel drivers still out there ?

1986 W124 300D, still going strong.  It is the only W124 I have ever seen with manual wind-up windows.  In another thread there has been a discussion about a data card for a 230SL that shows a heavy-duty radiator and tropical battery.  There was also mention of skid plates.  My father-in-law ordered this 300D for European Delivery when he was the Director of the OAS office in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Since it was going to be shipped to Trinidad, Daimler Benz insisted that his 300D should be equipped with the "Tropical Third World" package, which consisted of a heavy-duty radiator, larger battery, heavy-duty springs and shocks, and skid plates.  The skid plate on this car is so heavy that it takes two technicians to lower it every time I get the oil changed!

[wwheeler]

This topic has interesting timing for me. I am selling my 2016 BMW 328D sports wagon. Great car but I have come to the conclusion that in the US, reliable performance diesels are no longer viable. I had a VW diesel sport wagon prior that VW bought back and loved that car. Only had 20K on the VW and now have 60K on the Bimmer.

After several $$ repairs related to the fuel and emission systems on the 328D, I am throwing in the towel. Luckily I had the extended warranty all along and so my cash outlay was minimal. Still it was an inconvenience and potential very costly. Looking at pick up trucks with Heavy Duty diesels and the older generation passenger car diesels (pre low sulphur), those made sense and were good engines. Oh well, the times are a changing.   

[Leester]

I had a used euro 240TD that was my daily driver for a number of years. Passed it on the my nephew who did not take very good care of it. Replaced it with a used 300SD as my daily driver - a tad slow but got me to work and home every day for years without fail. Still have my '85 Ford F-250 with the IH diesel engine. It has obvious rust which means it will probably not pass Virginia safety inspection. I will either have to buy some repair panels and repair or let it go - sure would like to get one or two more years out of it until used car prices come down and I can replace it with another truck - probably not a diesel though - wife won't ride in it. I know, there are pros and cons to that.

[Peter van Es]

Here in Europe Diesels are in the dog-house. Yet new diesels from Mercedes, BMW and VW are cleaning the air: i.e. what comes our of them is cleaner than what goes in to them. However tax rules are affecting purchases of diesels. However, if you need to drive long distances, or tow anything, diesels are still unbeatable.

Next to my Pagodo (less than 4000 km/s per annum only) I have all electric car (VW ID.3) which I use for home-work and vv milage only. That's still 32K KM's per annum, but only costs me (because of tax and low electricity costs) around 1/5th of the gas costs.

As a second car we have a 4x4 VW Tiguan with a 200hp 2.0 TSI petrol engine. So for skiing we have no range anxiety and this car is allowed to pull a 2500kgs trailer, enough for 2 horses in a trailer. However, for taxation reasons, VW does not sell any cars in the Netherlands anymore that are allowed to pull that and here in Europe there are very few reasonably priced cars that allowed to pull that weight. Why? Taxation related to CO2 production.
 
When the Tiguan runs out of umph... I dread what we will be able to buy at reasonable prices to pull a two horse trailer... but I suspect it will be a diesel!

Peter

[zak]

From the first time I drove an MB diesel ( circa 1990 ) I was hooked on them. I have had a bunch of them over time, but my all time fav was a red 1985 euro 300D, NA, 4 spd that I had for 20 + years until my # 2 son took it to college and ran it out of motor oil in 2010. But it was a rust bucket by then. I had plans to travel to Europe to buy a replacement 123 300D, drive around then bring it back home. But Covid changed that dream. Auto Scout24 has a few for sale.

A funny thing happened on my 2015 ML250. About 6 months ago MB sent me a notice about emission equipment on the car had to be replaced due to emissions violations. So I sent in the paperwork as requested, had the work done by MB at no cost  and got a check for almost $5,000. Found money.

I agree that the new diesels are very complex machines with the emissions equip., but I plan to keep the beast. I have put on 140K miles from new and never a problem. That sprinter engine flies if needed and returns 30 MPG.

Didn't Walter Klatt install a 240D engine in his pagoda ?

best,

jz   

[star63]

I agree with Peter. If you have anything heavy to pull, diesel is still the way to go. I have an older Audi A8 3.0 TDI which I use to pull our boat trailer (2200 kg). For daily commuting I have a BMW i3S (my second i3). A very fun car to drive in urban traffic.
There are electric cars that could pull that trailer but the range would then be very limited.