And Umm.... Why the F*** Can't I Buy This Car Here?

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Okay, this is not an exciting car by any means. However, with all the bitching about fuel consumption here and the BS hybrid thing, I found a new car that sells in Europe with 78mpg fuel economy!!! It's a Diesel VW Lupo and it is also a cheap model. Here's the link I read about it:http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/article_319.shtml

 

[megaladon6]

VW has been building high efficiency cars for years. but they don't push politics like toyota does. also the usa just can't get past the oldsmobile diesels. everyone thinks that if the usa can't build a good diesel than no one can. never mind the fact that i had an 86 jetta 1.6d that had 320k and still got 42mpg. or the me/be that are still around. interestingly the 3cyl 1.2l has slightly more HP than my jetta did 61hp vs 50hp.(you have to love VG turbos)

 

[coolchrisp]

That would be GREAT to get that kind of mileage, but one of the biggest reasons they dont bring alot of Euro cars over here is because of saftey. There are ALOT of huge SUVs over here that would eat that thing up if they hit each other. In europe thats really all they have is smaller cars, beside comercial vehicles, so the standards on impacts are not as high.

 

[megaladon6]

there are no big suv's? what about the g-wagons, land rovers, land cruisers, sprinters, taureags, cayennes, ml500's, vauxhauls, and all the GM and ford suv's that get renamed.
besides you think that a mini cooper, prius, insight, or any othe "mini"car will hold up in an accident? hitting a rabid squirrel will total a civic!! :lol:
plus the leading edge in safety has almost always been europe especially germany partially due to the autobahns.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I agree that we have way too many over-sized trucks and SUV's running around on the roads. I have no problem with someone owning one, but too many of them are bought just to have a large vehicle and not for their inherent utility. I mean, how many full sized trucks never have more than groceries in the bed? It seems like a waste of money to me. If you have the bad *ss 4X4, you should at least have intentions of getting it dirty once in a while. Yet I see plenty of lifted trucks that appear to never use the extra utility and are lifted just to look big.

Secondarily, we have gone too far in the name of safety in this country. No one wishes to take a risk but the few who do are not allowed to by the nanny state we live in. I for one, am willing to take a risk. For my needs it would save me $300-500 a month in fuel costs--a very substantial savings. Plus, I think Diesel is a underused technology in this country and more people need to consider it for their next car. When you consider that a turbo diesel Mercedes is rated similarly in fuel economy with a subcompact ( 1985 300D auto vs 1995 Sentra Auto) it makes you think. I do think there are enough people in this country who would buy one to make it a profitable business decision for VW to market it here. I would not give up my musclecar for one, but I would own one as a cheap-to-run commuter car.

 

[STLRegal]

Well now diesel fuel cost more than regular gas. And the new crap they have out gives you less gas mileage and causes problems, atleast in older trucks. For example, my dads 92 Dodge Ram got 22 or so miles to the gallon and could go 500 miles on the highway on one tank of diesel. When the new stuff came out it destroyed his fuel pump and now can only get 150-200 miles on a tank. My uncle (whos a tuck driver) and a farmer we know both have had this happen to them to, so it is not just the truck.

 

[megaladon6]

they did put out a warning about the ultra-low sulphur fuel. it doesn't quite have the lubritity but it's not a big difference. although i don't know why the older american trucks are so sensitive. my vw doesn't care what the rating is--same power and mpg.
who cares if diesel is 15c more than gas--you can get TWICE the mileage.

let's put it this way: my 89 golf got 375mi per 15gal tank, thats 25mpg. call it $3.00/gal=.12c/mi
my 97 jetta tdi gets 650mi per 15gal tank--43mpg call it $3.50/gal=.08c/mi
multiply by an average (low)of 12,000miles per year gas=$1440, diesel=$960
that's almost $500 that you save just on fuel. and i exagerated the price difference. plus there's almost no maintenance.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The thing about the low sulfur diesel is that Europe has been running it since the early 90's and the Lupo was actually designed to run on it according to one article. Supposedly one of the things that kept it from being sold here was the high sulfur content of our diesel at the time it was introduced.

I am looking around online tonight to see if I can find a used Golf TDI 5 speed around here for a reasonable price, but so far it's a no-go. It seems not even the VW dealers have any in stock and they no longer offer a TDI engine in the Rabbit ( formerly the Golf). I would get a Jetta wagon too if it were cheap enough and a manual. I just don't know how well built they are for the industrial duty I would put the car through. Can they take 40-50k miles a year reliably without nickel and dimeing me to death? Is the A/C system robust, how about the transmission and clutch? Power windows and electrical systems? 50mpg is wonderful but only if the car lasts long enough to recoup the initial investment.

 

[megaladon6]

i don't know why but vw TDI's are well built cars. the gas cars have problems. the best overall years are the mid 90's but any tdi is solid. have i done maintenance on my car? of course. but except for new glow plugs ($40 and 30min) and a cracked vacuum line, everything has been scheduled maintenance. same with my brothers 97 passat tdi. my a/c hasn't been touched-ever-and blows 35'f. zero trans problems still have the original clutch at 135k, my brother changed his at about 180k. his clutch was slipping but it turns out that it just got glazed due to the power enhancements that nearly doubled his power! electrical system is good.
2 recommendations: use good synthetic diesel oil (duh) changing it every 6-8k, and only use VW synthetic gear oil or redline in the trans. when i got mine the original owner had mobil 1 synthetic in it. it never felt quite right on the shifts. once i went to vw g-50 it felt perfect.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, when I say "I don't know", I mean I literally have no idea as I don't know anyone who has ever had one. I only know of two people with diesels right now, one is a 1 ton Chevy crew cab truck with the 6.5 turbo diesel ( the one right before the Duramax), the other is a 1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD (W126 chassis) with the OM617 3 liter turbo diesel. The Chevy has of course had problems ( injector pump), but the Benz has not. I think the engine will probably out last everything else on the VW, but some of the TDI's seem to have some odd features like individual injector pumps for every cylinder driven off the cam. As it is, I would buy one if I could find one for a reasonable price or could get financed-not likely with a sub 600 beacon score. I figure that I plan to sell my AMC Spirit with a 360 swap in a few months once I can get to it and will use the money from that plus some savings to buy a new DD for delivery duty and keep my truck as a backup-and because life sucks without a truck! The fuel economy makes it worth the risk of an unknown ( to me) technology as it represents $200-300 a month in savings. I am also going to transfer from a college that is 10 miles away (SPC) to the University of South Florida in a few years. It's in Tampa and probably a 25-30 mile commute one way, so I really need to cut my fuel costs when that time comes. I may even need to go to a campus farther from home in the college I am in now to complete my AA in engineering as the class selection is limited, so it takes on a bit more urgency at that time.