Legacy Diesel in Top Gear

Except they still get the manual trans in the wagon.

I was surprised to hear Jezza complaining about how the Subie felt like it had no torque down low.

Why has that technology not made it here yet? People here whine about gas prices as much as they do in Europe. What is with this consumer stupidity, VW makes TD models...I barely ever see them here... I wonder why companies are hesitant to bring them over......... Funny cause Jag was owned by a US company....they HAD the technology....but noooo... dont bring it to the US market.

Add up the greater cost of diesel versus gasoline, less tax benefits, and tougher emissions in United States versus Europe combined with some flashbacks to the bad old diesel days and greater cost of initial purchase (ie premium small cars never really have done really well in US) are decent reasons diesels aren't at the same level here in the US yet.

With emissions being standardized in Europe and US, the rise of premium small cars (Mini good example) and the desire for alternative diesel and diesel-like fuels ramping up, diesels had a good chance to make headway in the US market. Now with the economy the way it is, not sure.

I saw it. It shows the stupidity of any Prius buyer. A v6 TT jag drove 750 miles.. on a 22 gallon tank, thats an average of 34 mpg! The other two had mileage in the 50's and 60's. WTF? Why has that technology not made it here yet? People here whine about gas prices as much as they do in Europe. What is with this consumer stupidity, VW makes TD models...I barely ever see them here... I wonder why companies are hesitant to bring them over......... Funny cause Jag was owned by a US company....they HAD the technology....but noooo... dont bring it to the US market.

Conversion FIXED.

Greater cost of diesel is due to the fact that the US doesn't produce as much. Europe has gone towards producing more diesel than gasoline. Diesel is actually cheaper to produce than gasoline because it is less refined from crude oil.

^^Yes, the cause of high Diesel prices in the US i because our refinery process is set up to turn a certain percentage of crude into different types of fuels - gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, lube oil, etc. The percentage of diesel fuel produced from our refineries now is similar to the output from 10 or 15 years ago, when very few personal vehicles ran on diesel. Unfortunately, the only way to lower the cost on diesel is to retrofit old refineries or to build all new refineries with a higher percentage output of diesel fuel. Retrofitting the old factories is expensive so I doubt many refineries will go that route.

And then you have the incredibly strong Ethanol Lobbies who, with the strength of all of the corn farmers in the mid west, have dug their hands into the pockets of our leaders in Washington DC and convinced them that diesel fuel should be taxed at a higher rate than regular gas. The excise tax on diesel fuel is 30% higher than it is on regular gas. This creates less of a demand for diesel fuel due to higher pricees and more potential demand for ethanol blended products. Sorry, about the OT rant, just had to vent!

Ayup, diesel is cheaper to produce, but if the end consumer is faced with higher cost at the pump, really doesn't matter. Look how many times folks have asked about using less than 91 in the LGT to save less than $5 a tank. Unless diesel drops to equal or below that of premium in most markets, light duty diesels will never hit 10% of vehicles sold.

Tax structure is vastly different for individuals and businesses, favoring turbodiesels.

With new administration and 50 state legal diesel technologies along with a trickle of new diesels, be nice to see them catch on.

^^Yes, the cause of high Diesel prices in the US i because our refinery process is set up to turn a certain percentage of crude into different types of fuels - gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, heating oil, lube oil, etc. The percentage of diesel fuel produced from our refineries now is similar to the output from 10 or 15 years ago, when very few personal vehicles ran on diesel. Unfortunately, the only way to lower the cost on diesel is to retrofit old refineries or to build all new refineries with a higher percentage output of diesel fuel. Retrofitting the old factories is expensive so I doubt many refineries will go that route.

 

And then you have the incredibly strong Ethanol Lobbies who, with the strength of all of the corn farmers in the mid west, have dug their hands into the pockets of our leaders in Washington DC and convinced them that diesel fuel should be taxed at a higher rate than regular gas. The excise tax on diesel fuel is 30% higher than it is on regular gas. This creates less of a demand for diesel fuel due to higher pricees and more potential demand for ethanol blended products. Sorry, about the OT rant, just had to vent!

You got it. First the industry lobbyist advertise that corn syrup is not bad for you to defend their profit margins... Then they interfere with diesel taxation to promote their own selfish interests.

It's really annoying that Europe gets all the latest high-tech fuel efficient vehicles...while the U.S. is paralyzed in a bunch of bureaucratic red tape and lobbyist greed.

You gotta remember, for the most part, they were trying their best to conserve gas. No AC/heat, low revs, smooth acceleration. They werent driving like a normal person would.

Yep they said it more than once during their piece, they were engaging in slow driving, no accel/braking, minimal to no stop hypermiling practices.

I can get easily over 400 miles in a single tank in my car driving that distance almost nonstop engaging in hypermiling techniques, but freq braking/accel, use of on board electronics, stops for bathroom/meals, will really ding into that mileage.

Even currently i hit about 28-30 mpg on my long freeway trips but my city stop/start mileage is utter crap (17-19 mpg)

but yes the demand for good imported diesels is making itself heard and hopefully more and more european makes will import them.

The japanese companies have no excuse either, since they had to develop diesel engined versions of all their mainstream cars to stay competitive in the european/UK market. Petrol powered cars are for ppl with cash to burn overseas,

We're also the only country stupid enough to have such a large truck/SUV market that runs primilarily on gasoline, when diesel makes 10x more sense for this segment of vehicles, even the luxury ones like the BMWs and Range Rovers.

I think RR diesels far outsell the petrol powered ones in england.

 

 

I think RR diesels far outsell the petrol powered ones in england.

They do, but they may be because the base diesel is alot cheaper than the base petrol(and only petrol) like $30,000 or £17,000 cheaper! http://www.landrover.co.uk/gb/en/vehicles/range-rover/compare-models-and-prices/Prices.htm

So with careful driving that's 52 MPG U.S. Which means I would probably get around 40. Not bad for an AWD wagon.

Put a 6 speed manual in there and perhaps it would be even more economical.

The British rate this for 48 MPG Hwy (U.S.).

http://videos.streetfire.net/video/Top-Gear-Season-12-4-full_201557.htm

Heavy city driving and automatic transmission will bring more like 40 mpg for me too.

Still not a bad start for Subaru to compete at the 50 mpg mark vs Toyota. I hope they don't jack up the sticker price and keep the price competitive.

Yes this is no small feat for a mid-size wagon / SUV which is signficantly heavier than the Prius.

What? No hybrid praise?

Oh I'd be okay with a Subaru diesel hybrid. Though the wheels would probably fly off with all that torque.

...and just you wait. The RX450h is coming!

:cool:I can't wait.

Did you get an early X-mas present???

Didn't jezza say that he drove 140miles back home on the same empty tank??

Edit....just watched the end again on BBC iplayer and he said they examined the fuel tank afterwards and it still had enough to do 120 more miles.....the VW got 80mpg overall and the Legacy got 63mpg (english)

Yep they said it more than once during their piece, they were engaging in slow driving, no accel/braking, minimal to no stop hypermiling practices.

Except for Jezza. He drove the first 3/4 of the tank at highway speeds, with everything turned on.

None the less, pushing over 700 miles on one tank is still impressive.