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Overall, the Europeans are far ahead of the US in a comprehensive CO2 control system. Europe also uses fuel or vehicle taxes to discourage driving or encourage better vehicle choices, unlike America where fiscal instruments still are very unpopular.
That's all well and good, but none of that changes the fact that it's easier to certify a diesel in Europe than it is here. And for what it's worth, it's the sulfur compounds, not CO2 emissions, that makes it very difficult to get a diesel certified here.
I've wondered why Bio Diesel comes under attack and electric cars are encouraged to the point of Costco and City Garages offering free outlets for battery charging.
It's not the same thing as the Ranger Crew Cab. For one thing, the Ranger looks better (IMHO).
Seeing how the Explorer is based on the Ranger and built on the same chassis, yeah, it is the same thing, and it serves the same market niche. The SportTrac is all of 6 inches longer and 1 inch wider than the Australian-market Ranger Crew Cab.
Funny thing is Jeep in Europe have Diesel Grand Cherokees but they aren't available here.
The whole world has great little diesel vehicles but of course not here...
They have a diesel Grand Cherokee in the US. Same thing with VW. Both models are being reintroduced this year to meet the low sulfur requirements on clean diesel. The VW TDI will be 50 state legal.
The Liberty Diesel will most likely also be reintroduced as it was popular when it was sold in 2006 but needed to be re-engineered for the new emissions requirements.
I'd love to see a Toyota pickup with a small 4 cylinder diesel. Anything that would be good for hauling small loads, has a 4 wheel drive option and gets 30 mpg or better would be a big hit.
American car makers tried this all back in the 80's. Doesn't anyone remember the Chevette and the Escort diesels? Even the Japanese tried with the Nissan Sentra diesels and the Toyota Hilux diesel. Isuzu had some in their P'up's. Even BMW offered one for a couple of years in the 5 series. I'm sure there are others aside from the Benz models. Just didn't catch on. Now there is generally more interest by American consumers, obviously due to fuel prices. Europe caught on a long time ago. I guess you need a fuel crisis to get American's attention.
All those diesel cars and light pick ups (anybody remember the diesel powered IHC Scouts? or the Lincolns powered with the BMW 524td diesel motor?) of the 80's used older mechanical fuel injection motors which still had a lot of NOx emissions, smoked, smelled of "diesel" exhaust, problematic glow plug systems (inadequate in cold weather starting), and starter motors that were way too small for anything but warm climate operations, and too small batteries to power the glow plugs and starter motors for all but one or two starting attempts in cold weather.
Even the "best" of the lot, the 1982-1984 MB 300Dturbo, was still a bit smoky and stinky on occasion, didn't start well in sub-freezing temps, didn't get the best fuel economy (high 20's) when the later models came in mid 80's and more emissions controls and a trap oxidizer on the later models. The 2.2 motors in the 190D series were good for 40 mpg, but the motors weren't anywhere near as durable as the 4 and 5 cylinder family in the older cars ... and the 190 cars weren't anything like the sturdy cars 'benz had been building before.
In addition, purchasing diesel fuel for your car could be very inconvenient in a lot of areas, as the only places supplying it were truck stops.
So the cars were a nuisance for most people, and the added cost of the diesel motor wasn't justified back then ... except for a bunch of us who were high mileage users of cars who also kept them for hundreds of thousands of miles, and for whom the fuel economy and the diesel performance were OK.
It's a whole new game out there today. The new diesel cars have much improved injection systems that burn cleaner than gasoline cars, don't smell and belch smoke anymore, and a lot more places to readily buy fuel (with nozzles sized for car tanks instead of truck tanks), along with much larger starter motors, better glow plug systems, and greatly improved performance and economy. With the low sulfur diesel fuel standard in the USA, there's a lot of cars that would be a good "fit" in the USA transportation picture if the manufacturer's would just tweak them to run on the low sulfur fuel and do the last measures needed to clean them up for USA diesel emission standards ... which are tougher than anywhere else in the world.
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