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I had a Chevy Diesel Station Wagon back in the day. That tank provided steady, if slow, transport at over 30 mpg. I put about 90k miles on that $1100 car before the engine seized. I scrapped it because I was too sick to fix it.
If I was in the market for a new car I would consider the new Mazda 6 cyl diesel wagon. I would really like to see a Subaru Legacy Wagon with a Diesel engine. Subaru AWD with 40+ mgp would be perfect.
I had a Chevy Diesel Station Wagon back in the day. That tank provided steady, if slow, transport at over 30 mpg. I put about 90k miles on that $1100 car before the engine seized. I scrapped it because I was too sick to fix it.
If I was in the market for a new car I would consider the new Mazda 6 cyl diesel wagon. I would really like to see a Subaru Legacy Wagon with a Diesel engine. Subaru AWD with 40+ mgp would be perfect.
At one time I had an '81 Olds Delta 88 Royale Brougham Diesel. One of the nicest riding cars I've ever driven. 30+ mpg on the highway, and smooth as glass. I actually loved the "grind" of the diesel under the hood, even though they installed extra soundproofing in the firewalls of the diesels. I put over 185,000 trouble-free miles on the car, before the transmission took a crap.
If GM had been smart enough to start with that 2nd generation diesel, instead of the first piles of crap, things would have turned out MUCH differently.
I have to agree with GarageLogic on this one. The first bunch of GM 350 diesels ('79 and '80) were disastrous, with a near 100% failure rate within about 50K miles. I had one of those, which lasted 60K before it died--GM replaced the engine for me even though the vehicle was out of warranty because I had kept meticulous repair and maintenance records. The second engine was "second generation" (those came out in '81 or '82--they looked just the same as the earlier engine, but most of the bugs had been worked out) and it was going strong when I sold the car with over 100K on it--the second owner drove it for many 10's of thousands of miles more before I lost track of the car. It got excellent fuel economy for the era. Another guy I knew bought an '83 or '84 Buick Riviera with the 2nd generation diesel. He put over 300K on the car with no engine problems.
Unfortunately, those first couple of years of GM diesels soured Americans so totally on automotive diesel engines that they have yet to get over it. Europeans, who did not have that bad experience, have been happily driving diesels all along--and enjoying the superior fuel economy that they can offer.
I had a Chevy Diesel Station Wagon back in the day. That tank provided steady, if slow, transport at over 30 mpg. I put about 90k miles on that $1100 car before the engine seized. I scrapped it because I was too sick to fix it.
If I was in the market for a new car I would consider the new Mazda 6 cyl diesel wagon. I would really like to see a Subaru Legacy Wagon with a Diesel engine. Subaru AWD with 40+ mgp would be perfect.
You're out of luck on the Mazda 6 wagon here in the States. They have no plans to bring it here. Subaru hasn't sold a Legacy wagon here either in a few years; if you want something approximating a Legacy wagon you'll probably have to settle for an Outback. We also heard years ago that Subaru would have a diesel in the U.S. market by now... hasn't happened yet.
You're out of luck on the Mazda 6 wagon here in the States. They have no plans to bring it here. Subaru hasn't sold a Legacy wagon here either in a few years; if you want something approximating a Legacy wagon you'll probably have to settle for an Outback. We also heard years ago that Subaru would have a diesel in the U.S. market by now... hasn't happened yet.
I talked with a Subaru factory tech a couple of years ago, asking why they won't bring a diesel to the US. Two reasons that he told me: First, the hassle of getting a diesel certified for the US emission standards is a costly proposition for the number of diesels that they might sell. Second, the diesel is only sold in Europe with the manual transmission and Subaru's marketing research showed that the diesel would need to be sold in the US with an automatic transmission to be successful. There may be a question whether the current Subaru CVT would stand up to the additional low-end torque of the diesel engine. Like it or not, Subaru will probably go the gas-hybrid route in the US--the XT Crosstrek Hybrid being the toe in the water, though it uses technology that is essentially already out of date. I would expect to see next generation Subaru hybrids use Toyota's latest technology.
I have to agree with GarageLogic on this one. The first bunch of GM 350 diesels ('79 and '80) were disastrous, with a near 100% failure rate within about 50K miles. I had one of those, which lasted 60K before it died--GM replaced the engine for me even though the vehicle was out of warranty because I had kept meticulous repair and maintenance records. The second engine was "second generation" (those came out in '81 or '82--they looked just the same as the earlier engine, but most of the bugs had been worked out) and it was going strong when I sold the car with over 100K on it--the second owner drove it for many 10's of thousands of miles more before I lost track of the car. It got excellent fuel economy for the era. Another guy I knew bought an '83 or '84 Buick Riviera with the 2nd generation diesel. He put over 300K on the car with no engine problems.
Unfortunately, those first couple of years of GM diesels soured Americans so totally on automotive diesel engines that they have yet to get over it. Europeans, who did not have that bad experience, have been happily driving diesels all along--and enjoying the superior fuel economy that they can offer.
This is absolutely correct - especially the part about the American public turning against diesels.
I cannot even count the number of diesel Oldsmobiles I bought - with engines shot - and simply swapped out a 307 gasser & tranny, and resold the cars. Made good money.
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