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Chevy & GMC cranked out a LOT of half-ton diesels in the late 70s through the late 80s. The earlier ones were complete punks, and the later ones got progressively better.
As with their diesel cars, GM did a lot to poison American consumers toward diesel pickups.
It will remain to be seen whether or not people can be lured back to light-duty diesel pickups.
Chevy & GMC cranked out a LOT of half-ton diesels in the late 70s through the late 80s. The earlier ones were complete punks, and the later ones got progressively better.
As with their diesel cars, GM did a lot to poison American consumers toward diesel pickups.
It will remain to be seen whether or not people can be lured back to light-duty diesel pickups.
But those Olds based diesels made a great building block to make a high performance gas engine from ! But that was clear cut bean counter disaster for gm. Proof bean counters shouldn't make the decisions and engineers do better running the car companies. Sadly there hasn't been 1 engineer running gm since the 70's.
I'm big fan of my diesel truck over my gasser (yes I have both....long story), especially when it comes to working hard. That being said, the small diesels have been around for decades outside the US and have done very well. The Toyota trucks with diesel are outstanding etc.
I'm all for a 1/2 ton getting a smaller diesel something like what is being talked about here. It all comes down to cost for both the manufacturer and consumer. If the Hemi version is way cheaper then it will be hard to recoup the cost of the diesel upgrade.
In my opinion for it to be a real winner in the "1/2 ton" market, it needs to get damn close to 30mpg highway and 25mpg around town in a 4Wd extended cab version with a real bed.
I'm sick of seeing the claims of 22 -23mpg in full size rigs and then you realize they are quoting a regular cab short bed 4x2 on rollerskate tires. It is a configuration only businesses buy for fleets.
Show me a diesel "1/2" ton or even Tacoma size that can get me 30/25mpg in 4wd extended cab or crew cab for about $30-35K and that will be a winner. EVery truck forum has had chatter about that from every manufacturer for at least the past 10 years I've been on them.
Without some seriously funky bodywork I don't beleive a 4wd full sized rig can easily get past that 30mpg figure in a meaningful way.
The Motori 3.0 that's going into the Ram is not the same engine that's in the Euro Jeep. The Ram diesel is a CGI constructed engine. It sports oil cooled pistons and is DOHC which translates into much higher RPMs than most diesel users are accustomed. The engine uses a bedplate instead of main bearing caps. Rods are of the cracked cap type for much closer tolerances. Bosch multiangle, piezo common rail injectors provides the fuel. No urea will be required with the 16.5:1 compression. The heads are aluminum and the castings are some of the best in the world. Intake runners are a mirror finish to give you an idea. The engine will come with an 8 speed auto only. Price is not known yet but they expect all production to sell at or above full retail the first year- we'll see. Fuel mileage is 30+ for a 4x4, 4 door Quadcab per test mules. The engine has the capability in race form of 600HP. The Ram will claim to have class leading torque in a half ton truck. That puts it ahead of the EcoBust, 6.2 F150, any GM, Toyota or Nissan 1/2 ton offerings. That probably won't last long though with others bringing their diesels to market in 2014-2015.
There are no Ford 3.2s on the streets in test mules. That engine doesn't even have emission certs yet and it may be late coming to market in the Transit. Ford does not have the production capacity for it to put the 3.2 in an F150 anyway. You don't just open up an engine plant overnight and there are none in the planning stage. Toyota has their 4.5 V8 diesel in mules running around Texas. As always, the numbers seems to gravitate to 300HP/ 450lbs torque. GM will have the diesel Colorado available by August. They've gone overboard on testing and getting this one right. Come August, we'll all know if they got it right.
My dad had a '90 Chevy Silverado 2WD - with the 4.3L V6 - and he regularly got 26 mpg on the highway. 30 mpg out of a V6 diesel should not be at all out of line.
My dad had a '90 Chevy Silverado 2WD - with the 4.3L V6 - and he regularly got 26 mpg on the highway. 30 mpg out of a V6 diesel should not be at all out of line.
The funny thing is that TBI 4.3L probably did it with 3.08 rear gears and a manual trans and probably had a tow rating of about 1500 lbs. Technology has come a long way, no? Personally, I think they should have twerked a Cummins I4, modernizing that old bread truck 3.9L (friend's son has a mail jeep that gets 30+ MPGs on the highway), but it's not my R&D dollar to spend.
As for the bit about the Raptor with the diesel, probably someone swapping Raptor parts on their truck. I'm guessing the tailgates can be swapped. I know that had been possible on the 90s trucks and the Heritage straight-bed trucks...
The funny thing is that TBI 4.3L probably did it with 3.08 rear gears and a manual trans and probably had a tow rating of about 1500 lbs. Technology has come a long way, no? Personally, I think they should have twerked a Cummins I4, modernizing that old bread truck 3.9L (friend's son has a mail jeep that gets 30+ MPGs on the highway), but it's not my R&D dollar to spend.
As for the bit about the Raptor with the diesel, probably someone swapping Raptor parts on their truck. I'm guessing the tailgates can be swapped. I know that had been possible on the 90s trucks and the Heritage straight-bed trucks...
It was going to get a Cummins V6 (maybe V8 too) but Fiat said no, so Cummins engines will be going in Nissans now.
After I move to the Southwest I would love to find an old Toyota Land cruiser ( equivilant of the Land Rover criuser) with a six cyl diesel engine. Are any of these still around?
After I move to the Southwest I would love to find an old Toyota Land cruiser ( equivilant of the Land Rover criuser) with a six cyl diesel engine. Are any of these still around?
I think that the few that were ever here after the late 1950's were "gray market" vehicles imported illegally--probably from Canada, where the diesel Land Cruiser was available for a number of years. In my whole life of living in the Rocky Mountain West, I've seen two. One was brought in from Canada by a dual-citizen guy before the days of emission inspections, who managed to get it VIN-inspected and titled without anyone noticing that it was a diesel. The other was a "one-time" import of new diesel Land Cruiser back in the days when an individual could personally import one vehicle from overseas that was not US emission and safety compliant. Even back then, the red tape to do it was ridiculous and I think the guy paid more in importation costs and fees the vehicle cost to purchase.
Just about equally rare are 1950's and early 1960's Jeep Universals or CJ-5's equipped with the optional British Perkins diesel engine. The engine was a naturally-aspirated 4 cylinder diesel that was an absolute slug on the highway.
Even more rare were the few 1984-era Jeep Cherokees equipped with the 2.1 Renault diesel engine. It, too, was a real slug on the highway, though its off-road performance was pretty good and it got good fuel economy.
The 1980's diesel Toyota 4x4 pickups were OK, especially after they turbocharged the engine. Pretty rare, though.
The Mitsubishi-sourced Dodge D-50 4x4 pickup (which Mitsubishi also sold under its own name) was available with a nice little turbodiesel in the 1980's. I was sorely tempted to buy one of those, but was skeptical about the pickup's independent front suspension's ability to withstand hard backcountry use. That little diesel was sweet, though. Isuzu and Chevrolet also sold an Isuzu-sourced mini-pickup (Chevy LUV) with little Isuzu diesel. Of course, all of those 80's-era vehicles were geared and powered with the national 55 mph speed limit in mind. Some of them probably wouldn't even reach 75 mph.
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South West diesel
