17th Oct 2022, 14:39
As an American I find it super annoying that Ford offers smaller diesel engines in the EU but NOT here. I would love to have a diesel engine, but the only vehicles sold here with them are large trucks.
17th Oct 2022, 18:31
You're not missing much - they are average in reliability at best, most of the really economical ones that claim 60 mpg + are pretty slow (just like the reviewed car) and the faster ones do 50 mpg at best. That goes for most modern diesels in these types of cars over the last 15 years or so.
EU regs at the time also mean we have Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF)'s to deal with (think of a weird kind of catalytic converter) and they are expensive to replace and must be there by law. Diesel injectors are also a common problem, again expensive to repair. So any money you do save on fuel goes on repairs.
I've lived in the UK a long time and had many diesel cars, and can tell you it is only just about worth it, especially with current fuel prices cancelling out savings also. Believe it or not I have went back to driving an older petrol car - petrol is generally cheaper, and the engines more simple and reliable. Plus petrol is catching up with diesel - a lot of modern petrol cars can easily do 45 mpg not the usual less than 35 mpg like back in the day, so they are the best option all things considered as far as I am concerned. And let's not even get started on electric - a friend has an electric car and hates it, and yes you guessed it the cost of charging is rising also.
I'd say to folks in the USA I know it's tough right now, but be glad you can still run your big petrol V8's - there is still no better alternative! Gotta love that sound also.
19th Oct 2022, 13:53
Interesting points. There was a very brief period where some manufactures were offering smaller diesel powered cars and trucks. They models - a compact car - with diesel engines from Opel and Chevy Colorado trucks with a diesel as well.
The problem is that new laws required the inclusion of a complicated particulate filter and injection system. A separate tank was added and DEF fluid had to be occasionally used to burn up deposits in the exhaust. This not only added to the cost, but it also cut fuel economy. And another outcome that wasn't clear until later is that this system has a tendency to clog the intake manifold and EGR. We found that out with my Mother in Law's Chevy Cruz. In the end the gas powered Cruz got rather good fuel economy for what it was, and its lower cost and less complicated design probably came up even with the diesel.
No matter. Americans are sort of ridiculous when it comes to vehicular choices. Whenever times are tough we revert to buying economy cars. But apparently now? So few of those were selling most manufacturers simply stopped making them. The best selling vehicles here are all full sized trucks and SUVs and when I say full sized, they are enormous with some of these trucks with bumpers almost at eye level.
I went to the UK 20 years ago. Back then diesel made a lot of sense. We rented some sort of large Ford van that isn't sold here. I don't know the model. But it held 6 people easily. And while it had a tiny little diesel engine it got over 50MPG and did just fine. We were blown away and when I came back I wondered why we didn't have those kinds of cars. And they never came. Oh well. The future is probably electric. GM will be making nothing but EVs in 10 years. They just introduced a new electric Hummer... and its 9,000 pounds!
19th Oct 2022, 18:48
Yes I completely see your point of view. The vehicle you drove in the UK 20 years ago was most likely a Ford Transit - a very popular van here, and yes usually diesel powered. It's interesting they did not offer this to the USA (I think they do now or at least something similar) as they are large economical vans, so makes sense from a business perspective.
As for American car choice, living in the UK I cannot really comment but I have always liked American iconic cars, usually the muscle cars you see in movies and TV shows. But for regular everyday drivers I am puzzled also at the SUV choice - huge gas guzzler cars, I never understood the appeal. They are getting popular over here as well, but are usually smaller more economical "crossover" type vehicles, not quite the same thing.
As for electric, it all seems politically driven and I just don't think the average driver will save money in the long run as the cost of EV's just rise and rise.
Myself I'll probably always drive and enjoy some traditional middle of the road petrol or diesel sedan (something like a Honda Accord, you guys have those as well, in fact popular in the USA so I have heard) - just the best all round option all things considered, and I hope they remain in existence for a long time yet, I don't like the way cars are going with a push toward odd looking EV's and an increased cost of just about everything car related.
20th Oct 2022, 05:16
Americans have no real reason to buy diesel small vehicles. Right now, the average price of diesel is something like 1.5 times that of regular petrol. Even at 1:1 pricing, with the complexity of the modern diesel and its repairs, the better fuel economy might just be outweighed by the repair cost, but when diesel costs half as much more, why bother? Plus even today, the elevated cost of petrol in America is still much cheaper than most of the world pays for it. There is also hardly any penalty like CO2-based or engine displacement-based yearly taxation. So no real incentive long-term to move from any vehicle below, say, 2.0 litres, for mere commuting.
21st Oct 2022, 13:21
Yes, Honda Accords along with Toyota Camrys are popular here as well. They both seem to have become "Americanized" because when I was a kid in the 80's they were tiny. Now they are the same size as my Grandmother's Buick. They're made in Kentucky and Ohio so they may have been tweaked to address domestic demands.
But even so, the single best selling vehicle here is the Ford F-150, a full sized truck. The truck phenomena here is bizarre. Because most of these trucks aren't used for farming or construction, but instead as everyday grocery getters and weekend warriors. And when I was a kid my Grandad's Ford truck was like a farm implement with a bench seat, a plastic floor you could hose out, a radio you could barely hear and crank windows. These days they look like a BMW inside with heated and cooled powered seats, power everything and so on. These full sized trucks replaced Cadillac for what apparently people want.
Yes - we now have Ford Transits. Prior to that there were Ford Econoline vans which had been around forever and ever. The Transit makes way more sense because you can stand up in them and haul more while getting better fuel economy. All of the major online retailers use them and they go through our neighborhood every day.
As far as EVs? That is probably where we are heading. We actually used to own a Chevy Volt, re-badged as a Opel Ampera in the EU. To me that was the most ideal setup: Enough battery range to get to work and an ordinary gas engine for when you took a long trip. And we did exactly that for years. We would charge at home, drive the 35 miles to work, plug it in at work and charge for free, drive home. We would go MONTHS without filling the tank. I live in California which has the highest gas prices in the country so that really added up. I was paying less than $5 a week in electricity to drive it all week long. And then when for example we drove 800 miles up the coast it acted like a regular car and still got over 35MPG. Nobody ever understood that it could do both; it was not a huge hit and GM "Pulled the plug" on it after an updated model was released.
Ford released an electric version of the F-150 and they cannot keep them in stock and are having to enlarge the factory space to make more. GM just yesterday showed off new GMC EV trucks. And at least around here and maybe because they are built in California, I seriously see 2-3 Teslas at every stop light now.
That said, we bought a Subaru Crosstrek. It's a perfectly fine car that gets 35MPG, has a high clearance for rough roads and is small enough to be practical in a city. We don't commute anymore and work from home. So unless that changes it makes no sense to buy an EV when these days we're lucky to fill the tank maybe once a month. The costs simply don't make economic sense.
22nd Oct 2022, 19:23
Believe it or not, one of the reasons full size pickups including the F 150 have good sales figures is due to the fact that there is still a demand for body on frame vehicles in the US. Regular cars are extinct, so that would leave only the trucks.
24th Oct 2022, 17:49
I would wager the actual reason for full size truck demand is the US at the moment seems to be overflowing with an awful lot of suburban male testosterone. You know.... if you live in the burbs, you're some dude, how are you gonna show all of the other dudes in the cul-de-sac that you're mister alpha male? Buy a large truck. Better yet- install a lift kit, install large tires and make sure for good measure to put a few punisher skull stickers on it as well. That is at least mostly what I see. Image sells.
13th Oct 2022, 21:24
Don't forget also about the Titanium X Sport model. It has a 2.2 diesel engine with nearly 200bhp. Apparently 50 mpg is still possible out of that engine. I'd be going for that version :)