turbodiesel
-
We talk quite a lot about how global regulations aimed at improving fuel efficiency and reducing carbon emissions will lead to much smaller, more powerful engines. Latest case in point? Would you believe a four-cylinder Mercedes-Benz S-Class? Just to be clear, this is the big Benz. The one beloved of burgermeisters for half a century, the symbol that you've arrived, that you can afford--and deserve--the biggest Mercedes-Benz sedan they make. Four cylinders? Really? Yup. The 2011 Mercedes-Benz S 250 CDI uses a 204-horsepower 2.2-liter turbocharged four-cylinder diesel engine. It's the first...
-
53-MPG Clean-Diesel Audi A4 TDI Coming To U.S...In Four Years
German automakers have spent time and money on ad campaigns promoting clean diesels as the better way to improve fuel economy, so far with limited results. But that could change when Audi brings a TDI diesel version of its best-selling A4 model to the U.S. So far, its only TDI offerings are the Q7...
John Voelcker -
Audi To Add Diesel Versions Of Every Model It Makes By 2015
In Europe, roughly half of all passenger cars sold come with fuel-efficient diesel engines. But for a variety of reasons, passenger diesels haven't caught on in the States, though the number is climbing slowly. Audi, proud of its diesel engine technology--which, among other things, has won the...
John Voelcker -
Clean-Diesel Mini? Green! A 3500-HP Diesel Mini? NOT Green!
We've written before about the diesel-engined Mini Cooper D that's sold in Europe, but not in the U.S. We really like the idea of a clean-diesel Mini. And now for something completely different. How about a 3500-horsepower V-18 diesel Mini? Ummmm, yes. At this week's Goodwood Festival of Speed...
John Voelcker -
BMW To Add Diesel 5-Series & Another Model, Maybe Diesel Four?
The list of cars offered to U.S. buyers in gasoline, diesel, and hybrid models is going to get longer. On the heels of its confirmation that the 2012 BMW 5-Series will be offered with a full hybrid system, the company has also confirmed it'll sell a clean diesel version of the new 5-Series in the...
John Voelcker -
Carbon Cop Cars To Go Green With BMW Clean Diesel Engines
Many European countries use BMW sedans as patrol and pursuit cars. Now, BMW says it will sell more than 240,000 engines to U.S. police-car startup Carbon Motors for that company's cruiser. The big shock? They're diesel engines. Specifically, BMW's 3.0-liter twin-turbo straight-six clean diesel, as...
John Voelcker -
Mazda's always had cool technology. They're the only carmaker that's steadily developed the compact, high-output Wankel rotary engine, for instance. And they're known for powerful, high-revving piston engines and slick-shifting gearboxes. Then there's the green side of the brand, which already sells mostly small and relatively fuel-efficient cars. Not only will U.S. buyers get the 2011 Mazda Mazda2 subcompact soon, but the company is evaluating whether to offer its iStop start-stop system on some U.S. models. What's so cool about iStop? Well, unlike so-called micro-hybrid systems--which...
-
Audi's Green Onslaught: A3 Sedan, A8 Hybrid, e-Tron Tesla-Fighter
It's going to take Audi a long time to live down its U.S. chief's infamous quote that anyone who buys a Chevrolet Volt extended-range electric vehicle is an "idiot." But after sticking to diesel for a long time as its sole green strategy, Audi is now storming ahead into smaller, hybrid, and...
John Voelcker -
Green Car Sales: Winners and Losers of 2009
It's beginning to look as if the worst is over for U.S. auto sales. The year that just closed was, in the immortal words of Queen Elizabeth II, an annus horribilis, with only 10.4 million vehicles sold, down 21 percent on 2008 and the lowest total since 1982. But some light seems to be appearing on...
John Voelcker -
Why Can't We Buy Small European Diesels in the U.S.?
It may be the one question we hear most often here at GreenCarReports.com: Why can't I buy one of those great little fuel-efficient diesels, like they have in Europe? Take, for example, the ultra-high-mileage Econetic version of the Ford Fiesta, sold in Europe with a 1.6-liter turbodiesel that...
John Voelcker -
Green Car of the Year: 2010 Audi A3 TDI
The 2010 Audi A3 TDI was awarded the 2010 Green Car of the Year Award today at the Los Angeles Auto Show by Green Car Journal, which has presented the award for five years. It follows last year's winner, the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI, to make two clean diesels in a row to win the award. The 2010...
John Voelcker -
October's Most Popular Green Car Posts: Steampunk Toyota Takes It
Today is Halloween, but no tired jokes about green pumpkins here. It's the end of the month, so it's time to look at the most popular posts on GreenCarReports.com over the last 30 days, which include items on hybrids, clean diesels, and two on the Tesla electric car. Four out of the top five are...
John Voelcker -
We seem to be covering the 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI clean diesel hatchback an awful lot here, but a recent blog post raised an issue we hadn't considered: How far can the 2010 Golf TDI go on a single tankful of diesel fuel? The question comes from blogger, host of #carchat on Twitter, and general all-around car personality Michael Banovsky. In reviewing the new 2010 Golf TDI for Canadian and U.S. outlets, he stumbled when calculating maximum range, because the two countries' fuel economy rankings differ. A lot. Does Canadian diesel go further? After doing the math to match gallons and liters...
-
Driven: 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI, Clean Green Diesel Hatchback
As regular readers no doubt recall, we [heart] the 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI. We think it'll be the big diesel winner in the U.S. market, and that's before we've even driven one. But Bengt Halvorson loved his drive in a European version of the 2010 Golf TDI. Now, our colleague Marty Padgett has...
John Voelcker -
The 62-MPG 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI We Won't Get In the U.S.
While we think that the clean diesel 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI will do well in the States, VW has just rolled out an uber-economical BlueMotion model for European markets that gets 62 miles per gallon of diesel fuel. BlueMotion is VW's designation for the most fuel efficient model in each of its...
John Voelcker -
OMG: Gas Mileage Is More Important Than Cupholders, Say Buyers
Car sales may have plunged to their lowest per-capita level in decades, but for the green-minded among us, there's some good news: Fuel economy is now more important to car buyers than are cupholders. That's one piece of data gleaned from a lengthy survey of car buyers by the big accounting firm...
John Voelcker -
Green Car of the Year Finalists: Three Hybrids, Two Diesels
The five finalists for the 2010 Green Car of the Year Award include three hybrid models--two Japanese hatchbacks and one U.S. sedan--and a pair of German clean-diesel cars. The nominations were announced today by Green Car Journal, which has presented the award at the Los Angeles Auto Show for five...
John Voelcker -
Most Popular Green Car Posts for September: Condoms, Of Course
This is our favorite end-of-month activity, looking back over the most popular posts of the last 30-or-so days on GreenCarReports.com. To celebrate the onset of autumn (for us Northern Hemisphere types, anyhow), we're back on schedule too. We repeated three of August's most popular posts, and...
John Voelcker -
In the accelerating quest for greater fuel efficiency, boosting engines--with turbos or superchargers--is one way to pull more power out of a given displacement. Traditionally, superchargers have been driven by chain or belt powered from an engine's crankshaft. Now, a British engineering firm has introduced the world's first electrically driven supercharger for volume production. It says its new system can improve the fuel efficiency of gasoline engines to the point that they're competitive with diesels of the same power output. For gas, diesel, even turbo engines The firm, Controlled Power...
-
Clean Diesels Cost More, But Will Americans Pay For Them?
It's well known in the car industry that a diesel engine costs 10 to 20 percent more to build than a gasoline motor of equivalent output. That's because diesels have to be sturdier, and these days all US-bound diesels are fitted with turbochargers to boost their power. Now a European executive has...
John Voelcker -
Frankfurt: Volkswagen's Radical 170-MPG Diesel Two-Seater
Covering all the green-car bases at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show, Volkswagen unveiled not only the E-Up electric city car concept but also the L1, a radical 170-mpg tandem two-seat diesel hybrid streamliner it says it will sell by 2013. The L1 name refers to the European concept of a "1-Liter" car...
John Voelcker -
August's Most Popular Green Car Posts: What About That 230 MPG?
We usually recap our five most popular posts on GreenCarReports.com at the end of every month. We're a bit late for August but, hey, we had a long Labor Day too ... now we're back in business. We replaced most of July's most popular posts, with three new winners in our Top Five. Here goes: # 1: How...
John Voelcker -
2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI: 36-39 MPG in Real-World Use
Hybrid vs diesel: It's a longstanding green-car conundrum. Which is better, a hybrid-electric vehicle that recaptures wasted energy in a battery and uses it to assist the gasoline engine, or an efficient modern clean diesel that goes further on a gallon of fuel? The answer depends in part on your...
John Voelcker -
Fast Forward: Mercedes-Benz Updates 1992 Diesel
Now, this is cool. You've likely seen the Mercedes-Benz diesels of the 1980s and 1990s chugging along somewhere or other. But how much better are today's clean diesels than the solid old oil-burners of 20 years ago that still power those sturdy survivors? Back to the future: 1992 to 2009...
John Voelcker