While making my obligatory lap of the internet the other day, I stumbled up a story about the newest offering from Vauxhall, the British wing of General Motors. The story was about the Vauxhall Insignia (which looks a LOT like the US Buick Regal), more specifically it was about the 1.9L compound turbo diesel engine in the car which is set to produce 200hp and roughly 300 ft/lbs of torque. The thing that really got my attention was the 57mpg fuel rating the car will receive.
Normally this is a spot where we decide if a specific car is cool or not, but I am interested in the take of BangShifters on this small displacement diesel stuff, because it seems like it will be coming across the pond as government mileage regulations continue to crank up.
Is it cool becuase it’s tiny and fuel efficient and packs what must be the bleeding edge of diesel technology in a package that is less than 120 cubic inches? Does it suck because it runs on diesel and has less displacement than roughly one of the cylinders in Sonny Leonard’s humongous mountain motor?
So let us know. Does this little diesel wonder get your attention as a gearhead or is it just too small, too advanced, too European, and too (mechanically) foreign for you to care about? In my mind, I’m thinking that if they can tune 300 ft/lbs out of it, why not 350 or 400 down the line?
Cool or not: A 1.9L compound turbocharged diesel from GM’s division in Jolly Ol’ England that makes 200hp and 300 ft/lbs
If I had a long distance commute, I would rock a small car with a stick and a diesel for a daily beater.
Cool. Technology is cool. That, and I’m all for a decent sized family truckster that could get 50 mpg’s.
It is pretty cool, but really I’d like it better if it was half the size; the power and torque are way more than it needs to be for a standard passenger car engine. Too bad we don’t get these kinds of engines in the USA. I think it is just silly that the only diesels here are those pigs in 3/4 ton trucks.
Definatly cool. Im all over it .There could be bigger ones too for say a large sedan thats powerful and stillg ets 40 mpg. Cant imagine what they are waiting for (EPA dicks probably)
Very, VERY cool!! For grins picture an American-made car the size and weight of a Miata with 200-Hp and 300-ft. lbs. that got 60+ MPG.
I’d also like to see an even smaller displacement, common-rail, ultra-high-pressure electronic injection turbo diesel with about 100-BHP in something about the size of a Ford Focus.
Good idea long overdue. Now if they’ll RWD a sport sedan with it, I’m really interested…
I wonder how one would run in an ’87 Cherokee.
Definitely cool. My stable includes a 1.6L VW diesel that sports 52 hp so that with 40 mpg I can afford to drive more places than just to and from work. I agree with the previous posts, think about the application to smaller and larger vehicles. You could get a 3/4-ton p/u with a 4.0 diesel making 500+ ft-lbs? I’m more good with this than them putting the black boxes in the ecm.
I think its pretty neat! I like diesel motors and if they could manage to squeeze a little more power out of the motor I would definitely be interested in it.
Like jgmagoo said, imagine a 1.0L version of something like this, making ~150 ft-lbs, in a Focus.
If Ford (who arguably has some of the most cutting edge diesel technology, as seen in their in-house 6.7L diesel) built such a car, and sold it for say, $30k…..they wouldn’t be able to build them fast enough. 50-60mpg without the headache of a hybrid system or the extra weight of all the batteries would sell faster than the Prius did 5 years ago. Also, it would probably cost less in engineering and testing than the engine did in the Boss 302.
Whats keeping them from doing it? The fact that it won’t make them any more money to exceed the govt mpg requirements yet. They can use existing, paid-for technology to just meet the minimum, and save such a car for 5 years down the road when the restriction is over 40 mpg. Its all a scam.
In Europe, we have a lot of these high performance small diesel.
Renault-Nissan just launched a 1.6L 130 HP, and they have already a 1.5L 110 HP, for example in the low cost SUV Dacia Duster.
The reason is that fuel is highly taxed overhere: 1.4 euro for a liter of diesel fuel !
( and 1.6 € for gasoline)
Yeah, it’s great but I know they are not simple nor cheap. As always, get out your pencil and do your arithmetic, unless you drive a whole lot it probably won’t be worth it.
GED already has a high mpg focus diesel the the EPA won’t allow in america. I think the whole idea is a grand one but the fact tgat diesel is more than gasoline currently and this tehnology is more than gas tech I would say overall it will be another huge flop…
Saudi and other oil giant shareholders will never facilitate better mileage vehicles for their “Cash Cow” American Sheeple! VW had a 3 cylinder diesel/electric hybrid ready for U.S. market years ago, but suddenly withdrew it – without real explanation.
Yankee Sheeple are refused even Com[pressed Natural Gas Prius type adventures – keep in mind U.S. governments collect gasoline taxes! don’t like pay cuts, don’t like “communist’ sharing either!