American Cars Vs Everyone Else's Cars

[stitch626]

if you ever buy a chrysler product

Seconded. Other than my dad's van, which is a hand-me-down from his dad after....
Has 270k with only one replaced transmission. And minor stuff like tires, brakes, etc.

[Tsukiyumi]

Our 5th Avenue held up okay, except for the A/C...

[Mikey]

The diesel is a sticky situation. The new particulate-recycling, low-sulfur requirements are multinational, and haven't really affected power. In fact, the Duramax light-duty 6.6L turbo-diesel still pushes about 650-ft.lbs. across 85%-90% of its RPM curve. Of course, you're used to Ford diesels, so you're probably used to the massive sucking. In fact, I once drove a post-emissions Caterpillar 7.2L V6 which produced only 215 hp, but 725 ft.-lbs. of torque. Coupled that up with an Allison 6-speed low/low pushbutton... man, I could've pulled an oil derrick out of the ground with that thing.

[Reliant121]

We use Diesels a hellova a lot over here. All commercial vehicles are, and around 50/50 passenger cars are. Even super mini's (like 3 metre long cars) have small diesels in them now (1.3l CRD or TDCi) engines are common.

[Mikey]

I'm talking about truck diesels. Passenger car diesels are limited over here to the VW Jetta TDi and the occasional Mercedes. Diesel fuel is generally very expensive over here compared to gasoline, and harder to find - making the cost savings of diesel wash out (at best) with the increased cost of purchase and ownership. For commercial applications, the tremendous amounts of torque produced by a large diesel combine with the increase in longevity and economy ( a comparable gas engine to a 650 ft.-lb. diesel makes about 7 miles per gallon) mean that they are often preferred for commercial applications.

[Reliant121]

Curiously enough, many commercial vans use diesel engines equivalent in size to passenger diesels. However, of course, big end commercial and industrial vehicles use diesel. Over here, petrol is only a few pence below the price of diesel (both just over a £1 a litre)

[Mikey]

Curiously enough, many commercial vans use diesel engines equivalent in size to passenger diesels. However, of course, big end commercial and industrial vehicles use diesel. Over here, petrol is only a few pence below the price of diesel (both just over a £1 a litre)

Oh, we have the International Sprinter vans over here, with the little Mercedes I-5 diesels. Ford and GM also make cargo vans with a de-tuned version of their light-duty disels (7.2L and 6.6L respectively.) I'm talking about either the Isuzu 4-cylinders jobs in the cab-over trucks or the big boys.