Diesel potential in the US

[oliver]

Has there been any serious consideration given to bringing diesel powered Discoveries to the US? It seems given the popularity of this model and the remarkably poor mileage of the gasoline powerplant that a turbo diesel (as offered eslewhare in the world) would be well recieved by the American market. Does anyone have specific information why importation hasn't occurred?

[Serg]

My guess is that Diesel is still looked down upon in the US. Even at $2 a gallon we have still not seen the gas prices that our friends in Europe do. As gas prices rise, I am willing to bet that more and more companies will start to bring in diesel powered cars and trucks.

It's only a matter of time.

Serg

[John]

I live in Ireland and diesel engines rule.
More than 95% of all SUV's use diesel engines for a number of reasons,they are more reliable, they last much longer and the fuel is cheaper. Petrol here is equivalent to $5.15 per US gallon and $4.60 for diesel.
I own a 04 discovery and the mpg works out at an average of 28/30.
Diesel engines have become very technicaly advanced and are no longer loud, smelly and slow. All of the european car manufacturers are investing heavily in diesel engine design as they will soon be the engine option of choice.

[Carlos]

Last January I took a vacation to the Caribeean,to the Dominican Republic,to be more specific.While I was there,since they have a lot of euro. specs. cars and marques not available in U.S. (i.e.citroen,peugeot,etc.) I took a chance to go to the LR dealership and test drive a Discovery ll TD5.I really loved it,and it felt way a rugged vehicle!When I looked at the used Discovery ll models that they had there,I also noticed a big variance among models that we don't have here in the states.I saw various used models without the digital air conditioning,just two or three circular controllers(don't remember well),and also I saw manual models and even without the black fender flares.
Carlos

[Pugsly]

Originally Posted by oliver

Has there been any serious consideration given to bringing diesel powered Discoveries to the US? It seems given the popularity of this model and the remarkably poor mileage of the gasoline powerplant that a turbo diesel (as offered eslewhare in the world) would be well recieved by the American market. Does anyone have specific information why importation hasn't occurred?

Their market research has shown that the US market won't support it. LR positions as a premium vehicle, and folks want petrol V-8s.

[dent]

think another problem is emissions... i heard somewhere that if a manufacturer sells a diesel engine the emission is tighter than if you did the swap yourself... not sure if this is true but heard it somewhere... on that note... i do know of ppl who have converted their gas for diesel engines... plan on doing this when my engine craps out and is cheaper for me to buy and swap it out rather than fixing it thing

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Pugsly

Their market research has shown that the US market won't support it. LR positions as a premium vehicle, and folks want petrol V-8s.

... Apart from farmers/ranchers. Of course, all of them would rather have their F2-or-350's with V8 diesels, and I don't think Ford is going to market a utility pickup extended cab Defender (that's weaker and smaller) when it's doing just fine with the F-series.

[nicky ill]

JEEP Believes the market will support diesel vehicles - the new 2005 Jeep Liberty arrives in showrooms this Fall as a DIESEL option and claims a 30% increase in fuel efficiency (best case scenario). Maybe Land Rover can let a domestic vehicle break the ground for them in the SUV market and move forward in 2006-7 (new 2007 diesel Defender on anyone's list of must have's ?)...

[Fathom]

I would be up for the Diesel plant. More torque, better MPG. What's wrong with this picture. I'm sure all the research is in but I'd like to know who participates in the polling. I was never asked.

[Barryj]

Quite ironic when you think that as diesel is so popular over here that one of the best conversions is a 6 litre V8 GMC, endless torque and it still sounds right.

[daddyg]

I may be wrong but I'm pretty sure one of the land rover mags said that they were considering importing some with the new LR3 to see how it went down.

[Veneficus]

I am for introducing more desiel into the US. I've been seriously looking at some of the VW TDi cars over here because of thier amazing fuel economy to replace my Accord.

[Cerberus]

Originally Posted by Veneficus

I am for introducing more desiel into the US. I've been seriously looking at some of the VW TDi cars over here because of thier amazing fuel economy to replace my Accord.

Over here in the UK, Honda sell a diesel Accord. I have personally driven it back to back with the petrol version. It was quite an eye opener. The diesel Accord had the petrol version seriously licked when it came to real world roll-on acceleration, was just as smooth and quiet and had a similar top speed but got at least 40% more mpg.

A motoring TV show over here pitted a Mini Cooper S against a Skoda Fabia VRS on a test track. The supercharged mini was no slouch but the Turbo diesel powered Skoda left it for dead on the straights. It actually won the race. The margin would have been much greater if the Skoda had the handling of the Mini.

The potential for performance diesels is being realised more and more over here. There are an increasing number of performance saloons powered by diesels on the market, one of the best being BMWs 3 Litre unit. When fitted to a 3 series it’s just as fast and accelerates just as hard as the petrol powered equivalent, but is obviously more economical. Audi even do a V8 twin turbo diesel version of the A8 that is restricted
to 155mph!!

Over recent years, diesels have closed the performance gap on petrols significantly. Ask yourself this question: How would you like a Discovery that is as fast as a V8 variant, accelerates almost as quickly but has nearly twice the torque and does nearly double the mpg and thus costs less to keep?

Dave

[Fathom]

Originally Posted by Barryj

Quite ironic when you think that as diesel is so popular over here that one of the best conversions is a 6 litre V8 GMC, endless torque and it still sounds right.

The grass is always greener . . . from a fuel economy issue, the GMC motor is no help to you.

[lrmaniac]

Hi

Is Diesel more expensive than gas there in the US?