My ultimate car would be a 4-door light truck that gets 35+ MPG. 4WD would be great, as I live in northern IL and like to get into places far from pavement (RIP my lifted Jeep, just shitty mileage). When will this be built- surely lots of people would LOVE a vehicle like this?
Maybe they’ll bring back that Subaru Baja, just 10-15 MPG better than before; that would do the trick.
What about taking a diesel engine, like the 2.0 L VW TDI, and putting it into a Nissan Frontier/Toyota Tacoma body- anyone know of someone who’s tried? Might be time to learn to weld…
Seriously, is anything like this in the pipeline? The technology is there, seems like there would be demand, so where is this vehicle? Maybe I should have found one of the old AMC diesels before giving up on my Cherokee. I really liked that car, but had no time to work on it, and the mileage was BAD.
HMMM. Not efficient enough. These get what- 25-27 MPG city? I’m looking at 35 MPG as a MINIMUM figure; 40-45 is really the target range. That VW TDI engine gets 50+ in a jetta, so low 40’s seems reasonable in a LIGHT truck (w/ cap on the back).
I just don’t need heavy hauling capacity. I do need seating for 4, plus an area for dirty bikes and some cargo. Another bonus is not needing a big car to fit us- I’m 5’7", the wife is 5’1", and our daughter looks like she’ll be 5’4" at the most. Kiddo #2 (just a glimmer in my eye still) doesn’t have much chance of being big either…
all you have to do is move out of the country. Toyota and Nissan both make 4-door diesel pickups but they don’t import them to the US due to restrictions. watch news from the rest of the world and you can see them everywhere, Haiti, Somalia etc…
Are you talking about a toy 4x4 or a real one?
VW have just brought one out (Tiguan I think)
Toy ones abound that fit your description and some are even acceptable offroad (but not good…) such as the Freelander. There are plenty of jeeps with diesel engines, maybe just not available yet in the US.
The new honda pilot, with diesel (2008/9 model) is rumored to get >30mpg. It really depends upon your driving, but you could probably get 35 when it comes out if you do moderate speed highway driving. Currently, I think that the Dodge sprinter van gets ~30mpg (not necessarily published, by Dodge, but what people are actually getting .)
If the pilot is launched with a diesel, I am sure that the ridgeline will follow, and be in the same ballpark. If they added a hybrid (this has not been discussed), you’d be even better (again depending upon the driving that you do (i.e. not much of a benefit for highway driving.)
If you google 2008 honda pilot and diesel, there is lots of interesting stuff out there (and also spy shots of the new design, which is bigger than the current one)
Are you talking about a toy 4x4 or a real one?
VW have just brought one out (Tiguan I think)
Toy ones abound that fit your description and some are even acceptable offroad (but not good…) such as the Freelander. There are plenty of jeeps with diesel engines, maybe just not available yet in the US.
Somewhere between- my days under a lift are done. I had a Jeep Cherokee that could go damn near anywhere, but was awful on gas and the engine accessories were starting to go- no time to fix. Something along the lines of a nissan/toyota would do it. I want the separate cargo space and 4WD, but likely would not have much use for heavily articulating suspension or any of that. About the only thing I would change is putting in a rear locker, if it didn’t come with it.
all you have to do is move out of the country. Toyota and Nissan both make 4-door diesel pickups but they don’t import them to the US due to restrictions. watch news from the rest of the world and you can see them everywhere, Haiti, Somalia etc…
I am pissed because I want one.
tell me about it- several nice models in Panama, and some of the stuff that had been rolling around Afghanistan for years w/ little to no maintenance amazed me. Why does our shit break on good roads, and they have 20 y/o shitboxes full of bullet holes that still roll just fine?
“Why does our shit break on good roads, and they have 20 y/o shitboxes full of bullet holes that still roll just fine?”
Because all the engineering for the american market is devoted to vanity mirrors, chrome, heated seats and seeing how many cupholders you can fit in a minivan while the third world market is reliability and economy.
Put me on the list as a buyer. I only need a 2wd. I would love a 4 door Silverado shortbed with a small diesel that would get 35+mpg. I’d bet Toyota comes out with it first, then GM and Ford go under. I’m waiting. If i need to buy something before the come out with it, i’ll be buying a Civic or Accord to match my Odysey minivan that kicks but.
Seems like nothing is truly on the way. OK, I need a VW w/ a TDI that was hit from the rear and a Frontier or Tacoma w/ a blown engine. A semester or 2 of welding at a community college should get me up to speed… Anybody know engine wiring?
OK - I did a little digging on Isuzu diesels. They were a good substitute for the old LandCruiser F40 diesels, so I have played around with them back in my field paleontology days.
The article is a test of mileage efficiency done down in Malaysia - and to save you the metric conversion headache, that is about 52 mpg for the 2.5 litre and 47 mpg for the 3.0.
So the technology already exists. It just isn’t marketed over here.
Painful. Any idea what you’d have to do to import one? Is it just that they need some additional emissions equipment (swapping catalytic converters would be easy), or is the model/type of vehicle banned outright? Honestly, there are probably similar diesels to the one you linked (wife’s Aunt drives a diesel Isuzu Trooper) all over Panama. Picking one up next time we visit the in-laws would be easy, shipping it home may not be…
Oh man - I would imagine it would be painful to try to import. Not only could you have emissions regulations to meet, but god knows what else in safety standards - this could be seat belt anchors, bumpers, all sorts of stuff. It is quite an effort for a car that is not normally distributed in North America. There has even been a big issue with Canadian buyers importing American cars since the dollar went up because some snarky little meaningless issue around door locks didn’t meet Canadian standards. I can’t imagine what would be involved with importing from Asia other than a boat load of hell.
Hopefully, when we start seeing low sulfur diesel in in the US, vehicles like this will find a market. I would get one in a stone cold minute. I was mostly pointing out that it looked pretty much like your requirements were already met (not so sure about the model and seating 4, but the economy is there).
Now the thing is, can you find a used duramax diesel in NA? Not sure if that is the same one they have in some of their small panel trucks, but you could find one from a wreckers if so. Then all you need to do is change the motor mounts, get and adapter made for your tranny, and re-wire the thing for diesel electric - piece of cake. (I did this once on an FJ40 - and only because someone else had figured out all the bits and pieces so I just borrowed their work - took a loooooong time).
I can’t speak for Asia, but Central America and the Middle East have tons of 4-door pickups. Seems they were popular there 2 decades before here. Maybe I could buy the engine abroad and ship it home- just a rewire and new cat. converter then. I DHL’d a transfer case to Panama a few years ago for someone, and it wasn’t terribly expensive.