Anyone else drive a diesel daily?

My skinny tires will be back up to the recommended 38psi after 7-10 minutes at highway speeds. My best 50mi average is 45.8mpg. About 90% of the 268 miles were up hill and I had my wife, both kids and all of our stuff which equated to around 500 additional pounds so I am OK with it.
 
rajon said:
And skecty internet did not attach the picture. OnStar is pretty cool.
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Is that info only available thru OnStar? Or can you see in the car which tire is at which pressure? I know some makes only give you a tire pressure warning and you have to figure out which tire it is.

I know some of the GM cars back in the day would tell you wheel-by-wheel, didn't know if that was across the line now.
 
All 4 tires. It will also email you a more detailed report with decoded DTC information. I have written back end code for features I worked on to output to OnStar. Basically the system can read nearly any piece of data available in the vehicle. It is a little big brotherish but being able to start my car anywhere in North America as long as my phone and car can find a cell signal is pretty awesome.
 
rajon said:
The DIC has all four as well.
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Cool, thanks.

What's your perspective as an insider, as to whether the looming CAFE standards are going to result in, more diesels, hybrids, pure electrics, fuel cell, CNG? Or just a smattering of all of them?
 
CAFE is still fleet-average, right? The makers will continue to put out a few highly efficient, cheap cars to offset the rest of the fleet -- the only reason smart and B Class Electric are available in the US is to help the S Class, G-Wagen, AMG, etc. to continue to be sold.

Among makers, only Honda has consistently shown interest in fleet fuel economy. Nary a V8 in sight.
 
SameGuy said:
CAFE is still fleet-average, right? The makers will continue to put out a few highly efficient, cheap cars to offset the rest of the fleet
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Sure, that's true to some extent, but I think the numbers are going so high and ramping up so fast that you can't pull the bottom up with an average. Plug-in hybrids (or Extended Range Electric Vehicles in GM parlance) or full electrics may help the vehicle mfrs meet the requirements by virtue of their high eMPG, but I'm not sure how much that helps the carbon problem, if you believe in that sort of thing. Not that there's really any hope of doing anything about that.
 
But that's what I mean. If the makers were truly concerned about CAFE's upcoming "tough" standards, all they'd have to do is get their European fleets' engines certified for the US (and by extension, Canada). The same cars and SUVs that are only sold here with gas-guzzling V6s and V8s are sold in huge numbers there with more miserly fours and small diesels. Even "American"-brand cars and trucks sold there have efficient diesels and turbo fours in place of their sixes and eights.

No, to the auto makers it's all about the almighty dollar here. In their collective opinion, nobody in the US will pay $65k for an SUV with a four cylinder diesel. We need a mindset change here, and if gas was priced more realistically as it is in Europe, that could happen. But more than likely all that would do is lead to people getting shot at red lights and their tanks siphoned dry.
 
rajon said:
My skinny tires will be back up to the recommended 38psi after 7-10 minutes at highway speeds. My best 50mi average is 45.8mpg. About 90% of the 268 miles were up hill and I had my wife, both kids and all of our stuff which equated to around 500 additional pounds so I am OK with it.
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When I first got my 328d last Fall, we drove it to Florida to have Thanksgiving with my daughter. We got 47.5 mpg between my house in Delaware and somewhere in northern NC. (Heavy traffic through Washington DC too). We arrived at our hotel in Savannah with the computer reading 50.5.

That was pretty good in my book. When we did the same trip last Summer (warmer weather) we arrived at the same hotel in Savannah with the computer reading 53.5.

My commute is pretty much city driving (Based on the mileage that I get). My Audi A4 got about 18, my Acura TL got 17, My Dodge Ram gets 10, my 335d got 24, my Fiat Abarth gets 27-28 and my 328d gets 34-35 (in warm weather).

I'm sold on Diesel - though I was sold on it before I owned one based on European experience.

<TED>
 
I have a TDI VW Passat. It's an 05 and it averages 38 mpg between city and hwy.
I run Diesel Power Complete additives at every fill up.
 
Setec Astronomy said:
Cool, thanks.

What's your perspective as an insider, as to whether the looming CAFE standards are going to result in, more diesels, hybrids, pure electrics, fuel cell, CNG? Or just a smattering of all of them?
Click to expand...

I don't work anywhere close to anything related to emissions but I could babble endlessly on my FMVSS and NHTSA insider opinions.

As far as to Hybrids, Diesels, whatever. (I just put on my tinfoil hat) The oil companies are extremely powerful here in the USA. Gasoline is currently more profitable due to Americas believing that black carbon coming out of a tail pipe is somehow more detrimental than invisible VOCs. I digress. Gasoline vs Diesel is supply vs demand and that the oil giants influence the market.

What I am noticing is more small displacement forced induction gasoline engines going into new vehicles.

Although I saw an uncamoed, fully badged Chevrolet Colorado with a Duramax off grounds which means it is coming and soon. If only they would put that little engine with bigger turbos in the half tons.

Anyway that is my 2 minute on my phone ramble. A drive back from the Soo Locks got me back above 44mph.
 
My car is looking like a mess but we are having fun.
 
I read in Car and Driver about Tesla selling its energy credits to other automakers so they can continue to sell V-8 gas guzzlers. But don't get me wrong, I like gas guzzlers. Just thought it was wrong that one manufacturer could sell energy credits. It's like oil companies making Billions and still getting tax credits. Our Government is out of control.
 
I wouldn't exactly trust Car and Driver as a legitimate news source but there is a lot of truth here.

Tesla would not have turned a dime were it not for these credits. CAFE is one thing but CARB is even worse (better?). Honda is actually the largest consumer of the credits because they have no plugin electric.

I am an electrical engineer by trade and I don't believe that battery technology is there yet.

So the irony is that the sale of the CARB credits isn't allowing the manufacture of gas guzzling V8s insomuch as it is allowing Honda to sell more PZEV vehicles in California.

Ford has a plug in Focus and a Fusion is coming, GM has the Volt and forth coming Bolt (also the Corvette manual coupe gets 30 on the hwy - I hope no one that buys one drives it that responsibly)
 
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