Acura Will Introduce Clean Diesel i-DTEC Engine in 2009
01-21-08, 05:32 PM
#31
Lexus Fanatic
01-22-08, 06:55 AM
#32
Diesel Info
AutoMakers Pump Up Models w/ Diesel Power
DETROIT — Diesel fuel costs an average 38 cents a gallon more than gasoline, isn't available at every filling station, and in the past, has been associated with engines that clatter and smoke.
But none of those negatives dissuaded automakers from rolling out a raft of new diesel car, truck and SUV models at the North American International Auto Show here last week.
It's not just German makers anymore. Among models unveiled last week were offerings of Japanese and South Korean brands that have eschewed diesel cars in the past.
They hope Americans will warm to a new wave of diesels as quiet, clean and smoke-free as their gasoline-fed siblings. Diesels also usually offer more torque, which helps in trailer pulling.
Mercedes (DAI) spokesman Robert Moran says today's diesels also have overcome past issues with cold-weather starting. Mercedes models, he says, need no more than an extra second to start on the coldest mornings and heat up faster than gas engines once running.
The biggest attraction: Diesels offer 20% to 40% more miles per gallon than comparable gasoline engines and are available off the shelf now.
"It's here-and-now technology," says Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum. "There's no looming questions about batteries" as with gas-electric hybrids.
The looming question is whether consumers will embrace diesels. They are hugely popular in Europe, where diesel fuel costs less. But that's not so in the USA. On Friday, diesel fuel averaged $3.41 a gallon nationally, 12% more than regular gas at $3.03, according to the daily survey in AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.
"Diesel isn't cheap and isn't going to get cheaper," says Brett Smith of the Center for Automotive Research.
Diesel vehicles also are likely to cost more to buy, though a smaller premium than hybrids.
Despite question marks, automakers unveiling new diesels included:
•BMW. Planned for sale next fall are two diesel vehicles with decidedly hard-to-remember names — the compact 335d sedan and the X5 3.0sd sport-utility vehicle.
The German automaker says the pair's 3-liter, 265-horsepower diesel will meet emissions rules in all states because of a new catalytic converter system and injection of the chemical urea into the exhaust. The injection system is called BluePerformance.
BMW is counting on diesel's torque during acceleration to make it popular.
•Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes, one of the biggest promoters of diesel through the years, is showing off two concept versions of its diesel-powered Vision GLK small SUV.
The two concepts, the Freeside and the Townside, are powered by a new-generation, four-cylinder, 2.2-liter diesel that neutralizes up to 80% of nitrogen-oxide emissions with a urea-injection system.
•Audi. To debunk the image that diesels are stodgy performers, Audi is showing off a 12-cylinder diesel concept version of its R8 sports car. The 500-horsepower engine powers the car from zero to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds and tops out at 186 mph. But don't expect to find one in showrooms anytime soon, if ever.
•Chrysler. A two-seat Jeep Renegade concept vehicle was designed as a plug-in hybrid with a twist: The rugged off-road vehicle is also a diesel.
Its small Bluetec diesel engine takes over when its lithium-ion batteries run out of juice. Renegade has a 40-mile range in electric-only mode. A 115-horsepower, 1.5-liter diesel takes it the rest of its journey.
•Toyota. The Japanese giant announced last week that clean-diesel V-8s will be available "in the near future" for its full-size Tundra pickups and Sequoia SUVs. But Toyota (TM) officials are not without reservations.
A surge in popularity of diesels could drive pump prices higher, warns Jim Lentz, president of Toyota's U.S. sales operation.
In introducing diesels, "we're hedging our bet, because diesel is the best current solution for a full-size pickup" when it comes to fuel economy and towing power, Lentz said in an interview.
•Honda. A clean-diesel engine will become available in one of Honda's (HMC) upscale Acura vehicles next year. Unlike the larger German diesels, it won't require urea injection to cut emissions, which should result in less maintenance, CEO Takeo Fukui announced last week.
•Kia. The South Korean automaker plans to put a diesel engine in the new seven-passenger Borrego SUV by 2010. The gasoline version goes on sale this summer with Kia's first V-8 engine.
So many new diesels were unveiled at the Detroit auto show's press preview that Consumer Reports auto testing director David Champion said he felt like calling it "the diesel show."
The price of the diesels is "a bit of a question mark," but he says he has no doubt about sales: "People are going to get them."
DETROIT — Diesel fuel costs an average 38 cents a gallon more than gasoline, isn't available at every filling station, and in the past, has been associated with engines that clatter and smoke.
But none of those negatives dissuaded automakers from rolling out a raft of new diesel car, truck and SUV models at the North American International Auto Show here last week.
It's not just German makers anymore. Among models unveiled last week were offerings of Japanese and South Korean brands that have eschewed diesel cars in the past.
They hope Americans will warm to a new wave of diesels as quiet, clean and smoke-free as their gasoline-fed siblings. Diesels also usually offer more torque, which helps in trailer pulling.
Mercedes (DAI) spokesman Robert Moran says today's diesels also have overcome past issues with cold-weather starting. Mercedes models, he says, need no more than an extra second to start on the coldest mornings and heat up faster than gas engines once running.
The biggest attraction: Diesels offer 20% to 40% more miles per gallon than comparable gasoline engines and are available off the shelf now.
"It's here-and-now technology," says Allen Schaeffer, executive director of the Diesel Technology Forum. "There's no looming questions about batteries" as with gas-electric hybrids.
The looming question is whether consumers will embrace diesels. They are hugely popular in Europe, where diesel fuel costs less. But that's not so in the USA. On Friday, diesel fuel averaged $3.41 a gallon nationally, 12% more than regular gas at $3.03, according to the daily survey in AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.
"Diesel isn't cheap and isn't going to get cheaper," says Brett Smith of the Center for Automotive Research.
Diesel vehicles also are likely to cost more to buy, though a smaller premium than hybrids.
Despite question marks, automakers unveiling new diesels included:
•BMW. Planned for sale next fall are two diesel vehicles with decidedly hard-to-remember names — the compact 335d sedan and the X5 3.0sd sport-utility vehicle.
The German automaker says the pair's 3-liter, 265-horsepower diesel will meet emissions rules in all states because of a new catalytic converter system and injection of the chemical urea into the exhaust. The injection system is called BluePerformance.
BMW is counting on diesel's torque during acceleration to make it popular.
•Mercedes-Benz. Mercedes, one of the biggest promoters of diesel through the years, is showing off two concept versions of its diesel-powered Vision GLK small SUV.
The two concepts, the Freeside and the Townside, are powered by a new-generation, four-cylinder, 2.2-liter diesel that neutralizes up to 80% of nitrogen-oxide emissions with a urea-injection system.
•Audi. To debunk the image that diesels are stodgy performers, Audi is showing off a 12-cylinder diesel concept version of its R8 sports car. The 500-horsepower engine powers the car from zero to 60 mph in 4.2 seconds and tops out at 186 mph. But don't expect to find one in showrooms anytime soon, if ever.
•Chrysler. A two-seat Jeep Renegade concept vehicle was designed as a plug-in hybrid with a twist: The rugged off-road vehicle is also a diesel.
Its small Bluetec diesel engine takes over when its lithium-ion batteries run out of juice. Renegade has a 40-mile range in electric-only mode. A 115-horsepower, 1.5-liter diesel takes it the rest of its journey.
•Toyota. The Japanese giant announced last week that clean-diesel V-8s will be available "in the near future" for its full-size Tundra pickups and Sequoia SUVs. But Toyota (TM) officials are not without reservations.
A surge in popularity of diesels could drive pump prices higher, warns Jim Lentz, president of Toyota's U.S. sales operation.
In introducing diesels, "we're hedging our bet, because diesel is the best current solution for a full-size pickup" when it comes to fuel economy and towing power, Lentz said in an interview.
•Honda. A clean-diesel engine will become available in one of Honda's (HMC) upscale Acura vehicles next year. Unlike the larger German diesels, it won't require urea injection to cut emissions, which should result in less maintenance, CEO Takeo Fukui announced last week.
•Kia. The South Korean automaker plans to put a diesel engine in the new seven-passenger Borrego SUV by 2010. The gasoline version goes on sale this summer with Kia's first V-8 engine.
So many new diesels were unveiled at the Detroit auto show's press preview that Consumer Reports auto testing director David Champion said he felt like calling it "the diesel show."
The price of the diesels is "a bit of a question mark," but he says he has no doubt about sales: "People are going to get them."
01-22-08, 09:31 AM
#34
Prices
The looming question is whether consumers will embrace diesels. They are hugely popular in Europe, where diesel fuel costs less. But that's not so in the USA. On Friday, diesel fuel averaged $3.41 a gallon nationally, 12% more than regular gas at $3.03, according to the daily survey in AAA's Fuel Gauge Report.
too funny
02-11-08, 06:28 AM
#40
Super Moderator
Thread Starter
Honda working on V6 diesel for Pilot, Ridgeline and MDX
Honda working on V6 diesel for Pilot, Ridgeline and MDX
Posted on: February 11th, 2008
Honda has just released the first image of its new 2009 Acura TSX that it will be the first to get Honda’s new 2.2 liter i-DTEC diesel engine in North America. The Acura RDX and the Honda Accord will be next in line to use that very engine, but Honda engineers are also working on a V6 version of the super-clean diesel for the U.S. market.
The second largest Japanese auto maker is developing a 3.5 liter V6 diesel engine that will be 30 percent more fuel efficient than its gasoline counterparts.
Japanese newspaper Nikkei says that the engine will first find its way under the hood of the next-generation Honda Pilot, the Ridgeline pickup and the Acura MDX. The engine may also find its way under the hood of the Acura TL and RL.
It seems that Honda will diesel-fy Acura’s entire lineup in the U.S. in order to compete with other luxury brands.
Posted on: February 11th, 2008
Honda has just released the first image of its new 2009 Acura TSX that it will be the first to get Honda’s new 2.2 liter i-DTEC diesel engine in North America. The Acura RDX and the Honda Accord will be next in line to use that very engine, but Honda engineers are also working on a V6 version of the super-clean diesel for the U.S. market.
The second largest Japanese auto maker is developing a 3.5 liter V6 diesel engine that will be 30 percent more fuel efficient than its gasoline counterparts.
Japanese newspaper Nikkei says that the engine will first find its way under the hood of the next-generation Honda Pilot, the Ridgeline pickup and the Acura MDX. The engine may also find its way under the hood of the Acura TL and RL.
It seems that Honda will diesel-fy Acura’s entire lineup in the U.S. in order to compete with other luxury brands.
02-11-08, 08:21 AM
#41
Pole Position
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: MA
Posts: 262
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
05-27-08, 09:42 AM
#42
Article
Honda Reworks Acura into Fuel-Efficient Diesel
By LAWRENCE ULRICH
New York Times
Consumers will have the option of choosing a diesel version of the 2009 Acura TSX.
Honda has spent decades establishing a reputation for fuel efficiency. But nothing in its current lineup, including its Civic Hybrid, can match the mileage of the diesel Accord I recently tested in and around New York City.
Minus its diesel powertrain, the European-market 2007 Accord that I drove is nearly identical to the car that Honda had been selling in the United States as the Acura TSX (in other words, it's smaller than the American Accord). The test car should give a solid indication of the mileage and performance American consumers can expect when Honda offers a diesel option for the redesigned 2009 TSX.
The Accord — a demonstration car provided by Robert Bosch, the German technology company, to highlight its fuel injectors and other diesel components — returned a remarkable 53 miles a gallon on the highway, 34 in the city and 44 in combined driving. Those miles included a bumper-to-bumper crawl through Manhattan, the worst possible conditions for fuel efficiency.
Cleaner emissions system
The model I drove was powered by a 4-cylinder diesel displacing 2.2 liters and producing 140 horsepower and a stout 250 pound-feet of torque — the force that drivers feel pushing them into their seats under acceleration. That huge torque relative to the engine's size is a main advantage of modern turbodiesels, making them well-suited to small economy cars and to burly SUV's that need torque for towing and hauling.
The America-bound Acura will use a new version of the 2.2-liter engine that I tested. The engine is notable for meeting 50-state emissions standards with no need to carry an onboard tank of urea, an ammonia-generating solution that other diesels use to scrub smoggy nitrogen oxides from the exhaust. Honda's patented pollution system generates its own ammonia to fulfill the same mission. While that cleaner emissions system wasn't installed on the Honda I tested, engineers expect it to have no discernible effect on fuel economy.
Advantages over hybrids
As with other diesels I've driven recently, the Honda's frugal highway mileage and versatile power are important advantages over the typical hybrid. The Accord covered the zero-to-60 run in just under 9 seconds in my testing, which doesn't sound spectacular on paper. But its passing power from 30, 50 or even 70 miles an hour was terrific, as the Honda easily shot past slower cars.
And as more hybrid owners are discovering, their cars deliver little or no mileage gain on the highway. That's because battery packs and electric motors add several hundred pounds, and the system also contributes negligible energy at freeway speeds.
Also unlike hybrids, which require drivers to go easy on the gas pedal, watch the speed limit and coast when possible to improve the mileage, the diesel Honda delivered brilliant economy with no special effort. Even spirited driving didn't dent the mileage much. The Accord delivered 50 mpg even during a 75-mph cruise and 40 mpg when I flogged it.
The Acura's only diesel telltale is an idle that's slightly louder than a gasoline car's, though it's not at all obtrusive. There was no trace of diesel smell or black exhaust.
By LAWRENCE ULRICH
New York Times
Consumers will have the option of choosing a diesel version of the 2009 Acura TSX.
Honda has spent decades establishing a reputation for fuel efficiency. But nothing in its current lineup, including its Civic Hybrid, can match the mileage of the diesel Accord I recently tested in and around New York City.
Minus its diesel powertrain, the European-market 2007 Accord that I drove is nearly identical to the car that Honda had been selling in the United States as the Acura TSX (in other words, it's smaller than the American Accord). The test car should give a solid indication of the mileage and performance American consumers can expect when Honda offers a diesel option for the redesigned 2009 TSX.
The Accord — a demonstration car provided by Robert Bosch, the German technology company, to highlight its fuel injectors and other diesel components — returned a remarkable 53 miles a gallon on the highway, 34 in the city and 44 in combined driving. Those miles included a bumper-to-bumper crawl through Manhattan, the worst possible conditions for fuel efficiency.
Cleaner emissions system
The model I drove was powered by a 4-cylinder diesel displacing 2.2 liters and producing 140 horsepower and a stout 250 pound-feet of torque — the force that drivers feel pushing them into their seats under acceleration. That huge torque relative to the engine's size is a main advantage of modern turbodiesels, making them well-suited to small economy cars and to burly SUV's that need torque for towing and hauling.
The America-bound Acura will use a new version of the 2.2-liter engine that I tested. The engine is notable for meeting 50-state emissions standards with no need to carry an onboard tank of urea, an ammonia-generating solution that other diesels use to scrub smoggy nitrogen oxides from the exhaust. Honda's patented pollution system generates its own ammonia to fulfill the same mission. While that cleaner emissions system wasn't installed on the Honda I tested, engineers expect it to have no discernible effect on fuel economy.
Advantages over hybrids
As with other diesels I've driven recently, the Honda's frugal highway mileage and versatile power are important advantages over the typical hybrid. The Accord covered the zero-to-60 run in just under 9 seconds in my testing, which doesn't sound spectacular on paper. But its passing power from 30, 50 or even 70 miles an hour was terrific, as the Honda easily shot past slower cars.
And as more hybrid owners are discovering, their cars deliver little or no mileage gain on the highway. That's because battery packs and electric motors add several hundred pounds, and the system also contributes negligible energy at freeway speeds.
Also unlike hybrids, which require drivers to go easy on the gas pedal, watch the speed limit and coast when possible to improve the mileage, the diesel Honda delivered brilliant economy with no special effort. Even spirited driving didn't dent the mileage much. The Accord delivered 50 mpg even during a 75-mph cruise and 40 mpg when I flogged it.
The Acura's only diesel telltale is an idle that's slightly louder than a gasoline car's, though it's not at all obtrusive. There was no trace of diesel smell or black exhaust.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
