Diesel in U.S.

[bugalugs]

Currently, the Subaru instructor says 2011 or 2012. As with anything, those
dates change every year.

This just in from my local stealership inviting me in for a pre-release
test drive.

"The Legacy and Outback Boxer Diesel range will be available from
September 2009". This is in New Zealand.

From the specs listed it seems to have all the bells and whistles

 

[Larry Weil]

prevent diesel.

My guess is US will never see diesel, until GM/Chrysler,Ford
have a competitive diesel powerplant.

Deisels are not partcularly good in areas that have cold winter weather, so
a diesel would be mainly a product for warm weather states. Subaru is most
popular in cold weather states.

 

[boris]

Deisels are not partcularly good in areas that have cold winter weather,
so
a diesel would be mainly a product for warm weather states. Subaru is
most
popular in cold weather states.

How cold? Where I live (and visit) the lowest temperature is >15F
typically - does diesel make sense in such conditions?

Boris

 

[weelliott]

Deisels are not partcularly good in areas that have cold winter weather, so

a diesel would be mainly a product for warm weather states.  Subaru is most
popular in cold weather states.

I think this is a good point, but how cold does it have to get before
the subaru diesel has issues starting? My neighbor has a TDI that has
no trouble starting at 15 degrees. Last winter he didn't even plug it
in until it got below 25 at night. True it is a pain to have to plug a
car in. Especially if you take it to work, stay there long enough to
let the engine cool to ambient, then try to restart it at 20 or 25
degrees. I did that a few times with an old mercedes diesel and had a
tough time getting going. But these cars are newer. Consumers don't
accept that any more. Technology has progressed. I'd be surprised if
Subaru diesels have cold weather issues.

I think that perhaps we should just see if they do by asking others
who own them in cold environments. Unfortunately this september isn't
going to be cold anywhere in the world they sell subarus. I wonder if
they had some development mules operating at low temps somewhere that
someone knows about.

 

[AS]

This doesn't make much sense. There are winter fuel additives
that make diesel reliable in all but the most severe arctic winters.

How cold? Where I live (and visit) the lowest temperature is >15F
typically - does diesel make sense in such conditions?

"Typically" in this case (>15F) means diesel re-sellers/refineries
in your area may not be adding winter fuel additives. When a
cold spell hits, you may experience problems. Where winters are
more severe (>0F or so) anti-gelling additives are added routinely
in winter months, so there are relatively few problems. Of course
when a cold spell hits, it is the same story all over as concentration
may still prove low.

AS

 

[Anssi Saari]

I think this is a good point, but how cold does it have to get before
the subaru diesel has issues starting?

I don't think there's any issue with diesel engines and cold as such.
Here in Finland almost all heavy vehicles are diesels, in private cars
a significant portion. Winter temperatures can go as low as -40
(conveniently doesn't matter whether it's celcius or fahrenheit).

There is winter grade diesel fuel though, apparently so that it
remains a liquid in cold temperatures... Also electrical systems are
beefed up (stronger starter motor, larger battery, heavier charger).

 

[basia]

I don't think there's any issue with diesel engines and cold as such.
Here in Finland almost all heavy vehicles are diesels, in private cars
a significant portion. Winter temperatures can go as low as -40
(conveniently doesn't matter whether it's celcius or fahrenheit).

There is winter grade diesel fuel though, apparently so that it
remains a liquid in cold temperatures... Also electrical systems are
beefed up (stronger starter motor, larger battery, heavier charger).

Exactly.

 

[Ingo Menger]

weelliott <(e-mail address removed)> writes:

There is winter grade diesel fuel though, apparently so that it
remains a liquid in cold temperatures.

Same her in germany, although our winters are not comparable to the
finnish ones (thanks god. As winter approaches, the fuel stations
get the winter diesel.
The consumer does not even notice.
The question is whether in the U.S. such a logistic is also
implemented, given their marginal share of diesel cars.
How about Canada? Is diesel popular there? I remember a week in the
Banff national park, where tmperatures never went above -20°C. People
let their motors running, while purchasing something in the super
market, etc. Astonishing.

 

[JD]

weelliott <(e-mail address removed)> writes:

There is winter grade diesel fuel though, apparently so that it
remains a liquid in cold temperatures.

Same her in germany, although our winters are not comparable to the
finnish ones (thanks god. As winter approaches, the fuel stations
get the winter diesel.
The consumer does not even notice.
The question is whether in the U.S. such a logistic is also
implemented, given their marginal share of diesel cars.
How about Canada? Is diesel popular there? I remember a week in the
Banff national park, where tmperatures never went above -20°C. People
let their motors running, while purchasing something in the super
market, etc. Astonishing.

They do that with gas engines unless they can plug in the block heater.
When it is -40ish, you'd have a hard time getting the engine going again in
after a few minutes. They do have winter diesel though.

 

[clare]

Same her in germany, although our winters are not comparable to the
finnish ones (thanks god. As winter approaches, the fuel stations
get the winter diesel.
The consumer does not even notice.
The question is whether in the U.S. such a logistic is also
implemented, given their marginal share of diesel cars.
How about Canada? Is diesel popular there? I remember a week in the
Banff national park, where tmperatures never went above -20°C. People
let their motors running, while purchasing something in the super
market, etc. Astonishing.

They do that with gas engines unless they can plug in the block heater.
When it is -40ish, you'd have a hard time getting the engine going again in
after a few minutes. They do have winter diesel though.

At -40 with no blockheater you are good for about an hour before the
engine gets cold enough to have any starting issues - but by then the
car is a deep-freeze and it takes half an hour to get it above
freezing inside.

We do have winter deisel in Canada - but deisel is NOT popular. Until
very recently our deisel fuel was high sulphur, so all deisels were
very smelly.
Quick-Glo systems make deisels relatively easy to start in cold
weather as long as everything is up to spec. Without quick-glo you
almost need ether to start - and if the compression is down you DO
need it.