Mazda's diesel to take on hybrids
 

It will be interesting to see what happens with this...


http://www.detnews.com/article/20100409/AUTO01/4090337/1148/rss25

totally.. Even if it isn't turbocharged they might do well

DIESEL no batteries needed.

VW has that yuppie image, Mazda has the economy image... and the Zoom Zoom thing going... lets hope they can turn around the Diesel image!
even better would be if they advertised "green" fuel in the marketing for the car. Biodiesel NOT WVO!!! Biodiesel!

I'm waiting to see what happens with the Subaru diesel engine that they've been talking about bringing over here as well.
http://www.autocar.co.uk/CarReviews/FirstDrives/Subaru-Legacy-2.0TD-R/230393/

Any which way, I'm not paying through the nose for a battery powered car that gets the same mileage that I got in an '82 VW diesel!

Once the Subaru diesel is out for a few years I'll probably replace the Outback with one. Mine doesn't return the numbers one would expect; I only get about 20mpg around town. With the diesel, it should bring it up to the 30's. I've been halfway considering a diesel Jeep a few years down the road, but I'd much rather have a diesel Subaru.

I wish the automakers sold an affordable diesel... seriously.. The cheapest out there is still in the 20's and thats not really cheap.

hell I'd buy a honda Fit with a diesel if it was under 15k..

I had a 50hp 1986 ford escort with the 2.0 mazda diesel in it for a while. It was a great little car, got between 40 and 50 mpg behind the 5-speed transaxle.

It was a horrible slug though, these new ones should do better. The 2.0 was timing belt driven instead of chain, and the reason I sold it was that to change the timing belt, the first step was "remove motor from car". Kind of a PITA to work on. Came stock with a really nice motor oil bypass filter system that was twin filters, larger than our MB filters for a smaller motor.
I could get it up to 70 on the flat, but go up a hill, and I had to move over onto the side of the highway at 40 mph. good thing the flashers worked.

I would surmise the "no turbo" comment is a mis print. When is the last time you saw a modern diesel without a turbo?

The whole point to their new engine is to have a low compression ratio, so the lack of a turbo makes perfect sense in that regard.

hybrids are only an option for around town. For 30 mile + country h/way driving they are not that economical. The little new Mercedes diesel leaves a pirus for dead on economy on longer trips, even the diesel ford focus is more economical except for stop start city stuff & then its quicker to walk or ride a bike!! Next time you are walking some place down town with lots of lights in heavy traffic, pace yourself against a car, you will beat it over a mile or 2, I used to do it all the time when I was at University 35 years ago, would be worse now.
Hybrids will be junk after 4 years as the batteries will need replacing & no one will want to pay for that. People will end up driving them on petrol/diesel only ~ gutless uneconomical car.

Low compression ratio and no turbo= low power and hard starting. I still maintain the article is technically deficient. Time will tell.

I sell new Volkswagens. The TDI sells for full MSRP. All of the other automakers are drewling over that! Right now the only choice for diesel is VW, Mercedes or BMW. In five years there should be a dozen diesel cars to choose from.

But, that was said five years ago and five years before that. (no dig intended)

My sister gets 50+ mpg on trips with her Prius. The batteries last a long time about 10 years so I hear. Her father in law bought her old Gen I Prius, still no problems with that car.

I think the Prius is a well built car and will have a long service life. So what if you have to replace the batteries at 10 years for $3K. Umm, I'll spend way more than $3k keeping my MB running that long.

I do think the Prius is a complicated solution to a problem (mpg) that can be solved in a less complicated fashion though. Why else would the US and Japan be the only major consumers of them?

What I am waiting for is a diesel Mazda6, Focus, Smart, Yaris, Corolla, Cobalt, etc. When the average Joe Blow can by an inexpensive diesel, that is when the US can reshape the national oil consumption trend.

A lot hinges on this new Mazda's sales success it seems to me.