At long last, Volvo buyers can rejoice as the company introduces its high-mpg, low-emissions diesel DRIVe series at the 2008 Paris Motor Show. The DRIVe variants of the C30, S40 and V50 are factory-ecomodded diesels that beat all European emission standards while delivering 53 mpg or better, depending upon the model. The new Volvos promise to be a hot seller for those who would rather do without the excitement of a Mini or reliability of a Toyota.
Provided, of course, they live in Europe…
Volvo says the it boosted fuel economy by reducing drag and rolling resistance while improving transmission and engine efficiency. Much of the fuel savings come from attractive drag reduction techniques…Tweaks include dropping the chassis heigh 10mm, covering the radiator grille, adding wind deflectors in front of the wheels. Underbody panels improve airflow under the car. The transmission got revised ratios and lower-friction oil…Taken together, the small adjustments have helped us achieve our aim.” Volvo calls it a “holistic approach to eco-performance.”
Beyond improving fuel economy, the mods cut C02 emissions to no more than 118 grams per kilometer. For comparison, the Prius emits 104. Eco-benefits aside, we must admit the spoilers, lowered ride height and diamond-cut “Libra” rims make for one damn fine lookin’ Swede. Most importantly, the price premium for the DRIVe modification is between 150 and 450 euros ($210-630). For now, that’s a better value than any hybrid, though it doesn’t mean Ford’s dropping its investment in gas-electric drivetrains. Of course, the DRIVe series cars are available only in Europe, although it seems a few smog controls on the 1.6 liter diesel engine they use would make them ready for the United States.
When you RTFA – please note the folks writing the article must have flunked arithmetic in 2nd grade. My conversion of euros is correct – theirs isn’t.
Eideard said, “Volvo DRIVe Diesel gets 53mpg – and Ford says I can’t have one”
With diesel running $.80 more per gallon than unleaded, why would you want one?
What is with the OLD ASS Vizu polls on the right side of Dvorak.org/blog??? If we are not going to get any new polls, REMOVE IT.
$4 vs $4.80 means that a conventional car would have to get 44 mpg to be equal.
#3 “$4 vs $4.80 means that a conventional car would have to get 44 mpg to be equal.”
Of which there are plenty, and less expensive too.
A comparable gas engined car runs what 33? 35 mpg? Sounds like you still come out ahead.
Volkswagen also has an efficient diesel. They should have their diesel hybrid out year after next. Honda should have a diesel soon as well.
Ford doesn’t say you can’t have it the EPA does. TFA says they would SEEM to have to add additional smog controls and that is from a reporter that you already proved is bad at math. He may also be bad at knowing what it takes to add those smog contols.
Also if prices remain high, biodiesel becomes a factor. Stop off at the Mickey D’s for fries and a fill up. =)
#6 has it right. The big problem is that the diesel sold in the US is much “dirtier” than that sold in Europe. Sulfur content is the culprit, IIRC.
But there are efforts underway to clean us US diesel, and it IS cleaner than it used to be. The cleanup is part of the reason that diesel has been priced so much higher than gasoline recently, when it traditionally was the other way around.
#8 “But there are efforts underway to clean us US diesel”
Which will further increase its price/.gal
Get on your bikes and ride!
It more than amazes me how high up execs in the auto industry demand high pay and even higher bonuses even when the companies are being pushed to the wall by foreign competition
Buy American is their only refrain and then ask for a huge subsidy by the American government / public
And yet when faced with real management choices they shirk away
What are these high end execs being paid for – except to piece off the unions to keep their game going , become beggars for government money and make nothing but excuses behind the walls of committees
Legends in their own minds
Plus you have stupid GM building a $40,000 electric. Now tell me how many rich people want a electric car. Also tell me why I would spend $0 grand on a unproven GM car when I can buy a Prius or soon to arrive Honda for half??
If GM and Ford were smart (but their NOT) they would have imported what they have already designed and engineered and got their sales up a little. But that’s just me.
Subtract 30% from 53MPG = regular gasoline = 37 MPG
Even a Diesel T2Bin5 pollutes MORE than a gasoline PZEV. Worse with the US/Can diesel.
Now, what other car already out there, with a Manual Transmission, can get 37 MPG or better?
Practically all Japanese mid-small cars get high MPG.
The Prius is the only automatic that averages 45.
Drag: at highway speeds, 25% wheels 75% body
The Prius shape – that many dislike – is the secret to great highway MPG the car gets.
Also the fact that the Prius is using the Atkins 4-cycle versus the traditional Otto ICE model.
http://www.cleangreencar.co.nz/page/prius-petrol-engine
The Gen III Prius will smash the records again.
#8 has it wrong. US diesel is just as clean as EU diesel. ULSD in USA is 15ppm maximum. ULSD in EU is *I think* about 10ppm. Both of these levels are basically 0.
HOWEVER, #6 does have it right about the effort required to add aftertreatment to meet US emissions…. which are more stringent than euro requirements, and will be until 2013 or so. I know that will come as a shock to alot of people.
Another thing that most people DON’T know, is that lightening up just a little on NOx control allows for a LARGE improvement in MPG and CO2 emissions. That’s right, we are wasting vast amounts of oil just to chase that last 1% of NOx emissions.
Anyway, we only have 4 or 5 short years until the Euro6 and 2010 emissions laws converge and cars sold world-wide can all have common components. That will be a boon for international car companies that can commonize platforms even more, which would HOPEFULLY bring cost down a little.
Until then, you’re stuck with Mercedes, VW, BMW or Honda for a diesel sedan/wagon here in the states. And those last two aren’t available until mid-2009, I think.
#12
WITH parts made in Every country, EXCEPT the USA.
#14 but that small 1% NOx would be HUGE is more than half the US cars were using diesel engines instead of the much more clean burning gasoline.
I rather there be more CO2 than more NOx…Nature can absorb CO2 and we can help Nature along.
Another Great Atkinson Cycle VS Otto Cycle article
http://blog.toyota.com/2008/09/atkinson-meets.html
FTA:
n the case of the Prius engine,Priusatkinson the effective compression ratio is about 8:1, while the expansion ratio is about 13:1. As a result, it is 12% to 14% more efficient, in terms of power output per fuel consumed, than the non-Atkinson engine upon which it is based.
But there’s no free lunch. Use of the Atkinson cycle results in improved efficiency, but it also results in a significant narrowing of the rpm range in which the engine makes useable power.
#12 – the Ford Escape Hybrid using the Generation One Prius power train, licensed from Toyota.
That was from 2001…
@#8: “The cleanup is part of the reason that diesel has been priced so much higher than gasoline recently, when it traditionally was the other way around.” – misleading done by Oil companies. Diesel is always more expensive in USA because it is mostly used by businesses (trucking) and sellers feel at ease that those customers will be buying a lot, never mind the price. You can find occasional gas station where they are treating it same as gasoline and there it is frequently cheaper or at level with regular gas. This trend existed 10-15 yrs ago and is the same today. Bottom line is that by the very definition production of the diesel will be cheaper than gasoline. My fav’ comparison: gas-diesel = 18 ct. gold-10 ct. gold. So, yet another Big Oil ripoff in the USA.
Funny this EUA/Diesel thing to me.
I live in Europe and over here almost 50% of our cars are Diesel powered. Why? Well, because they were cheaper to drive, although more expensive to buy. Not only Diesel fuel was (still is, but not so much) cheaper than gasoline, you could drive more 30% liter per liter (on a comparable car) And also people just love the torque diesels have. Any VW 1.9 liter TDI can effectively deliver 110 to 130 bhp at 2000 to 2200 rpm. That’s a lot of power on a small (by american standards) car like a Golf.
The snag about this is that now EU has concoted a special tax on Diesel because of the “pollutant” factor (particles mostly) Diesels have.
Still, if you drive a lot yearly, better go with Diesel.
#14: diesel is just as clean as EU diesel. ULSD in USA is 15ppm maximum. ULSD in EU is *I think* about 10ppm. Both of these levels are basically 0.”
The standard in Calif. WAS 500 ppm, reduced to 15 ppm in mid 2006. I don’t know about other states, but this clearly WAS a problem until VERY recently, and pretty much prevented any diesel passenger vehicle from coming anywhere close to acceptable emissions. Heck, in 2006 Ford Expeditions were still selling like hotcakes!
#18, on the price difference.
My brother brought a diesel Benz back from Germany in 1984 and only last year bought another daily driver. For the past 10 years or so, the price has been slightly higher than regular unleaded. For the 25 or so years before that to which I have been old enough to pay attention, diesel was always cheaper. Heck, it was cheaper in the summer of 1980 when I did my 3 months as a gas station cashier. But diesel, here in Calif., has over the past say 5 years, as they have changed the formula, steadily increased over regular gas. For a couple of months (June, July 2008) is was common to see diesel priced more than $1 per gallon over the price of unleaded gas, though things have moderated considerably since then. This seemed to be the case both at the odd urban stations that carry diesel and at the truck stops on the interstates in rural areas.
I expect SOME market manipulation, but the trend has been an increase in the price of diesel over gasoline each time the sulfur standards are tightened.
We will never see a high mpg car in mass use or a zero emissions car in mass use in America until the government figures out how to keep the gas tax coming in.
Or until we vote someone in who doesn’t have an interest in that.
There is a reason the current Highway Fund is broke — people aren’t driving as much. So we either go to toll roads, allow the states to maintain their own roads, or increase the tax on the fuel. Pick one.
#21 “There is a reason the current Highway Fund is broke”
Probably has more to do with those funds being raided by congress…
#22, That, too. However, tax revenue is estimated to drop $11B over the next year — due to the reduction in the amount of miles people drive and earmarks.
Congress just infused $8B into it to keep it afloat. Guess where the they got the money? The General Fund — which pays for all those social programs. I wonder where they’re going to get the money to replace that?
They say this saved 380,000 jobs. Now THAT’S a fat teat!
Can you see the gov approving the sale of a vehicle that would cause the loss of 1/4 million jobs? I don’t.
Personally, I would rather sandpaper my entire body and roll in salt, than drive a Volvo or a Toyota. The Volvo is a re-badged Ford Mondeo with a French Peugeot designed engine, the Prius is shaped like a suppository.
53 MPG isn’t great for a diesel. I’ve got a petrol/gasoline Toyota Aygo (in the UK) that does around 61 MPG, and its a pretty nippy little car! The Fiat 500 diesel does 70 MPG, as does, I believe the Ford Ka diesel. Back in the days when diesel was cheaper that petrol/gasoline, diesel had the added the bonus of having cheaper fuel and good millage along with lasting 200,000+ miles (as opposed to petrol average of about 100,000 miles). These days the best thing about diesels is that when the “£*&(*^”£$ fuel delivery drivers go on strike again at least you can fill up with some vegetable oil….
The tax on diesel is one problem. They should have a rate for noncommercial vehicles. A ton and a half car isn’t wearing the roads like a semi. In my state boaters can send in fuel receipts for a refund of the road tax. Diesel is the best technology for internal combustion engines. It’s available today, flexible with biodiesel, and doesn’t require a new delivery infrastructure. Excuse the language, but you can’t get shit done in this country because of special interest groups courting politicians. Reason and logic takes a backseat to campaign contributions. Now I’ll take an ativan and go to bed.
Once again the US auto industry is behind the curve. Watch for Euro Diesels to flood in with 40+ mpg vehicles. Ford will still be scratching its head, touting the 24mpg the Edge gets and calling it great millage. The new VW Jetta is suppose to get near 50mpg and it doesn’t require the Urea solution the MB diesel engine needs to stay clean. I bet they’ll sell like hot cakes.
“The new Volvos promise to be a hot seller for those who would rather do without the excitement of a Mini or reliability of a Toyota.”
enough of the spin.
They’re all too small, but at least anything that gets more people driving and less people riding mass transit is a good thing. More roads, more driving, it’s all good.
“the DRIVe series cars are available only in Europe”
I checked and was unable to find a DRIVe new car series in the beautiful EU Member State named Finland. Are there other EU countries where DRIVe are not yet available? If so, why?