I am very encouraged by what................

[JustPassinThru]

Originally Posted by DevilGirl

One reason I have seen is that there seems to be a stigma attached to diesels here. Not sure why, but there appears to be.

A lot of it goes back to the Oldsmobile Diesel of the late 1970s - early 1980s. Oldsmobile (in those days each division designed their own engines) took a lot of shortcuts in designing the diesel. Instead of using off-the-shelf Detroit Diesel parts or designs, they opted to modify their 350 V8 gasoline-engine block for diesel use. AND, as problems developed or came apparent, they "corrected" with special service requirements and procedures instead of design modifications.

The end result was an engine that unless cared-for and serviced EXACTLY as special requirements stipulated, TO THE LETTER (procedures unique to that engine, not to all diesels) the Olds diesel would destruct in short order. Which in most cases it did do.

A lot of people were burned by that; more than had hands-on-experience with Daimler or VW diesel engines. So the diesel got a bad image, as an automotive ripoff.

Beyond that: Today in the States, roadgoing diesels need a LOT of emissions controls. Including "Diesel Exhaust Additive" - basically, animal urea injected into the exhaust manifold to do something about particulates. I don't know how. But standards seem to be fluid and few manufacturers are willing to gear up with all the special junk just to have the government declare it unfit in a year or so.

A lot of truckers and trucking companies (and even engine manufacturers) have been hurt. Caterpillar no longer makes roadgoing truck engines - they don't want to meet the emissions standards. A lot of relatively-new Cummins and Cat engines were ordered out of trucks that run in California. Those engines COST - and government made them obsolete, un-certifiable.

So I don't look for diesels to come in in large numbers until the regulation people get their heads out of their neithers.