for example, maybe a 1.3 litre diesel fit.
that thing would SELL. take the lead honda, and you will see nice profits.

the only reason volkswagen doesn't sell more TDIs is because of their poor reliablity ratings for the rest of the car, excluding the engine.

a small diesel engine combined with honda reliablity would be a hit.
i would buy one almost immediately.

thanks for reading.

 

Even a non turbo, so long as the mileage is proportionally better. Any non forced induction engine is going to be more long term reliable. I would sell ours in a heartbeat if a 1.3L diesel were released that got 50 or so MPG (rather than the disappointing 32-33 that we average with a light foot)

 

i know there must be a market for it. some people hate the mess and smell involved with diesel but there are many out there who don't care. i know the small diesel would be a hit. maybe it will take gas spiking back up in price (which we know will happen eventually) to make them move ahead with small diesels.

where you and i differ in opinion is that i believe the gutlessness of non-turbo diesels would hurt sales in small cars. trucks with large diesels are a different matter...

 

I have owned 1600cc VW diesels that produced an advertised 60HP and loved them.... I think the reason Honda doesn't sell Fits with diesel engines is because the haven't started making diesels of any kind for any of their products unless it is something they have started doing recently.... A diesel engine has an abundance of torque and horsepower ratings mean very little.

 

heh heh, i was thinking of the old V-dub diesel rabbits when i made my post. no balls at all but their owners loved 'em to death and they ran forever, were cheap to fill, and got mucho milage from each tank. i wouldn't agree that horsepower means "very little" but of course it needs to be combined with torque, weight, etc... to get an accurate picture of performance.

honda does make a diesel. it's a 2.2 litre that they offer in europe. i think it may be for accords. 2.2 is too big. the public will hunger for an ultra-milage diesel that isn't connected to a dinky toy like the Smart Car. to do that , we'll need a diesel that is smaller (perhaps a 1.2) and paired with a lighter car than an accord.

 

That's cool about Honda doing a diesel....I had a couple of the little VW pickups and a 4 door Rabbit that I opened up the air cleaner on and fitted with a larger diameter exhaust pipe and muffler... It was loud but it would get up and move, it would also consistently get over 54 MPG..... Of course they were much lighter than a Fit and had smaller, lighter wheels... They were easy to work on but engine parts were costly to fix if you screwed one up like my kid was prone to do.... I am glad he started driving Honda products because he has been hell on everything else.... I had an 82 Accord that was bullet poof but not nearly as fun as a Rabbit of the same vintage even with a diesel engine.

 

ahh, you've touched on another of my wishes: a small turbo diesel pickup. ford was going to make a 6 cylinder turbo diesel for the f-150 a couple of years ago but the auto crash put an end to that. i would have bought one if they did end up making them.

 

I would LOVE for Toyota to bring the Hilux motors they put in over in Europe (Tacoma). They don't even offer gas motors in them over there, your options are two different diesels that get 30+ mpg.

And in response to a previous poster, I believe Honda does make smaller diesels, for civic size engine compartments, maybe even in the Jazz. Unfortunately I can't get the UK site to come up atm, I may be thinking of the Yaris from Toyota though, I know they put a 1.4L in that which gets crazy mileage.

 

Kawasaki was making a diesel powered enduro type bike for the military that was (is) amazing... I could really go for a BMW GS1250 Diesel fitted with a decent sidecar and Uni leading link front end... BMW only makes them with gasoline engines, besides if they did the way I would want it would easily cost as much as 2 Fits or more. All it would ever need if they did would be Tires, batteries, and oil.

 

good point. it often takes a long time and many miles/kms for a diesel owner to make back their extra investment cost in the motor. if fuel doubles or triples in price, that may not take as long anymore

 

Any news if Honda does make a diesel motor at that displacement?

The smallest I've heard they make is the 2.2L i-CDTI/i-DTEC unit used in the European FN Civic hatchbacks and Accords (gen2 TSX body in the US).

 

In 1981, VW tacked on $1000. for the Diesel engine.... The same year the morning newspaper in Oklahoma City chose to hire more drivers and buy VW Diesel pickups to replace the aging trucks in there fleet that hauled papers out to be delivered and was claiming that if they all were to completely self destruct in 6 months they would still be ahead financially....Diesel was cheaper then but I can't remember how much but I was a newspaper contractor in Dallas then and the only one that used a VW diesel...... I was getting papers out faster and had cut my operating cost 75% over what it was driving a F-150 with 302 V8 and the 60 hp Diesel was able to take off from a stop faster than the Ford carrying the same load which was nice when traffic was heavy.

 

I want one lol but I'd want it with a turbo I bet I could get crazy good mpg mabey even more than I'm getting now

 

There was a turbo kit for the Rabbit and they were said to be able to get over 60MPG and keep up with the gasoline powered Rabbits.

 

as soon as car companies get it out of their heads that north americans only want large engine/model options then we'll have made a big step forward. the euros are way ahead on that one. and no, the smart car doesn't count . actually if the smart cars didn't have sh^tty trannies then they might be a better option but if you read the reviews, everyone just hates the transmissions in them. plus, honda could do it better anyhow...

 

I don't know about what North Americans really want but on the local news out of Dallas I heard that the G.M. plant in Arlington is cranking out 1100 SUVs a day and all of their workers are getting all of the overtime they want.... At the loop that circles the small town close to where I live I was stopped at an intersection with 1 car and 9 trucks.... I really just don't know if the people around here will ever want anything else.

 

You'd be hard-pressed to find a modern diesel engine nowadays that isn't turbocharged.

If you're in the hunt for a diesel, aim for the state-of-the-art. The best turbodiesel engines nowadays have common-rail fuel injection. Over here in Manila we have a lot of carmakers (Hyundai, Ford, Mitsubishi, Kia, Toyota, Nissan) that offer diesels in their cars and SUVs.

The range-topping Focus here even has a 2.0L common-rail turbodiesel, first mated to a 6-speed manual gearbox, then later replaced with a 6-speed dual-clutch transmission.

 

yeah, most of them have forgotten the gas spike already. the crappy thing is that it will get much worse eventually. then those SUVs will sit around and not get used much. sales fell before and they'll fall again. hopefully the car companies won't get caught with their pants down again when it happens.

 

Doesn't seem like they can get their pants UP fast enough from what I'm seeing! I see more and more Kia Souls, Versas, brand new Scions and Yaris...and yes, the Fit.

Always seem to be poised to offer almost exactly what we demand - Pilots and Ridgelines get scaled back when gas is high, Fits ramped up and vice versa.

 

I would buy a Honda diesel as soon as it was available.