TDI Truth & Dare: Video 1

Volkswagen has opened a TDI Truth & Dare microsite on vw.com to promote their all new lineup of TDI powered vehicles. On that site you'll find links to articles featuring their TDI vehicles, TDI Cup race reports, the interactive "TDI Tank Wars", as well as videos debunking diesel myths.



Also at the microsite you'll find the TDI Toolbox which allows you to find the nearest diesel pumps as well as the lowest diesel prices. There's also a savings calculator to compare the operating cost of a TDI to others cars.

Source: Autobloggreen.com

Diesels We Can't Buy in North America

North America has been, let's face it, utterly slow in accepting diesel as an alternate fuel for passenger cars. To the average North American driver a diesel is what powers dumptrucks, farm tractors, and 18-wheeled rigs.

On the other side of the Atlantic where they average automobile driving consumer is somewhat more enlightened, diesels account for about half the passenger cars on the road.

Autobloggreen.com put together a gallery of 10 diesels available in Europe that are not sold here in North America.

Check out some of these numbers:

10) Chrysler Grand Voyager CRD - 9.4L/100km (25 mpg US)
9) Porsche Cayenne Diesel - 9.4L/100km (25 mpg US)
8) Volvo XC60 - 7.6L/100km (31 mpg US)
7) Jaguar XF S Diesel - 6.7L/100km (35 mpg US)
6) Honda Accord Tourer Type-S - 5.9L/100km (40 mpg US)
5) VW CC Blue TDi - 5.6L/100km (42 mpg US)
4) BMW 116d - 4.4L/100km (53 mpg US)
3) MINI Cooper D - 3.9L/100km (60 mpg US)
2) Ford Fiesta ecoNetic - 3.7L/100km (64 mpg US)
1) smart ForTwo CDI - 3.3L/100km (72 mpg US)

From minivans, to SUVs, to luxury sedans, to wagons, to compacts and subcompacts... each of these vehicles is sold in North America (not always the same name, but the same vehicle nonetheless) with a gasoline burning engine that doesn't even come close to the fuel economy of their diesel burning counterparts, and in some cases doesn't even match the performance numbers either.

Clash Of The (Diesel) Titans

The 2009 edition of the infamous Dakar Rally (formerly Paris-Dakar) kicks off in just over 6 hours from the time I'm writing this. Competing in that event will be Volkswagen with their TDI Touareg, and for the first time, Mitsubishi in the clean diesel powered Racing Lancer. They formerly entered this rally-raid event in a conventional gasoline powered Pajero. This is the first time two clean diesels will be facing off in the Dakar and it's shaping up to be an epic battle between these two powerhouses.

And just take a look at this video of the Racing Lancer!



That's about as much fun in a 4 wheeled vehicle as can be had!

Another Hybrid Aborted

As I mentioned here back in July, Audi is doing it's best to push diesels in North America over hybrids, thankfully.

Since diesels outperform hybrids on highways (where North Americans generally spend more time driving) this makes perfect sense to me.

Audi did, however, have plans to offer their Q7 & Q5 SUVs as hybrids to appease the masses. Thankfully, they've killed those plans and are sticking with TDI powerplants for these two trucks. Interestingly, they cite crash-test issues with the batteries. Since other automakers haven't canceled their hybrid production, I have to wonder if Audi found some issue the others haven't, or if they simply are being more exacting than the others.

In any case, they are bringing new (for them) fuel saving technologies to their lineup, including start-stop and other improvements akin to BMW's Efficient Dynamics.

Personally I'd wish they'd also spend more energy on bringing their TDI powered sedans, coupes, and roadsters here as well... especially the smaller ones like the A3.

Source: Autocar

Clean Diesel Gets Dirty!

Hmm... fishnets!

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Volkswagen entered a Clean Diesel powered Touareg in the Baja for the very first time and finished a respectable 13th in their class out of 26 starters.

Autoblog.com has a full article up now about their experience covering the event and watching the TDI (relatively) quietly perform.

Even better than that though, is this video from streetfire.net all about Volkswagen Motorsport's involvement with the project. It's awesome to see them stepping up with absolute commitment to developing and fielding ultra high performance diesel engines in racing.


Volkswagen TDI Touareg at the Baja 1000

VW Touareg TDI's First Outting

Last weekend was the 41st running of the Baja 1000 race in Mexico.

It was also the first time in the event's history that a Clean Diesel powered vehicle successfully competed in, and completed, the event. VW's Touareg TDI placed 13th in it's class of 26 trucks.

This Touareg TDI was powered by a 550-hp 5.5l V12 diesel, which is quite a bit more substantial than their forthcoming Dakar entry, but still... clean diesels are slowly but surely becoming an integral part of endurance motorsports.

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VW Jetta TDI Sets Guinness Record

Congrats to Helen and John Taylor, who set a new World Record by driving their 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI around the United States (the lower 48) while achieving a record setting overall fuel mileage of 58.82 miles per US gallon. That is 70.64 miles per Imperial gallon, or 3.99L/100km.

The trip of over 9,400 miles used just 11 tanks of gas and cost them only US$653.06.

You can learn more about them and read a journal of their entire trip on their official website.

(Image courtesy vw.ca)

Audi R10 TDI Takes All

2008 American Le Mans Series Championship: Check! (clinched with two races to go no less...)

2008 24 Hours Of Le Mans: Check! (despite heavy opposition from Peugeot's own diesel)

2008 European Le Mans Series Championship: Check! (again, despite heavy opposition from Peugeot)

Congratulations to Audi and the diesel powered R10 TDI for taking top honors in all three benchmarks for sportscar racing in the world!

(image courtesy autoblog.com)