J8 (Diesel) Enters production!

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Fri Nov 14, 2008 10:39 pm

http://jeepin.net/news/jeep-j8-production-begins

hehehe.....need more pics.......

geordi · **Posted:** Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:03 am

That powertrain sounds suspiciously familiar...

But what I have to say overall about it:

WANT THAT.

Now... How do we sneak it into the USA?

Sir Sam · **Posted:** Sat Nov 15, 2008 12:35 am

geordi wrote:

That powertrain sounds suspiciously familiar...

But what I have to say overall about it:

WANT THAT.

Now... How do we sneak it into the USA?

Lol, it aint gonna happen.

CRDMiller · **Posted:** Sat Nov 15, 2008 3:21 am

DROOL. Perhaps now it will be easier to source a water pump?

fastRob · **Posted:** Sat Nov 15, 2008 7:12 pm

Why is this not available here?

A disgrace, is what it is!

Available in a third world country but not here.

Does that make us fourth world?

How many companies have spent millions (billions) trying to meet EPA regs only to have tha bar raised?

geordi · **Posted:** Sun Nov 16, 2008 3:50 am

I can reduce the emissions of any vehicle by 30% instantly: Install a diesel engine that gets 30% better mileage per gallon of fuel.

Something the EPA has ignored in it's race to jump into bed with the oil industry:

Want to make less emissions? BURN LESS FUEL! It doesn't matter how you do it, but the FASTEST way is to simply switch to diesel. Even a better idea: Actually go after the polluters that make FAR MORE crap than any millions of cars: POWER PLANTS. They are stationary, and a sizable percentage burn OIL in various flavors. Are they being forced to inject URINE into their exhaust?

No, of course not... B/c their crap doesn't stink. Their highly paid lobbyists said so.

JL Rockies · **Posted:** Mon Nov 17, 2008 12:18 pm

Lobbyists kick booty.

chadhargis · **Posted:** Tue Nov 18, 2008 11:47 am

Auto manufacturers wonder why they are going broke??

It's because they don't give us the vehicles we want. Have they not noticed that anything with a diesel sells like hotcakes here in the US and if you can find one used, they are still freakin' expensive.

Case in point, look at a VW Jetta TDI. New, they are around $25,000, and when I was looking for one, I was finding examples 4 and 5 years old with 60,000 to 80,000 miles for $19,000....and people were buying them before I could get to the dealership to look at it. The only deal I found was a 2003 model, 5-speed, leather, sunroof...the works.....53,000 miles....they wanted $16,000 for it. It sold before I got to the dealership. Sat on the lot less than one day.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:45 pm

chadhargis wrote:

Auto manufacturers wonder why they are going broke??

It's because they don't give us the vehicles we want. Have they not noticed that anything with a diesel sells like hotcakes here in the US and if you can find one used, they are still freakin' expensive.

Case in point, look at a VW Jetta TDI. New, they are around $25,000, and when I was looking for one, I was finding examples 4 and 5 years old with 60,000 to 80,000 miles for $19,000....and people were buying them before I could get to the dealership to look at it. The only deal I found was a 2003 model, 5-speed, leather, sunroof...the works.....53,000 miles....they wanted $16,000 for it. It sold before I got to the dealership. Sat on the lot less than one day.

No argument there. Over on tdiclub, one gent reported watching Charlie Rose on PBS. He was interviewing one of the high level execs with Ford. Charlie asked him why they didn't bring over some of the high mileage diesel models they were selling in Europe. Exec's answer was simply "Americans won't buy diesels". :shock:

So much for market research. :roll:

geordi · **Posted:** Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:05 pm

An article on CNN.com right now has an interview with Alan Mullaly of Ford, and basically the jist of it his answers were the expected.

"We focused on improving the existing internal combustion engine first, before looking at the issue of hybrids" (Translation: We want to continue to build high-margin gas vehicles, rather than low-profit-margin hybrids that get better MPG. Better MPG doesn't make us more money)

"We focused advertising on the F-150 which is an extremely popular truck that people want to buy" (Because it is an EXTREMELY high margin vehicle for us, especially when built in Mexico, and heaven forbid we might actually reduce our own profit a hair by putting a diesel into it. Of course, we've never TRIED selling it with a diesel in the USA, so obviously nobody would want it with a 4-cyl diesel that can pull 11,000 lbs and get 30mpg + when unloaded)

"We were the first US car maker with a hybrid for sale, the Escape"

(Which was the FIRST gen tech bought from Toyota b/c we are too dumb to do it ourselves, and even then... The Escape was a high-margin SUV. Oh, and that 'hybrid' system? Was BUTCHERED in the computer, so that the gas engine was FORCED to start when you first turn the key. Not for any mechanical reason, no. So that the idiots in the FOCUS GROUP knew that the car was ready to move, b/c they couldn't tell, even after turning the key! It was also originally programmed to ONLY use the electric as a "horsepower assist" so that the gas engine was ALWAYS providing motive force and wasting fuel, unlike the Prius which can operate on electric only for extended periods... Everywhere but the USA.)

(Oh, and our 2nd-gen hybrids, the 2005+ Escape and Mariner STILL are SUVs, we can't possibly put the system into the Focus, which is the same size car as the Prius, but isn't a high-margin vehicle for Ford... But these new hybrids are better! They can operate for up to TWO WHOLE MILES in electric-only... After we still force the engine to start, and run until it heats up the emissions equipment. We haven't discovered that the battery can be allowed to charge to more than 80% and discharge lower than 60%... So thats why it only goes two miles. But charge it with a diesel or a plug-in? Ha ha! That would never sell!)

Allright, I might be reading in a little bit to the article, since he NOT ONCE mentioned anything outside the USA, OR that Ford uses diesels at all. But we all know plenty about the capabilities of the diesel, if they would just TRY THEM in smaller vehicles. Heck, even in the big ones. Ford's plan with diesels has always been to add a $7000 PURE PROFIT CHARGE to the purchase price from Navistar, rather than develop them in-house. And don't even get me started about Ford's brilliant idea to over-rev the Navistar engines with not enough transmission gears, and a computer re-map. "But but but... We gots ta sell them truks with big HP numbers so's the buyer will feel like he's gots a bigger tool!"

chadhargis · **Posted:** Tue Nov 18, 2008 5:32 pm

Evidently, only Europeans are stupid enough to buy diesels huh??

Grrrrr! :evil:

http://greenproductsblog.blogspot.com/2 ... atorq.html

Cowcatcher · **Posted:** Tue Nov 18, 2008 7:36 pm

Well Ford apparently ditched the F150 4.4 V8 diesel project. I might have helped them out with a purchase although they would have captured me quicker with a stong 4 or a 6. I really don't need a heavy 3/4 ton extended cab anymore but I need the pulling power for the cattle trailer and the 20 year old Chev is getting a little thread bare.

chadhargis · **Posted:** Tue Nov 18, 2008 9:27 pm

Can't just blame American auto makers. The EPA has a hand in it too.

Foreign auto makers have some great diesels, but making them EPA compliant would add too much cost to the vehicle.

J8 (Diesel) Enters production!

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