Just be prepared to pay for them. Audi USA honcho Johan De Nysschen explains to Automotive News [sub] that “there certainly is a price premium [for diesel offerings], which we are partially recovering but not totally.” Audi CEO Rupert Stadler adds, “I think the problem is that we don’t really have an honest discussion.” So here it is, America: Audi’s going out on a limb so that you can enjoy some of the finest oil-burners Europe has to offer. Now it’s up to us to buy tons of them at exorbitant prices so that Audi doesn’t look stupid for taking the risk. That’s just how these things work, America. Now go grab those checkbooks and start learning about the difference between low-sulfur diesel and ultra-low-sulfur diesel. And don’t forget to refill that urea tank!
For someone in the know….
is the US a net importer or exporter or self-sufficient in diesel?
IIRC, the US has some sort of imbalance due to refinery capacity/composition as you can’t squeeze more than X diesel or Y gasoline out of 1 barrel of oil.
Cue the outrage and/or “I’d buy one!”
That aside, for all the alleged diesel love on the interwebs, there’s a very good environmental argument against diesel, including “clean burning diesel” (oxymoron alert), even with the special piss. What do you do with the piss afterward? You can’t pour it in the gutter I’d imagine.
I believe the Urea is injected directly into the exhaust and reacts with it to form mostly harmless gasses such as nitrogen, so, there is no urea to dispose of, it is used up in the reaction.
Even if it isn’t used up, it’s a good fertilizer.
Makes no sense. Diesel car life cycle costs are significantly higher than gasoline versions. In Canada a diesel adds $800 to $5,000 to a vehicle’s price. Fuel is usually as expensive as premium gasoline. Ten years or more driving is required to recoup the differential through fuel savings. Many require a costly dealer only urea additive that must be replenished at every service interval to comply with emission laws else the engine computer shuts down. Market resistance forced BMW to discount its oil burners. Honda, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Nissan and Toyota have halted diesel programs.
Manufacturers intimate car diesels are more durable than gasoline engines but provide neither supporting evidence nor lengthier factory warranties. Diesel mechanics are in short supply making service largely dealer dependent and generating jaw dropping maintenance costs. Parts are expensive and availability spotty. A Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel requires dealer exclusive Mobile-1 ESP low ash synthetic oil at $250 per oil change. You have to save a lot of fuel money to pay for $250 oil changes!
Diesel fuel has a pervasive stench. Dispensing nozzles are always contaminated. It doesn’t easily wash off. Carry a box of disposable latex surgical gloves for refueling. The pump island area will be filthy resulting in soiled shoes and floor mats. You’ll throw away a lot of ’em. Perhaps one in ten filling stations dispenses diesel fuel. Though they have extraordinary range this makes diesels risky for drivers refueling in dark, dangerous neighborhoods. Always carry a current list of diesel outlets.
What do you do with the piss afterward?
You didn’t really ask that did you? Wow….
If you take NOx(oxides of nitrogent) and add NH3(urea) the reaction yields N2 (atmospheric nitrogen) and H2O(water).
I really don’t understand why there is a diesel premium. Are the engines really that much more expensive to make? Don’t the companies get the volume they need for mass production in europe already? I’m guessing that Audi and BMW are doing a bit of pricing gouging in North America on the oil burners. Love the torque though.
Aren’t diesel engines built with stronger parts to deal with the extra torque and compression?
Ill certainly look at a diesel next time. I have been watching the gas stations where I live and typically travel and I have yet to find diesel pumps. There are ALOT of diesel pickup trucks around here so nobody is complaining about of pumps around here.
I WANT that 50 mpg VW. Just wish my CR-V came with a diesel.
“If you take NOx(oxides of nitrogent) and add NH3(urea) the reaction yields NO2 (atmospheric nitrogen) and H2O(water).”
Um, NO2 is definitely not “atmospheric nitrogen”. My problem with this news is, 1 – they’re Audis, and 2 – they’re turbos. Burn me once…
Gardiner – That may be the situation in Canada, but it is different in the US. Diesel now costs less than premium pretty much everywhere, and less than regular in a number of places. I’d say roughly half of the gas stations in my area have diesel pumps, and usually they are no more dirty than the regular gas ones. Personally, I enjoy the smell of diesel fuel and exhaust, but I realize that is just quirk and don’t expect everyone to feel the same…
werewolf – I have thought the same thing, yes, the engines need heavier duty parts, but the extra material that goes into building them probably costs an extra couple bucks per engine at most. The lower volume of diesel engines produced vs gas probably has something to do with the extra cost as well, but nothing is stopping automakers from making all engines with the stronger blocks and internals and thus achieving some economy of scale.
Chris – That was likely a typo, you get N2 (which is atmospheric Nitrogen).
Once again, charging a lot more for greater economy is a non-starter. The entire point of economy cars getting good gas mileage is cheap to own, run and maintain. Charge too much for any of the three points and what’s the use?
That leaves Environmental Sensitivity as the remaining reason but it’s not part of the economy deal. Who cares what it costs when the polar bears are saved and sea levels fall. In fact, you can expect to pay more and not complain when the only reason becomes the environment.
Or the mantra of Reducing Our Dependence on Foreign Oil. Just don’t mention the trillions of gallons of oil we have on our own land.
If you take NOx(oxides of nitrogent) and add NH3(urea) the reaction yields N2 (atmospheric nitrogen) and H2O(water).
Chris, I don’t know what you mean :-P
6NO2 + 8NH3 –> 7N2 + 12H20
Equations need to balance but I got a B in chemistry
NulloModo: for what’s it worth, in Europe the diesel versions of the Audi are really popular. When I lived there, the 2.0 TDI was the most common engine I saw on the A3, A4 and A6s screaming past me on the freeways
The primary reason for the extra costs is not so much in the engine internal parts, but the very expensive peripherals: turbo charger, intercooler, the ultra-high pressure injection pump, the pizeo-electronic injectors, the soot particle filters, etc…
A modern diesel that meets US standards costs $2-3k more to build than a conventional (non-turbo) gas engine. That’s about the same, or more than the incremental costs for Toyota’s hybrid system.
NH3 is ammonia, not urea. Urea is CO(NH2)2. It is a highly water-soluble odorless compound, seen as colorless crystals or white prills. Its main use is as a component for urea-formaldehyde resins, used as glue for particle board or plywood. I used to see flatbed trucks loaded with sacks of the stuff many years ago when I worked at a u-f resin plant; it is by no means expensive or difficult to obtain. If diesel manufacturers require you to buy it from them to save your warranty they’re just using people’s ignorance of chemistry to make more money.
And parenthetically, there is a lot of ignorance of chemistry afoot in the land: carbon dioxide being thought of as a pollutant being a prime example.
It would be easy for car manufacturers to supply urea in solution form. It is so soluble in water that 1000 grams of it can be dissolved in a liter of water.
I’d be interested to know the cost differences between the Chrysler 5.7L HEMI, the Hyundai RS3800, GM’s LLT V6, Ford’s 3.5L Ecoboost, and the VW 3.0TDI.
Ummm, the urea IS provided in solution form. AdBlue (“diesel exhaust fluid”) is a liquid solution.
And, to Gardiner Westbound, you must live in Toronto. So do I, and you don’t know what you are talking about. At the Shell station around the corner from my house, diesel fuel is currently 10 cents per litre less than regular gasoline. REGULAR gasoline. Not premium. And the pump doesn’t stink.
And yes, I did the cash flow break-even calculation. With the Jetta, you break even on cash flow in about 50,000 km give or take. I’m at 248,000 and counting. Cha-ching.
By the way, the most I have ever had to do in order to find diesel fuel, was ask at a station that didn’t have it, where was the closest one that did. Answer was something like “Marathon – turn right there and go down the road about a mile.” Around here, it’s more like every other filling station that has diesel – certainly not one in ten. But it scarcely matters … I can do Ottawa and back, and never have to fill up anywhere other than the Shell around the corner …
The exhaust of the 335d I test drove smelled like absolutely nothing, to the point of being slightly unnerving. I’m not sure if BMW is discounting them at all, but to my understanding a 335d cost the same as a 335i with a tiptronic option box checked, before the federal tax break. Maybe Audi is trying to justify their premium…they’ve already got people paying $40,000 for four-cylinder front wheel drive cars.
Paul – I get where you are coming from, but all of that extra stuff shouldn’t add up to an extra $3000. A turbocharger is a bunch of pipes and a turbine, an intercooler is just a radiator, high pressure injectors shouldn’t cost that much in the quantity that an automaker would buy them in, if they don’t just build them themselves, and particulate filters are just mufflers with some extra junk inside.
Hearing how it costs thousands more to build a diesel engine pisses me off just like hearing how GM supposedly lost over $10,000 on every Solstice sold or how it costs Bugatti $5 million to build a Veyron – all of it is bullshit. Actual cost to built something is just cost of the materials needed and the wages of the labor doing the work, keep R&D costs, factory fitting, marketing, and all the rest of the creative accounting out of it because it doesn’t mean squat.
Yeah, diesels are bunk, and the rest of the world is wrong. Hatchbacks and station wagons suck too…
That out of the way, it really pissed me off when smart decided to import only the gas version of the four two and not the diesel. The diesel can return upto 70mpg, with corresponding longevity. I pulled my deposit.
And the circa 2000 TDI’s, if I remember correctly, returned mileage in the high 40’s to low 50’s. Then VW yanked them, only to return with diesels sporting more power, but less efficiency (fewer mpg’s). Blah.
The typical complaints about diesel are crap. I often fill at pumps that can dispense either gas or diesel. No, I don’t use the same nozzle, but I stand in the same area. My floor mats are fine, and I still make fill-ups with “petrol,” wishing I was filling up with the diesel stuff.
I’d love to have more diesel choices. And if my “diesel choice” could come by way of a small displacement, diesel wagon, that would be awesome.
Hey VW, how about the Polo?
Ive learned a few things driving the only Saab turbodiesel in the USA these past five years. Ill try to shed some light.
@ss-
There is a worldwide glut of gasoline and worldwide demand of diesel. We export diesel and get gasoline on the return.
Clean burning diesel could be more of a reality if the quality(cetane, the higher the number the easier it ignites, resulting in lower compressions needed to fire and consequently lower NOxs and NVH)of the fuel were higher than maybe 40. Theres no stickers anywhere so it may be LESS than that. Biodiesel is 47 and “premium diesel” is alleged to be 45 and its even higher in EU. There seems to be no impetus by any US govts or refiners to change that, so well be trying to meet exceedingly tougher emission specs with tractor fuel. We need to have “auto diesel” most everywhere.
My car runs fine on 100% Bio but ya cant use it in the north when it gets to ~40F.
In 03, there was no price difference between the diesel or gas turbos at the factory.
Only engines above 2L seem to require urea systems.
@GW-
I also cant understand how the Mobil1 that can be had for $5/qt isnt good enough for those that require the ESP. Whats in the stuff? A teaspoon of cocaine? Crazy. Diesel Mechanics?? If you can change a fuel filter cartridge, youre 3/4s there.
Diesels arent for everybody, never were, never will be. Ive had girls call me that want to go biodiesel huge…for two miles a day. Get a frking bicycle. But if youre constantly driving, putting on 50 miles/day minimum, cops, cabs, delivery, fleets, commuting, sales…they rock.
Why four cylinder, under 2L diesels cant be made here?? No clue.
And a diesel hybrid that could run on only batteries for 20 miles or an hour would be sweet.
NulloModo, wishing it otherwise won’t change the reality; things cost what they cost.
The urea injection thing sounds so 1920’s; seems like a better solution should be available.
As for having an ‘honest discussion’ about why it’s OK to pay steep premiums for diesel vehicles, well, that sounds like the prelude to the same discussion about buying a Volt.
joeveto3 –
The 2000 VW Jetta TDI was rated at 35/44 compared to the 30/42 for the 2010 model, using the revised 2008 EPA estimates (the original sticker for the 2000 model rated it higher, but used the less realistic pre-2008 testing regiment). The 2000 made 90hp/155 lbs/ft vs the 2010 that makes 140hp/236 lbs/ft, I’d say that’s a pretty fair trade off.
You also have to be really careful comparing fuel economy ratings for US cars vs European cars. If you are looking at British ratings, the British gallon is larger than the US gallon, and the European city/highway ratings are always rather inflated compared to the US EPA ratings.
I know there’s no mention of specific engines here, but if Audi is going to share the 2.0 turbo mill from the Passat, it doesn’t use any urea at all, does it? I may well be wrong, but am under the impression that VW’s 2.0 turbodiesel is a common rail high pressure injection engine that does NOT require or use a urea injection system, and yet is 50-state legal. (And relatively clean-burning.)
Am I mistaken? Because it sure seems as though that’s the first diesel Audi would spec, since the paperwork’s already done. (And it got a decent TTAC review to boot!)
I wonder if Thetford Corp. could come up with a filter that would let you make your own urea. Well, extract your own urea.
The primary reason for the extra costs is not so much in the engine internal parts,
Even the hard parts are more expensive to make in a diesel engine. The block, head, and connecting rods have to be able to withstand a much higher compression ratio. The late, unlamented Oldsmobile diesel was the result of bean counters deciding to reengineer a gasoline engine into an oil burner.
Ain’t no free. Hybrids, diesel, direct injection, turbos, superchargers, etc. they all cost money.
All I’ve got to add is that here in little ol’ NZ I drive an X-Trail diesel (2.0), and I love it! I used to drive a petrol one (2.5), and I by far prefer the diesel. Diesel here is about 2/3 the price of petrol (due to taxation differences). That said (full disclosure and all) I work for Nissan, and I don’t pay for the servicing (or gas, or RUC) so I guess that’s just my opinion from driving it. Gets about 8l/100km (I think that’s about 30mpg in your crazy units?). We also have a 2.5 diesel in the Navara (Frontier) and that’s pretty sweet too, although my preference would be the V6 on that one. I guess if you were looking to own you’d want to do your figures on total life ownership costs. Also, our diesels don’t have SCR, but DPF, so no urea additions.
Re Gardiner Westbound :
“Though they have extraordinary range this makes diesels risky for drivers refueling in dark, dangerous neighborhoods….” As opposed to a safer nighttime activity in said neighborhood (Scarborough, perhaps)
I wouldn’t consider Mississauga and especially Oakville “dangerous neighborhoods” – and there’s plenty of diesels stations around here.
Ok, we get it… you don’t like diesels, and the economics don’t work out in your favor, that’s all you had to say.
There is a lot of ignorance of chemistry afoot in the land: carbon dioxide being thought of as a pollutant being a prime example.
I hear ya’. Tell me again about how poisonous H2O is after I’ve held you underwater for 5 minutes.
Diesels also emit a lower amount of “harmless” CO2 per kilometre which is a common consideration for company car taxes in Europe.
Wife’s care is a 2006 VW TDI. It’s her second TDI, and a great engine. It typically yields 50+ mpg on the highway and 45+ mpg combined. The DSG gearbox is awesome.
I wish someone would build a minivan with this drive train, or a small SUV.
I don’t get the V10 configuration, a 4 or 6 is plenty adequate.
I am against diesels if it means more of those goddammed ugly Audi behemoths on the road.
I’d love a tiny little diesel such as one in a smart that can get me 70mpg. That would put me at just under 1 gallon/day.
In the meanwhile, I’ll stick with the (already-paid-off) motorcycle.
The 23mpg car gets driven about 5 times/month until winter rolls around.
If the German big 3 or 4 (Audi Merc BMW and VW) know what’s good for them in the long run, and given the level of Diesel Illiteracy still existing in the US Market (many think today’s diesels are like GM’s 80s execrable conversion jobs!),
They not only need to advertise and educvate the public like CRAZY,
They also need to ABSORB ALL the extra cost of the diesel until sales really pick up!
Engine internals do have to be beefed up to deal with the higher compression, higher journal loads at lower speeds, and higher combustion shock loads.
When I was a kid in the 80s and Mercedes diesels were commonplace I once asked my dad why they sounded funny. He explained diesel as “y’know how it’s bad for gasoline engines to ping and spark knock? Pre-ignition is how diesels run.” Think about building a gas engine that can pre-ignite at 20:1 compression and not blow up in short order. It’s not quite that bad because diesel fuel isn’t as explosive, but you get the idea.
Actual cost to built something is just cost of the materials needed and the wages of the labor doing the work, keep R&D costs, factory fitting, marketing, and all the rest of the creative accounting out of it because it doesn’t mean squat.
Remind me never to go into to business with you. The cost of building something has to include a percentage of the cost it took to design it, test it, provide a warranty on it. none of this stuff is free.
The cost increase for clean turbo diesel compared with a NA port injection gas engine is large for a very good reason.
1. Fuel pressure modern diesels inject fuel at up to 2000 Bar compared to approximately 100 bar for port injection. remember 1 bar is ~ 1 atmosphere (or 14.5 psi)
2. Turbos are high speed devices – most automotive devices run in excessive of 150,000 rpm.
3. The biggest reason though is the after treatment. A gas engine can get away with a 3 way catalyst which has been around since the stone age. clean diesels need a particulate trap (normally a DPF) and a lean NOx converter (either a Lean NOx trap that needs high temps to regenerate or SCR which needs ammonia to reduce the NOX).
Now compared to a direct injection turbocharged gasoline like Ford’s Ecoboost then these cost differences diminish – but then so does the fuel economy benefit.
I agree that the Premium makes should be able to absorb so of the cost of diesel in the US while they establish a foot hold.
I also think if you really want diesel to succeed there needs to be a halo car (like the prius is for Hybrids) that gets outstanding fuel economy. My vote is of the Ford Fiesta with the 1.6 (90 or 110 bhp) that gets over 55 mpg(US) and already has a DPF – This is the same diesel engine that is used in the Mini Cooper D in Europe (developed by Peugeot)
You know, the hypocrisy of comments about the extra cost of diesels on car sites is really unbelievable.
People act like paying $3K – if it’s only for environmental reasons – is some kind of crazy. Okay, tell me you’ve never spent money on something that didn’t have a short-term payback. Oh, what’s that? We’re on a car site? Is this where people repeatedly talk about paying tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars for horsepower they don’t need, wide tires or 4WD mechanisms they will rarely (if ever) use, the effect of a given curve of sheet metal upon the desirability of an automobile, or where people laud car companies (*cough* Porsche), which charge $5K for a $1K stainless exhaust?
I drive a sports car. I paid more for it because I like it. But people act like someone is batshit insane because they’re willing to pay a 10% premium on their car to use half the fossil fuel. As far as I’m concerned, that $3K is money just as well spent satisfying an inner environmentalist as inner horsepower junkie.
So get over it. It’s a tired argument. Every one of us is willing to pay more for certain features on an automobile than others. Some people could care less about driving dynamics; some people view V8s as a waste of money. And that’s okay. It’s like we have some sickness in America where we love to talk about how much money someone else “wasted” on something we don’t find valuable, like organic food or recycled paper towels or local groceries. Guess what? Money isn’t everything. And please don’t try to act like every purchasing decision you make is rational.
I’d pay $3K more to double my torque in a NY minute, if the car could be counted on to hold together for a while.
Aren’t diesel engines built with stronger parts to deal with the extra torque and compression?
Yes, but the problem isn’t the block, cylinders or head. When was the last time you heard of a gas engine cracking the block in normal usage? Even head gasket issues aren’t as common as they used to be. The “diesel engines are stronger” doesn’t really matter, not when a large part of the cost of repair isn’t something that diesels fix.
The problem with diesels is the same as hybrids: there’s a lot of accessories needed to make it work. These ain’t your grandfather’s naturally-aspirated Mercedes: A modern TDI has a turbocharger, which thusly requires and intercooler and other associated plumbing. There’s the fuel injection system, which is much, much higher-pressure than what a gas engine comes with. Then there’s emissions control. By the time you add all this up, the diesel premium is more or less on-par with what Toyota dings your for on the Camry vs Camry hybrid. And (HSD-like) hybrids are proving themselves to be reliable.
This isn’t to say diesel isn’t a bad idea. I’d like to see diesels as an option for heavy cars that do a lot of long-haul, high-load driving (eg, crossovers). The problem, as with hybrids, will be that price premium. Consumers will have to become amenable to paying more money for a relatively ethereal benefit.
@imag:
I actually agree with you in spite of my earlier comments, but most people buy a diesel for only 3 reasons: increased fuel economy, increased torque, or long engine life.
A diesel purchase based upon increased fuel economy or long engine life should have an economic rationale behind it, or the point is moot.
A diesel purchase based upon increased torque doesn’t need any economic rationale, just like the purchase of a sports car, luxury car, or some high-tech vehicle, or to be ‘green’ just because you love trees.
Diesel is on part with, or slightly cheaper than, gasoline in the US now, but I wouldn’t count on that lasting. Remember, when oil prices were high and gas shot up last summer, diesel was MUCH more expensive. Also remember that when buying gasoline you’re competing in the market with other gasoline motorists, when buying diesel you are competing with home heating oil, just about every industrial generator user in the world, trucks, railroads, ships, etc. When the economy recovers and all this activity picks up, diesel will go up. Way up.
And it’s very difficult and expensive to change the refinery mix, so it’s not like more diesel can be easily produced if the demand soars.
I like the idea of getting high gas mileage numbers and lots of torque, but I think you should expect diesel prices to exceed gasoline by 10-20% going forward, if you’re going to be realistic about it.
That wouldn’t stop me from considering a diesel, but we gotta be realistic about it.
Man that Audi has a double chin. Looks like an odd GIMP or Photoshopped front end.
Anyhow – if we were REALLY concerned about having diesels in America then we’d be working to switch all the highway trucks, tractors, construction vehicles and locomotives off of diesel and onto something like gasoline or overhead power (trucks and trains).
No, diesel is fine. It’s just that somebody makes alot of money off of the way things are right now and they don’t want to let it change too much.
If automobile manufacturers such as the Germans want to sell us diesels then they better flatten the price difference for a while, and educate us diesel ignorant Americans. I have only rarely had the pleasure of discussing a good diesel CAR engine with a person around here. There are plenty of cowboy wannabes driving big trucks that are diesel but it’s more of a vehicle accessory than a need for them.
I’ll take a diesel tourer – big Eurovan or Sprinter or Mercedes thanks. Two wee little commuter EVs for daily driving.
Mekkon
You are right. VW uses a special catalyst that has a self-regenerating cycle. No urea.
Never let anyone tell you VW doesn’t engineer the piss out of their cars!
The A3 TDI will be here early 2010, for an extra 10mpg highway that means I’ll save about $400 a year in fuel. If I can’t recover the cost of the diesel upgrade within 3 years I’ll buy another gasoline car. And yea with over 30,000 miles I’m happy with my A3.
“The A3 TDI will be here early 2010, for an extra 10mpg highway that means I’ll save about $400 a year in fuel. If I can’t recover the cost of the diesel upgrade within 3 years I’ll buy another gasoline car. ”
A good diesel, such as those in M-B Taxicabs in Europe, lasts 500,000 miles, which is more than 20 years in normal private car usage.
When you sell your diesel after 3 years, the savings of the extra 17 years will be reflected in the resale value, which is far superior to the gas equivalent model.
Go to Cars.com and search for used Mercedes GL, for example, the regular GL 550 gas is far cheaper than the.. GL 320 TDI! Despite the TDI’s smaller engine. And in some cases the difference is so huge, $10k, that, as much as I am a big Diesel fan, I would not recover this premium, EVER, regardless how thirsty the 550 is.
And yea with over 30,000 miles I’m happy with my A3.
As much as worrying over a relatively moderate price premium on a diesel car may be overblown, diesel’s supposed “environmental benefit” is even more speculative. Diesels give higher miles per gallon, but at the same time emit more co2 per gallon burned, as its more energy dense. On balance, you still get a few more miles per amount of co2, but the difference is substantially less than mpg figures would indicate.
Balancing this small decrease in CO2 emissions, is increased emissions of genuinely nasty particulates. Only the very latest diesel engines have reduced these to levels sane people, as opposed to Europeans, would even consider putting up with. The newest engines are good, but the particle filters kill some of their efficiency, further reducing their advantage in CO2 output per mile. The filter also needs regular replacement, which I’m sure is no sweat for the “upscale enviro” crowd that clamor for these things when new, but I suspect once the cars are cheap old junkers, they’ll revert to their stinky inner self. In Europe some people even take the filter off brand new cars, to gain a few extra mpg and a few horsepower. That’s what happens when the buyer mix expands to include regular people on tight budgets, as opposed to exclusively fashion conscious (sub)urbanites.
In addition, there are plenty of towns where gas is easily available at reasonably sanitary pumps, but where diesel is both harder to come by, and is only sold at pumps catering to commercial users. Leaving you waiting in soot smell hell, in the midst of big, noisy machinery, in your new Euro fashion buggy. Upscale urban filling stations with clean diesel pumps catering primarily to Jet Ski tovers and greenies, are not the norm in all places in the US. Unlike on the if-it-smells-spray-some-perfume-on-it continent, where passenger cars burning diesel is more common, and the diesel infrastructure is more like the gas infrastructure everywhere.
Most US diesel new cars and trucks are sold immediately, and have tiny inventories, esp. the German imports. VW and others are ambitious to increase their sales here, and the easiest way to achieve this is to substantially increase their allocation of diesel vehicles in the US, and price them competitively to their gas equivalents, and not ask for $10k more, as with some domestic Diesel Full Size Trucks!!!
The reason that the Touareg, Q7, X5, and ML diesels use Urea injection is due to weight. If the Tiguan came in diesel, it would require Urea.
The Jetta and forthcoming new Golf get away with particulate filters as compacts.
The diesel particulate filter is self cleaning and is not designed to be replaced on an interval basis.
@ stuki
Euro 4 (1998 I think) & 5 (2005) diesels don’t emit anything like the particulates you seem to be indicating.
you still get a few more miles per amount of co2
You might like to peruse through this site.
Unfortunately I can’t give you a direct comparison link, but configure it to give you “Any” CO2 range, VW as the make, 5 Doors and 2.0-2.5L as the engine size. Sort it by grams of CO2/km to see the relative values.