Yet more power from small Diesels....

I agree with your comments about longevity.
Also the new engines cant take any contamination in the fuel system. Dont try to use Bio Fuel in them either.
Australian Fuel is not up to the euro specifications.

Related but slightly OT. Quite apart from fuel issues, I have doubts about the long term life of the new generation diesels in all brands. Diesels run at much higher compression ratios. Diesels used to be built much heavier than petrol engines because of the size of vehicles that used diesels and the high compression ratios. I suspect that in the search for better fuel figures, they are now being built much lighter and may not last nearly as long as diesel engines of the past. But on the other side, many who prefer petrol argues that the diesel injector maintenance is one of the hidden costs of diesels. I would think that as petrol engines are now all fuel injected, they would have roughly the same issues and maintenance costs. Anyone knowledgeable out there who can comment on these?

Yeh, think I might junk-out my 6.5 Chev V8 diesel and put a new 1.5 litre diesel donk with common rail and it will only use a teaspoon of diesel every 1000 klms and put out 400hp and a 1000nm of torque. Life expectancy: 1 week! hahahahaha

My old clunker will run on just about any oily substance that happens to be handy (so i believe). I'm happy that she only drinks about 17 litres/100km; but she'll do that all day and all night....up hill, down dale and with an all-up weight of around 5 tonne, including camper trailer.

I hope I'm never placed in a position where I HAVE to buy a new, computer-chip-controlled plastic-fantastic 4x4..... I think I'd rather give the game away to be quite honest.

Our neighbour has a little 4 door1.6 Getz and we pay similar rego as he does, the 3ltr Patrol is twice the size and weight.

Cheers

We'll have to wait and see, if these new diesels all expire within 5-6 years then I don't see people buying them again. What we don't have at our disposal is the engine build specs. Typically as you increase compression ratios and horsepower from a given design you usually upgrade the strength of the components. Nissan may have done this as I suspect all makers would.

I don't think it's a huge jump but what they fail to reveal is the torque figures down low in the RPM range, smaller capacity engines usually rely on RPM. A 3.0 litre diesel will make more torque down low than an identical 2.5 Litre etc etc.

1923 the average automobile engine had 20Hp and today they are getting well over that figure reliably with better fuel consumption.

Back in those day you were lucky to get 15000 miles out of them with out a rebuild.

1974 the old Holden red motor needed a rebuild at 160000 kilometers.

And today we are seeing well over 400000 kilometers with no real issues.

I think people are being naive regarding the reliability of these high tech diesels.

People soon forget the problems that a lot of the old motors had in there time
and the factory recalls.

High performance diesels have been around for over 10 years now and some people still can't get use to it....

OR they are finding excuses why not to buy a new vehicle.

What technical data have you got to say a new high tech diesels are ticking time bombs.

Had a D40 Navara towed in today, owner reckons it just died on the highway. Only one cyl. has any compression, haven't had a chance to dismantle it to find the problem yet.

Most of these vehicles will be traded and off the road within 10 years anyway.

Very few people keep a vehicle for it's usable life span. The market is skewed towards disposability and replacement with the new upgraded improved model every 2 to 5 years.

It is just a sad truth of our consumer society.

Modern cars are more reliable than ever but also have shorter lives and are far more expensive to repair and maintain than ever.

It is a disposable society we live in it is cheaper to replace things than to repair them.

Quoting 8l/100km seems fanciful
Older (current) model diesel uses more like 10-15 and delivers power just like you would expect, nothing down low and a big rush as revs climb. Load them up and they use more than the TD42ti
Not a bad thing but in commercial vehicles thats not what users want. Figures on engine performance only tell part of the story

Horses for courses in my view. I have small diesel car for my wife a new i30, does 25Km per year and even though diesel is more expensive than petrol it will pay back the difference in car cost in 14mths. Comes with 5 year 100K warranty. Its a hyundai so i am only intend to keep it for 3- 4 years, until just before the warranty runs out.

I dont care if the motor only lasts 200K Km instead of 400K Km. I wont be doing any more than 100K Km with it. I ma only concerned with running cost.

As mentioned by others the longevity of all motors has improved thorugh better QA, manufactruing and technology, as well as the cost. The cost of a new car compared to average annual income has also improved.

The other thing to keeo in mind in quoting life figures of old against new is that usually it is the engine internals that are referred to, yes a engine may have done 400k but how many times was the alternator, radiator, battery and the rest of the car parts, brakes, shockies replaced to get this mileage. Number of cars that I had when i was young that had great engine compression, but the body was falling apart or constantly broke down due to engine ancilliaries failing.

Now at least you have a better chance of the whole package going the distance.

I think i will stay with my old 82 hilux, with 2.4l 2L motor, it has being upgraded the motor, with the 5spd box i have sitting in the garage.

Finally got rid of a lot of noise in it.

I just passed a bloke in a new D/max or colorado with a caravan stuck on the side of the Bruce Hwy parked on a funny angle in the table drain with the bonnet up waiting for the racq. Must have dies quick to be in the position he was in.

Cheers
Dave