NY Times: Cruze "Fossil fuel milage champ"; hybrids still win city, burbs

And so it is on MyNissanLeaf.com and GM-Volt.com, and so on.
Yes, one will have a bias for a car they've already purchased. No one wants to think they've made a 'bad' decision. It is all totally subjective anyhow, as every driver has different needs and requirements from their car.

The problem arises when one makes sweeping generalizations (e.g. "ALL hybrids perform poorly") or makes a claim that is technically, empirically incorrect (e.g. "it takes less petroleum to make diesel than gasoline") or false comparisons (e.g. "15 diesels in Europe have better mpg than the Prius" (leaving out the fact that they are all smaller and less roomy)).

At the risk of sounding obvious:
Positive comparison: "The car gets a Prius-like 42 mpg"
Negative comparison: "The car will out-perform any hybrid"

This applies no matter what car we are talking about. It's not existing owners that are reading these articles, it is prospective new-car buyers who may be new to the whole alt-fuel scene.
Any attempts to spread FUD in their minds should be refuted promptly, no matter what car type it is about.

And for the record, I hate it when I hear the following about modern diesels: stinky, smelly, dirty, black smoke, piss tank, etc.
Today's diesels are clearly clean, quiet and efficient. They make great highway cruisers and are at least part of the solution to our energy woes, especially if we can get production of biodiesel scaled up.

 

Are they? I don't have much experience around the latest Diesel engines. Why would they be quieter than the older diesels? I assume they are still notably louder than an otherwise comparably sized gasoline engine. Is that true?

 

No, it isn't, you are posing a very good question. Latest Diesel engines are getting quieter than older diesels, but Petrol engines kept up from the back, too.
So as per today, gasoline engines are still much quieter than diesels. At idle is a big difference, and vibration at all rpms.
If Diesels are acceptable now, Otto is a new age of velvet.

 

Diesels do offer advantages. If my drive was mostly open highway, I probably would have given more thought to one.

But I get stuck in traffic a lot, so in theory the hybrid us a better choice if fuel efficiency is the concern.

Plus the VW high pressure fuel pump stories were quite adequate to scare me off from a brand I was already skeptical of from their reputation. And I know the Cruze motor isn't "new", but I can't say I didn't think of past attempts GM made at diesel cars.

 

Ultimately it has to do with one's requirements, the type and style of driving:

• Urban - hybrids rule
• Highway - diesels and hybrids have parity
• Payload +1,500 lbs - diesels (today)

Bob Wilson

 

I said 'quiet', not 'quieter' than either previous diesels or current gasoline engines......but, from the article:

While the Cruze’s engine is already quieter than rackety old-school diesels, the car adopted extra sound padding from its pricier cousin, the Buick Verano. A structural brace on the engine cradle counteracts vibration from the higher idle speed.

 

From the article:

The gasoline Cruze is already among the most hushed cars in its class. But in some situations, Chevy says the diesel is measurably quieter than the gas engine.

Of course that's Chevy talking, not the NYT. Given their rhetoric on hybrids, though, I would take anything the NYT reporters have to say about any alt-fuel tech with a very large grain of salt.

 

On a review of the new Ford Super Duty diesel, Wayne Gerdes said the gas station attendants thought the truck was gasoline powered from its low level of noise.

Diesels can have a different 'note', that sets them apart from a gas engine, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's louder. Your brain might register it as louder because it's different than the norm.

 

"Measurably" means NVH has been assessed by GM in this Cruze?
That is good, because harshness comes with many new diesel engines here in Europe, like the 1.3 CDTI. In a cold condition, we may think something's wrong by the sound of it...

 

Is it 3 or 4 cylinders?

 

I wonder how much of the Cruze's extra weight was put on to dampen NVH.

 

1.3cdti is 4-cyl.

VW has a 3 cyl which is...less than a earthquake...

 

I believe one article stated the engine added 124lbs. The diesel uses a larger battery and alternator. Then there is the urea tank(plus 40 pounds of the fluid), DPF, and the cat. convertor might weight more. It has a different transmission. Which is likely beefed up for the torque. It has 17" wheels v. the base's 16" and Eco's light weight 17". Some changes to the suspension.

The engine braces might have been needed regardless of NVH purposes. The sound insulation can add up on a car, but the extra here is only added to the firewall. My really, really high guess is 50lbs. It is more likely a small part of the weight increase.

 

Honda makes a compact diesel for emerging markets called the 'amaze.' I found this review interesting as it relates to these questions of trade-offs required to make a diesel car competitive with petrol.

A between-the-lines read of the review suggests that the 10% extra weight was in no small measure NVH related, although I could not sort out how much of the extra weight may have been from putting a larger chassis on the frame.

 

I'm surprised it only gained 124 pounds after all the things you mentioned. In addition, my impression is that the engine block itself has to be stronger (heavier) than an equivalent gas engine in order to handle the long-term increased pounding from the higher piston compression but I've never seen actual engine block weight comparisons.

 

Here's a comparison where you can compare weights and sound levels between various engines (hybrid, diesel, gasoline) in the same car.

Final Scoring, Performance Data, and Complete Specs

 

If anyone has the expertise to engineer their way out of diesel NVH, VW is probably it since they are a huge company that sells diesel cars as a core product.

I suspect GM just threw shit at the Cruze until they could not hear it anymore.

 

More accurately, current diesels are as clean as the dirtiest new petrol cars allowed in the US.

*Very* faint praise.

I otherwise agree with the remainder of your post.

 

The 124lbs was for the engine alone. The car gained 300lbs. The majority of the weight increase went into the drive train.

Like nearly all of Toyota's line up. The Camry, Corolla, Yaris, Sienna, Highlander, Rav4, and Tacoma are all bin 5. In Carb states their rating might move up to 6. The BMW 328d is going to be at least ULEV.

 

That was so depressing to read, I checked Toyota's site. The Camry has ULEV II standard across the 2013 trims. I didn't check the others.