GM's second attempt at diesels in the U.S. - hopefully better than the first (which this article has an interesting history of) GM Prepares U.S. Market for its Diesels, Chevy Cruze to Debut First Article continues here
The swan song seems to be more power and torque at similar or up to 10% better $/mile fuel costs compared to petrol. That should appeal to Merkins who could not care less about emissions, although the purchase, maintenance and repair costs are unknown, as is general reliability.
I'd love to see the GM diesel succeed but they're going to have to build the right vehicle and convince the American people before that happens.
But European GM diesels on which the Cruze is very largely based are not known for their reliability though Very few of my taxi driver friends buy them any longer because of reliability issues. The main problem will be the dualmass flywheel and the fact that the two parts like to come apart from each other causing all sorts of vibrations and problems. I think they have tried to correct this issue and now give a 100,000 mile warranty to try to instil confidence, but a poor reputation takes a while to put right. I just hope they have fully corrected the problem before release to America or diesels will get a stinking reputation for another reason. BMW and Renault/Citroen diesels are great though. Toyota diesels are so so and Ford diesels are c**p. IMHO
Uh oh. From what I understand (I was pretty young back then), GM diesels of the late 70s to early 80s were crap. It's mentioned at 10 Cars That Damaged GM's Reputation (With Video) - Popular Mechanics. To top it off, the Cruzes here (gasoline only, of course) have the dubious distinction of having the worst reliability in Consumer Reports of small cars. GM better fix those problems or else they're going to sour Americans on diesels again. edit: Whoops, would've helped if I'd read the article the OP posted first...
I wouldn't give modern diesels a chance according to these words, GC LOL LOL IMPOV modern diesels can be good in long stretches, and for professional purposes...in other less intensive use, disadvantages come up...
Those early GM diesels were crap because they tried to cut cost by using gasoline engine parts. VW did the same thing at the time with the engine's top end.
Even with increased fuel prices diesel has yet to find a place in the US and I doubt this car will help it much. Hybrid tech has already leapfrogged it and seems to go fine with gas vehicles. Whether this car does well or not will depend on the price; I didn't see it mentioned in that article. I imagine it will bump the Cruze well into Prius price territory, however.
Boy, those early GM diesels were interesting. It certainly wasn't a "clean" event when my neighbor's Olds Cutlass went up in clouds of black smoke!
It will depend on the prices of the vehicle and fuel. Then i hope they learned from other brands, it better be reliable. Diesels do well in other countries and i would like to see them succed here.
