Who'll make the first diesel minivan??

Driver72

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I know it's not sexy or whatever, but the fact of the matter is, anybody with a family, a minivan is invaluable and form/function trumps image when you need a practical people/cargo carrier.
Minivan's FAR exceed large SUV's in ease of entry, loading in cargo and gas mileage as it is.
I've wondered for several years who would not only make the first HYBRID gas/electric minivan (not sure why that hasn't happened already, it's a no brainer) but who will make the first DIESEL powered minivan.

The gas/electric hybrid would surely get a bit better gas mileage (at least in the city), but at the cost of the space you have in a minivan where the rear seats fold into the floor, as the battery pack would take up that room.

However, a diesel minivan would still have all the space a current minivan has but probably get 22-25 city and 32-34 mpg highway gas mileage from a 3.0 liter turbo diesel engine.

Most minivans now with 3.5+ liter V6's have 245-265 hp and 240-280 lbs feet of torque.
So with a 3.0 liter V6 TDI you'd have similar hp in the 240-250 hp range, but would have well over 400 lbs-ft of torque.
Moving a 4300-4600 lbs minivan would mean plenty of power and get up and go.

So who do you think will be the first smart company to do so and when??
 

aja8888

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Minivans are out these days;). Replaced by the upscale crossover SUV and the full size SUV. If you need to carry cargo, get a sprinter, which comes in diesel flavor.
 

tomtom1989

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millions of diesel minivans in the UK. Who wants a gas guzzling minivan when fuel price is £1.25 a liter for petrol and £1.35 for diesel

I don't know why you lot bother with complicated diesels over there when your fuel is so cheap.
 

Driver72

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Minivans are out these days;). Replaced by the upscale crossover SUV and the full size SUV. If you need to carry cargo, get a sprinter, which comes in diesel flavor.
Not even close.
"cross over" SUV's don't come close to the practicality and versatility of a minivan. A cross over SUV would be the choice for one sole reason:
if you needed 4 wheel drive with the higher ground clearance.

In every other aspect, the minivan easily trumps the "cross over" SUV.

The sprinter van is primarily a cargo carrier, but not much else. Try getting one into a garage (even most parking garages). Not practical in the least, unless you have a business that requires carrying lots of heavy bulky gear.
 

loganbmx4gt

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millions of diesel minivans in the UK. Who wants a gas guzzling minivan when fuel price is £1.25 a liter for petrol and £1.35 for diesel

I don't know why you lot bother with complicated diesels over there when your fuel is so cheap.
We want that minivan. Our petrol is so cheap because it's subsidized by the government, diesel not so much. The diesels aren't that complicated :rolleyes:
 
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TurbinePower

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Minivans are out these days;). Replaced by the upscale crossover SUV and the full size SUV. If you need to carry cargo, get a sprinter, which comes in diesel flavor.
I still see tons of minivans on the roads around here. They seem to be strong sellers still for Chrysler and Honda, at least... Do Ford and Chevy still make minivans?

We might see a hybrid van before we see a diesel minivan, if Honda and Toyota stay in the game. I thought perhaps with the Routan there might have been a diesel, but no dice.
 

aja8888

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I still see tons of minivans on the roads around here. They seem to be strong sellers still for Chrysler and Honda, at least... Do Ford and Chevy still make minivans?

We might see a hybrid van before we see a diesel minivan, if Honda and Toyota stay in the game. I thought perhaps with the Routan there might have been a diesel, but no dice.
My neighbor just came home with a Nissan something or other minivan. It looks like a big toaster. I guess his family out grew the Lexus (two small kids, soccer Mom).
 

MrMopar

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"cross over" SUV's don't come close to the practicality and versatility of a minivan. A cross over SUV would be the choice for one sole reason:
if you needed 4 wheel drive with the higher ground clearance.
There are some makers that have flirted back and forth with AWD on minivans, such as Chrysler. They offered an AWD option from 1990 through 2007, but it's so rare that I've only seen a handful in my lifetime.
 

ecarnell

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I got to drive my friends $50,000+ Toyota minivan this weekend - AWD, nav, massive DVD screen, leather, stow n go, power doors, rear windows, ect... Payments for next 36 months are mortgage payments....
Savings on diesel vs gas are a non issue for these types of customers - the gas engines are excellent though.
 

TurbinePower

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There are some makers that have flirted back and forth with AWD on minivans, such as Chrysler. They offered an AWD option from 1990 through 2007, but it's so rare that I've only seen a handful in my lifetime.
AWD seems to be becoming more common on everything these days... sometimes it makes me :rolleyes:
 

Driver72

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I got to drive my friends $50,000+ Toyota minivan this weekend - AWD, nav, massive DVD screen, leather, stow n go, power doors, rear windows, ect... Payments for next 36 months are mortgage payments....
Savings on diesel vs gas are a non issue for these types of customers - the gas engines are excellent though.
That's not true.
Last year I got a new 2010 Honda Odyssey Touring (the fully loaded version) and it's window sticker said $44,800
Since the 2011's were coming out that same week (which I'm glad I didn't get since the styling is not as good) I got a pretty good deal on the minivan, and my lease payments are only $439 a month.
I've gotten as much as 30.5 mpg with this van on a road trip (driving mildly at 70 mph since I was traveling with family with an RV.
But in the city I get only 17-18 mpg in the thing and in mixed driving average around 20-21 mpg. Definitely better than the huge SUV's which weigh 1000 lbs more and have V8's.
The touring Odyssey has cylinder deactivation that shuts down and drives on 3 cylinders when cruising so it helps highway mileage immensely.
But I still would love to have a diesel minivan for even better gas mileage and the big low end torque.

My boss has a BMW X5 diesel.
Just because you spend higher bucks on cars, doesn't mean you don't want to save a bit on gas and enjoy the torque of a diesel.

If VW ever comes back out with their own minivan again (not the rebadged Chrysler) I think they'll put the 3.0l TDI in it for us Americans.
Ford and Chevy are out of the minivan business. Simply because the ones they made were crap and they didn't even try to make them very competitive in the final 5-8 years of both their minivans. Nobody bought them, so they stopped making them.
I'll bet Ford will get back in the minivan game in the coming years.
 

MrMopar

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I guess we are all driving in the snow? Not here....
Not often for you, but far enough north we get pretty atrocious winters. I still find myself wishing my little eggbeater Hyundai came with a very light duty AWD setup for some of the snow storms I've been through.
 

Jack_Berry

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chrysler vans with vw diesel engines were exported for years. i don't know if that is still happening. driver72 you do know you can buy a crd sprinter with windows and seats?
 
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Driver72

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chrysler vans with vw diesel engines were exported for years. i don't know if that is still happening. driver72 you do know you can buy a crd sprinter with windows and seats?
Yes, but they are way too big.
Wouldn't fit in my garage, much less most parking garages.
 

Honeydew

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You could buy a ford transit and buy a diesel for it. An Australian scrap yard has a 2.4L transit diesel engine listed on their site for $650 AUD.
 

ecarnell

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That's not true.
Last year I got a new 2010 Honda Odyssey Touring (the fully loaded version) and it's window sticker said $44,800
Since the 2011's were coming out that same week (which I'm glad I didn't get since the styling is not as good) I got a pretty good deal on the minivan, and my lease payments are only $439 a month.
I've gotten as much as 30.5 mpg with this van on a road trip (driving mildly at 70 mph since I was traveling with family with an RV.
But in the city I get only 17-18 mpg in the thing and in mixed driving average around 20-21 mpg. Definitely better than the huge SUV's which weigh 1000 lbs more and have V8's.
The touring Odyssey has cylinder deactivation that shuts down and drives on 3 cylinders when cruising so it helps highway mileage immensely.
But I still would love to have a diesel minivan for even better gas mileage and the big low end torque.

My boss has a BMW X5 diesel.
Just because you spend higher bucks on cars, doesn't mean you don't want to save a bit on gas and enjoy the torque of a diesel.

If VW ever comes back out with their own minivan again (not the rebadged Chrysler) I think they'll put the 3.0l TDI in it for us Americans.
Ford and Chevy are out of the minivan business. Simply because the ones they made were crap and they didn't even try to make them very competitive in the final 5-8 years of both their minivans. Nobody bought them, so they stopped making them.
I'll bet Ford will get back in the minivan game in the coming years.
I made a very general statement - should have said "most" ofthese customers.

Let's be serious - if you spend $40,000 + on a vehicle - fuel costs aren't on the top of your list.

Your depreciation alone on these fairly expensive vehicles (X5 for example) will be much higher than the potential fuel savings.

You bought a mini van and you like/want more torque? Is the 250 ft lbs not enough? What are you pulling? As I said - the mini van engines these days are pretty good.

If fuel prices were a major concern we would all be buying 4 cylinder vehicles like Mazda 5's and learning to live/travel like our parents had too(pre mini van era).....
 

Driver72

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2011 Golf 4Dr DSG
I made a very general statement - should have said "most" ofthese customers.

Let's be serious - if you spend $40,000 + on a vehicle - fuel costs aren't on the top of your list.

Your depreciation alone on these fairly expensive vehicles (X5 for example) will be much higher than the potential fuel savings.

You bought a mini van and you like/want more torque? Is the 250 ft lbs not enough? What are you pulling? As I said - the mini van engines these days are pretty good.

If fuel prices were a major concern we would all be buying 4 cylinder vehicles like Mazda 5's and learning to live/travel like our parents had too(pre mini van era).....
No the Honda minivan's 3.5 liter is strong enough.
It actually has the same 0-60 time of about 8 seconds flat as my Golf TDI DSG.

it's not that I'd need or want more power in the minivan, but having better gas mileage without having to push on the go pedal quite as hard would be nice.
I don't haul/tow anything with the van, but I do often put 600-700 lbs of people and/or equipment in the back.
Even then, the van never feel sluggish.

My TDI is the first diesel I've personally owned, and I just like the sound, feel, torque, and engine braking the diesel has, plus the "gas" mileage is a bonus too, as long as the premium $ to purchase the diesel option isn't too great. Luckily where I live diesel fuel is only about .12-.15 cents higher than regular gas. In Arizona recently I noticed it was about .40-.50 cents higher.
In that state, if it's like that most of the time, you'd be nuts to buy a diesel vehicle unless you need to two a large item often.
 

Bugdoc

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It's market-driven: the belief, probably backed up with some data, is that the primary drivers of minivans (ie soccer moms and dads) don't want to mess with smelly expensive diesel.

When we got my wife's A3 a few years back she wanted nothing to do with diesel (never mind who's paying the bills LOL). And I fear that she will end up putting gas in my TDI because cars are just appliances to her (nothing wrong with that, just the way it is.)
 

MrMopar

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When we got my wife's A3 a few years back she wanted nothing to do with diesel (never mind who's paying the bills LOL). And I fear that she will end up putting gas in my TDI because cars are just appliances to her (nothing wrong with that, just the way it is.)
No, women are passive-aggressive in their vindictive behaviors. She will "accidentally" put gas in your TDI to prove her point that "It's too complicated" and put you square in the wrong (no matter how right you are).
 

maroonfrog1

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Diesel minivan

No the Honda minivan's 3.5 liter is strong enough.
It actually has the same 0-60 time of about 8 seconds flat as my Golf TDI DSG.

it's not that I'd need or want more power in the minivan, but having better gas mileage without having to push on the go pedal quite as hard would be nice.
I don't haul/tow anything with the van, but I do often put 600-700 lbs of people and/or equipment in the back.
Even then, the van never feel sluggish.

My TDI is the first diesel I've personally owned, and I just like the sound, feel, torque, and engine braking the diesel has, plus the "gas" mileage is a bonus too, as long as the premium $ to purchase the diesel option isn't too great. Luckily where I live diesel fuel is only about .12-.15 cents higher than regular gas. In Arizona recently I noticed it was about .40-.50 cents higher.
In that state, if it's like that most of the time, you'd be nuts to buy a diesel vehicle unless you need to two a large item often.
My '11 Audi A3 TDI is also the first diesel I've owned. I feel like I'm late to the game, but better late than never. As a reference point, my wife's '08 Highlander Hybrid SUV seats 7 comfortably, gets an annual average of 21 mpg. When we bought it, we were hoping for much better than that, but we're city folks, mostly doing city driving, with city-street commutes. My A3 TDI is averaging 27 mpg, so that's 29% better, but five people in that car feels like spam-in-a-can. Since we have four more years of driving teenage girls around, we would love a diesel minivan option -- as long as the mpg was somewhere in the average annual range of 25-30 mpg (here in North Texas where it's hot most of the time). Seems to me as if a 5-cyl TDI in a slick body that evokes sexy more than soccer :cool: would sell well here and get mpg in that range!?
 

German_1er_diesel

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Have a look at Volkswagen's Euro website and check out the Sharan.


Wouldn't that work? The days of 6-cylinder minivans in Europe are over though.
 

6910sb

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Luckily where I live diesel fuel is only about .12-.15 cents higher than regular gas. In Arizona recently I noticed it was about .40-.50 cents higher.
In that state, if it's like that most of the time, you'd be nuts to buy a diesel vehicle unless you need to two a large item often.
Diesel has a 34 cent premium over RUG in my area. However, my TDI is still 29% more cost efficient than my wife's CRV. ;)

YMMV :cool:

That said, I would love to see a diesel minivan, or SUV here in the States.
 

bhtooefr

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I do believe the first North American diesel minivan was built by David Rock (the Davidsfarm guy).

One junk ChryCo minivan + one 1.6TD + one welder + one redneck = one diesel minivan.
 
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