Or a polo or something like it.
Haven't tdi and similar engines powered most of the Le Mans winners of the last few years? I recall drivers raving about the copious amounts of power and tourque, while at the same time having a huge fuel consumption advantage over the gas powered cars they were destroying. The power band is so wide with the diesels that the transmission can be run with fewer gears (and is thus far more reliable) than the gas engined competitors. Sounds like exactly what I want.
As always... more power output for the US market... (they must have read the latest obesity reports)
Can't wait to see the MSRP on this overpriced VW....
You want a V12 twin turbocharged diesel engine in a prototype vehicle? I have a sneaking suspicion that you aren't going to be getting anything remotely like that in your wagon.
I believe Ford still holds that trophy.
It's called brand confusion ..... why would I buy a VW for that price when I can buy an Audi for around the same price? Certainly an Audi is considered a luxury brand, whereas the VW is the German Chevy (except it actually works, unlike most Chevys).
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I'm no fan of SUVs in general, but in all fairness, as SUVs go, the Touareg (btw, is that word really impossible to spell right?) is a pretty reasonable proposition.The Toureg is just a purposeless vehicle. The engine is just too damn big, it gets crappy fuel economy, doesn't seat enough people and it is way over-priced for the VW label. At least it looks like an easy vehicle to service though
It's all in the gearing to take full advantage of the monsterous Diesel torque. To put things in perspective, both R10/R15 TDI engines have only 5500 rpm limit, and 5-spd gearbox.
Thanksscruber said:
The point of my first post was that TDI engines can compete with gas engines of similar spec at very high levels of performance. I don't want the V12 TDI in an R8, I want the V8 TDI. That would be realistic and viable. The prototype V12 would surely tear an R8 appart! My response was to your implication that the existing gas engine is the better alternative in the R8. From what I've seen of the numbers, the "mass" produced TDI V8 is certainly worthy and in my opinion, preferable.
The PD170 16V has even better power to displacement than the 4.2 tdi, the 1.9 Pd160 is a close second to the 170.
Both of which are still less than the specific power output of BMW's 3.0L 335d, either in Euro-spec or N.A.-spec trim. I am surprised at how much lower in specific power the Merc is putting out than the other Germans...it's right down into pick-up truck territory?
True, TDIMeister, but I didn't add them to the list in fairness because I didn't know if they had gone into full production yet, and were available on the market?
<- sad-ish...they're still a blast to drive (I swear they under-rated the 265 hp on the 335d)!
The 306hp BMW 3.0 diesel has been available for nearly a year now in the BMW 740d.