GOOD LORD!!!!!
I posted the first message yesterday afternoon, and here it is today and the thread is SEVEN PAGES LONG!
The guy in the bowtie was VW's government-relations honcho, who works with certification issues. The guy with the German accent is an emissions chief from Michigan. I talked to them some more today, though they wouldn't pop the hood again in the more-public setting of City Hall Plaza. When I spoke with them yesterday, they told me 43/60 or something on mileage, and seemed pretty sure of it. Like some here have said, I'll believe it when I see it, but remember...gearing is important, and so is the lack of those efficiency-robbing PD unit injectors. The old VE Jettas were rated for 49 highway, and the '98 VE Passat TDI that was almost imported here was rated by the EPA at over 50, with its greater aerodynamics and gearing (see fueleconomy.gov). With 8 years of technology advancements, I would not doubt that 60 is possible with this engine. Common rail is a much more elegant solution than unit injectors, and I bet it adds lots of efficiency. A common-rail Mercedes 320 CDI gets equally good mileage as a Passat PD, but has way more power...think about that.
In any case, this car was definitely not some gussied-up '06 model--it was the real deal. Look at that timing belt arrangement...that is no PD motor. And since I hear a PD on a daily basis when I'm at home in Seattle (2004 Passat), I know their sound well, and this new CR TDI was way, way quieter. I wish I'd asked if it was an 8v or a 16v--I don't know. I did not notice any stickers under the hood warning about 505.01 or anything, and I imagine that won't be as big a deal as it was with the PD motors, because it won't have the super-high cam lobe stresses with this design.
One disappointment from today: I inquired about biodiesel in this new engine, and they said anything higher than B5 causes problems for the particulate traps (????) and cannot be used. Makes no sense to me, given that biodiesel dramatically REDUCES particulate output...but he did say that VW authorizes use of B100 in Europe in TDIs up to 2004, when the particulate traps started going in and, ostensibly, problems started occurring. We'll have to learn more about this. Apparently testing is still taking place.
Plenty of people have explained why I called the Ford and Chevy efforts garbage. Energy loss in fuel production, inefficiency of vehicles, cost and complexity of hydrogen-hybrid technology, impracticality...it's all there. An Avalanche will never be an eco-friendly vehicle, sorry. And unless we make a breakthrough on ethanol, it will continue to use more fossil fuel than it saves, while making people feel good about driving a "clean" car that's actually no better than a regular, gas-guzzling Avalanche. Then those people will feel like they have "done their part" in contributing to a cleaner environment, though they really haven't, and that will stall further progress. That is truly counterproductive. The clean electrical energy we'd use for processing of hydrogen should be used to power our grids, and then to power our all-electric city cars--we can't spare any clean power for wasteful production of H2.
But to make up for the downers, have a look at what I got to meet in person today at Altwheels:
Now THAT is my kind of alternative transportation!!! They also had an H2-powered Touran and a cool restored electric Microbus on display, but the Le Mans car and the Pikes Peak Touraeg TDI were definitely the stars of the show. Anyone who can make it down there tomorrow should definitely go and continue to express interest in the diesels...I saw the Ford, Honda, Toyota, and GM guys watching enviously as people flocked to the VW diesel exhibit, so maybe this will help bring more diesels of other makes here too. I had my fill today so I won't be there tomorrow, but if you go, enjoy.
