Honda Says They are a Diesel Leader

Don't know about the leader aspect. But Honda is the first Japanses company to start producing what the Europeans have been to doing for the last decade.

I think diesels are fitting to nice eurpoean luxury cars, to have an Odyessey or a diesel Ridgeline you may as well get a ford 250 powerstroke or whatever. It just does not seem fitting is all. Plus, if diesel small cars were to become mass market, the price of diesel would go up due to increased demand and many gas stations passing the cost of converting some of their pumps to diesel = higher fuel costs, something we dont need more of.

Why not, with a diesel you can have a midsize car with 230 hp and about 380 foot pounds of torque and get milage like 27 city and 37 highway.

Honda's diesel will be 2x more efficient than American offerings (Ford/Dodge), and that's why Honda's diesel will be greatly appreciated here in the states. Also, diesel has been for professional grade trucks, with very little application in standard consumer cars like minivans and crossover type vehicles. It's about time Honda competed with Europeans to see what a little Japanese engineering can do for diesel. For the most part, Honda gas engines have always been known for their greater efficiency and reliability, putting out more power per liter than most other manufacturer.

Looking forward to seeing what they can do with a diesel.

quizz- I actually agree woth you. Honda needs to and will challenge the Euroboys. That is what it all is about. I am so glad to see Honda is focusing on substance and real world goals, rather than slapping a Hybrid logo on everything they make, with little regard to the real world result.

Come on Honda, Plugin Hybrids are where it's at.

Do your first 60 miles of your trip on electricity and the rest on fuel with hybrid-like gas mileage.

Driving on electricity will be extremely cheap when compared with driving on gasoline. Plus most trips would be within the range of your electricity.

toyota's diesels aren't that great, but nissans are shared with renault, and renault makes some of the best diesels in the world.

diesels are better on heavy cars than petrols (due to increased torque), and on small cars, diesels are rockets.
and when people say "rich people don't car about gas mileage)"
the choose to ignore the fact that in the uk half of all mercedes s-classes were the 320cdi.
they're great for hotels, taxis etc.
although in the uk we don't get as many diesels as contineltal euorpe, the last gen ml had a 400cdi (only got 270), the 7 series has a 745d (only get 730d), but audi is unique in offering the 4.2 tdi in uk. second biggest cpapacity diesel (after 5.0 tdi in touareg)

cliff, if you live in an apartment, where will you plug it in?

The new generation of TDI diesels will be extra trick. Audi will be putting some design principals from the R10 straight into the production diesel. It should be really advanced.

If they want to lead then they should be first to market with a Common Rail diesel FULL hybrid Ridgeline. None of this assist bs and for good measure add the plug in option.

Built it and they will come....

who killed the electric vehicle?

Theres a documentary coming out with that name.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsJAlrYjGz8

ya I know I was making a funny ;)

Seriously folks, I have not heard of any honda diesels and as far as I know audi is the diesel king so why would they try?

huu76

What are you talking about, diesels use around 15-40 % less fuel than comparable gas powered vehicles.

Honda, leader in the field of diesels? LMAO.

Honda only has a single diesel engine for Europe: a 2.2-l 4-cylinder found in the Accord. How many Accords do they sell in Europe? And of those, how many are diesels? Exactly.

Honda has been pretty stubborn in offering a diesel in Europe in the first place. They only gave in after witnessing the success of diesel Nissan's and Toyota's in Europe. They're not leaders here at all. The 2.2 engine is good, but let's face it, Honda isn't a leader in diesels because they've never built them until now.

True leaders in diesel technology are Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Renault, Citroen, Peugeot, VW and Alfa Romeo.

bmw530i, its found int he accord, cr-v, civic, and most of them are diesels.
probably around 50%, more in the cr-v.
alfa's diesels are only good because their petrols are lacklustre, bar the 3.2.
my dad had a an espace (voyager sized) 2.2dci on rent, and he's not a fan of diesel, but he said it was brilliant.

haze and smog?

that's los angeles, not london.
diesel is also cheaper in europe than petrol (cept the uk, the government hates us)
diesel engines have an efficiency of 30%, petrol of 10%.
when making diesel and gasoline, we use the process of fractionating (this was a chemistry class i listened to)
crude oil is placed in a fractionating column, and is extracted and different temperatures, hottest at bottom, coldest at top.
natural gas, naptha and petrol at the top, bitumen, fuel oil and lubriacting oil at the bottom.
diesel is below kerosine, in the middle.
diesel has a longer carbon chin that petrol, so is harder to set fire to (try lighting diesel with a match, it's hard), diesels thus rely on compression ignition, not spark ignition.
petrol, diesel, natural gas and all other fuels come from the same oil.
the carbon chain of crude oil is broken up into a long chain (14-20), rather than many small chains (5-10), like petrol.
thus, while you could say it takes more oil to make one chain of diesel than petrol, you are forgetting that diesel is longer and bigger, and burns far more efficiently.
the reason why diesels do not produce as much power is because they cannot rev highly, but with the use of turbo and super-chargers, they can be made to rev and produce power.
france, germany, the uk, spain and all other major european coutries have extensive motorway systems, far more than the US.
france is famed for its many autoroutes, germany for the autobahns, spain for its long coastal roads (autopistas), and the UK for the sheer quantity of motorways.
and i do not appreciate the UK being called a snot sized country.

Huu76,

Funny how all those companies using old world technology come from the old world. Europe should join the 21st century. The future would look brighter if they could see through all that haze and smog caused by diesels. Too much idling in congested streets perhaps.

Don't get me wrong, diesel would be useful if you lived in Canada or the U.S. and only drove on highways, but what's the point in a snot sized country?
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You obviously HAVE NOT KEPT up with the latest developments in diesel technology. What you described are OLDER DIESELS. Modern diesel engines are totally different. Why not drive one first before saying stuff like that. And I don't mean your run-of-the-mill GM truck with a diesel, I am talking about European diesels.

Diablo69,

May be so in Japan. Definately not in the US or Europe.
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Honda definitely does not sell diesels in Japan. The Japanese have a very strong anti-diesel stigma, possibly even stronger than Americans.

I did head that DCX is planning on offering diesel-powered Chrysler's and Mercedes' in Japan soon. Should be interesting.

i honestly don't think one can measure how much oil it takes, as it is all done in one huge column.

don't forget oil is used to make plastics so cars with lots of plastics in them could be harming the environment more.
the ratio epa vs oil used is to difficult to work out, due to the huge number of thigs in construction.
aluminium requires large amounts of electricity to be produced, cars are made in factories made of concrete brought there on trucks, cars come from all over the world, using oil, sat navs use satellites in the sky put up there by burning fuel etc

thats why higer oil prices bring down the WHOLE economy and not just larger vehicle sales.