Would you buy a diesel BMW

[tol4o]

As long as a diesel BMW has never been imported in the states, I'm curious how many people are interested to get one. By the way the BMW has very good diesels. They had the record for the fastest and powerfull diesel. It's a BMW E36 Alpine 3.0L bi-turbo diesel which has better acceleration and torgue than the 3.0L gas engine with much less fuel consumption. I hope BMW would start importing an euro diesel BMW's as 120d for example

Tech data for 120d:
4 cylinder inline 2L
163HP at 4000rpm
max torgue 340 at 2000rpm
max speed 140mph
acceleration 0-60mph 7.9s
fuel consumption 57mpg

What do you think guys?

[weezer]

Numbers are deceiving; so it's only 163hp, but check the torque ratings. It competes with the M3; 340lbft at 2000rpms............youch.
Would love to get my hands on that.

[pnosker]

Oh fuel economy, how I love thee.

I enjoy my ti's high 30 mpg's though. I read that most diesels haven't been approved by the EPA for sale after this year.

[tol4o]

I'd love to have one
When I was in the local BMW dealer, I asked for 1 series and they told me that probably next year they can reach the US market, but it's not for sure yet. When I asked about diesel engine s they said no. I believe there is a purpose that they don't allow us to drive diesels in USA. The new diesel engines emissions are even cleaner than the gasoline engines. I guess somebody doesn't like the fuel economy that diesels offers. 75% of the cars in Europe are diesels. I read in a magazine that the gas engines are on the top of their development and there is nowhere to go anymore. For compare, the diesels engines are about 25% of their development. I can imagine the diesels after few more years, but even now the diesel engines offer much more advantages than the gas engines. For example if we compare Mercedes E320 and Mercedes 320CDI (they both are available in USA) we can find out that the second one, the diesel, has better acceleration 0-60 than the gas one, and has almost twice more mpg fuel economy (E320 about 20mpg, 320CDI about 37mpg)

[pnosker]

I know the reason Chrysler won't have a Jeep Liberty diesel anymore is because of the impending EPA regulations. Particulate trap filters and new catalytic converters haven't passed regulations yet as far as I know. Also the non-low sulfur diesels in the USA aren't as clean as the European ones.

My dream car is a 1 series turbodiesel, but it looks like those days are far away.

[Mad-Machine]

I would own a diesel BMW in a heartbeat.. and do exactly what my father did to his Diesel Jetta.. convert it to run on veggie oil (which Mr. Rudolf Diesel originally designed his engine to run on)

[1996 328ti]

I remember driving the 120td on GT. It was a blast to drive.

[jflip2002]

There is actually one for sale here in SLO. Its an E30 324D. Ive never seen one, I thought it was kinda odd. But its a plan grass looking green. Ive never seen the color before on an E30 either. They want $5k for it I believe. So no, I dont think Id buy one

[Mad-Machine]

Most likely the reason BMW would never import their diesels is the same reason they do not want to import their 4 cylinder cars anymore. They simply would not fit into the niche they have established for themselves as being a maker of high end sport sedans and coupes.

To most americans Diesel means no power, nasty smoke, and clattering exhaust, not the smooth power a BMW engine typically makes.

[twomato]

I was in Toyko this summer on business so, naturally, I went to BMW of Toyko and sat in a few 1 Series. Even though I had no idea what the salesman was telling me, when I smiled, he smiled and we made a connection. He gave me a couple of 1 Series brochures and a T-shirt and I told myself that I would buy a 1 as soon as they are available over here. Guys and Racerchick, these cars are very much the same as a 4 door ti with all the modern updates from BMW. And yes, 120d FTW if they bring it.

[bullmand]

The general concensus as reported in Motor Trend and others is that there will basically be no more diesel cars in the US after this year. Between the changes to the fuel itself and the tightened emissions standards no one will be able to meet the new rules. Apparently Mercedes is the only company that's going to continue even trying to sell diesels here. Personally, I'm glad to see the emissions tightening up on the diesels, but I think the emphasis should have been on trucks. I think it's bad policy for one branch of our government to cry about us being "addicted to foreign oil" and another branch to legislate more fuel efficient vehicles out of existence. I'd love a 1 series running on bio diesel. It's a much more realistic and useful solution than the crappy ethanol that my car doesn't like.

[tastade]

I think you will see a huge number of diesels in the US after this year. Honda is bringing one over for a small car. The Jeep Liberty diesel was a joke of an engine. It was there just as a filler until the low sulfer fuels came out. It was noisy, slow, and got bad gas mileage (for a diesel). I believe the Grand Cherokee is getting a good diesel (Mercedes maybe?) in a year or so. Like I said, give the new fuels a couple years, and the manufacturers time approve the urea injection and others systems with the EPA and diesels will be everywhere in the USA.

[Mad-Machine]

well, they already have had the low sulfer fuels in europe for most of a decade or more. That alone will clean up a lot of the emissions a diesel puts out.

I used to drive a truck for a living (not a big rig) and most of the smoke you see coming from them comes from worn out injectors pumping too much fuel into the engine.

[tol4o]

I don't think that the amarican car manifacturers can produce good diesel engines. That's why the most of the americans have bad opinion about the car diesel engines - smoky, noisy and cranking. If you've been in Europe in the last 2 years, you could see the difference between the american and the european diesels. If you sit next to a new european diesel car you would not recognize that this is diesel outside and in. No smoke, no noise, no cranks. When you drive it, you will definitely feel the powerful torgue at low rpm and the faster acceleration. I was on vacation last summer in Bulgaria and I used a taxi cab. It was BMW 5-series about year 2000. This car stopped my breath when the driver step on the gas. I was amazed from the fast acceleration and I asked the driver what kind of gasoline engine this car has, is it like 540i or something. He just smiled and said no it's 525td. LOL What an experience...

[Calgary98TI]

I will walk into the dealership and put down a deposit to order a 120d as soon as they are available. Amazing car, I saw a bunch of 1 series while in Europe a few weeks ago. Great looking car. Car & Driver just did a comparison of the 330i vs. 330d, almost identical performance 0-60 and way better mileage. In everyday driving the diesel would probably be faster due to the huge torque.

The amazing thing with the EPA is that they are only looking at one part of the polution, diesels are actually cleaner overall than gas engines, especially in the CO2 department. New cars in europe are taxed based the amount of carbon that they produce, so your big polluters are taxed alot. Good idea if you are trying to make things more efficient.