New Accord diesel to hit 52 MPG?
British motoring mag Autocar is reporting that the new Accord diesel we recently told you about will get really good mileage. That might seem like a no-brainer, but when we say "really good," we mean it. Like more than 60 mpg really good. Autocar says the diesel will be good for as much as 62.8 mpg when it appears in a dealership near you. That's 52.3 mpg here in the States, by the way. Honda's new clean diesel is apparently based on the current 2.2 i-CTDi, and when fitted in a Euro Accord, it achieved that staggering 62.8 mpg at a recent diesel technology convention in California. Besides the stellar fuel economy rating, these new diesels wear the "clean" tag proudly. The catalytic converter on these Honda diesels is helping it meet the strict US (especially in California) emissions standards, running as cleanly as gas engines. They do it by converting nitrogen into ammonia, which is then used to further diminish the remaining NOx gases. The new Accords should show up in September, but we're not sure if the diesel will be available from the get-go or if it will appear down the road.
[Source: Autocar]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Thomas 1:05PM (6/06/2007)
I hope they plan on putting this engine in the CR-V or the Element!
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Big Rocket 1:07PM (6/06/2007)
How did you convert from the European 62.8 mpg to the American 52.3 mpg? The source article at Autocar made no reference to the 52.3 number.
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Mulad 1:19PM (6/06/2007)
The British (Imperial) gallon is 20% bigger than the U.S. customary gallon. Apparently we use wine gallons while the Brits use ale (beer) gallons. Anyway, simply divide 62.8 by 1.2 to get 52.3.
djSyndrome 1:09PM (6/06/2007)
Well, that might explain all of the foreign-market diesels I've seen running around NorCal. A few months ago it was an Accord wagon, last week I spotted a new diesel 3-series. Both had Bosch windshield header stickers.
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Avinash machado 1:10PM (6/06/2007)
So what will Toyota's response be? Will they build a Diesel Camry or will they tweak the Hybrid Camry to get more mileage.
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Diesel Rocks 1:13PM (6/06/2007)
Expect dealers to mark these up way over MSRP as honda will only produce a limited amount.
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paddy 1:16PM (6/06/2007)
Worldwide Diesel fuel cost will rise as consumption in US increases via US passanger cars. Right now, European traders buy US excess diesel and sell us thier unneeded unleaded.
Not sure how diesel passanger car demand will change if fuel premium develops.
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gsolman6 1:29PM (6/06/2007)
Worldwide Diesel fuel cost will rise as consumption in US increases via US passanger cars. Right now, European traders buy US excess diesel and sell us thier unneeded unleaded.
Not sure how diesel passanger car demand will change if fuel premium develops.
Two things to note:
1 - Diesel is currently less than regular
2- partial conversion of US vehicle fleet to diesel will lessen demand for gasoline so any increase in diesel prices will be offset in the overall scheme of things
nagmashot 1:41PM (6/06/2007)
Europe buys no US diesel..the diesel sold in the USA is the lowest standart world wide. It does not match with Euro diesel specs. 95% of all oil used in Europe comes from the north sea mostly and russia partly and only a smale rest from middle east.
fhs 10:00PM (6/06/2007)
US diesel was 400 or 500 ppm sulfur prior to October 2006. NOW with ULSD (Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel) it is 15 ppm in the US.
The EU spec for automotive diesel is 10 ppm MAXIMUM for sulfur!
Do you REALLY believe that Europe is buying excess US diesel? Maybe ... to dilute their diesel closer to the limit ... ? I doubt it.
MikeW 1:20PM (6/06/2007)
1 imperial gallon = 1.200949 gallon (1.2 is good enough)
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Big Rocket 1:23PM (6/06/2007)
Mulad/MikeW: Thank you.
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The Other Bob 1:25PM (6/06/2007)
Damn. That's good mileage.
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Opinionator 11:50AM (8/08/2007)
I drive a 94 Geo Metro 1 Litre 3 cylinder regular gas that consistantly 47 us mpg just running around and 53 to 56 mpg on a highway trip... We also have an 89 Suzuki Swift 1.3 Litre 4 cylinder that gets 44 us mpg running around and we haven't taken a highway trip in it yet I suspect it will get around 50 mpg or a little more. Why don't they start making these cars again? Their resale value has jumped considerably around here...
dan 1:25PM (6/06/2007)
Converting the exhaust to Ammonia. So these cars are going to smell like catpiss as they go by?
That's even worse than those lawnmower smelling 80s Benzes all over the place. (Which are exempt from Maryland's emission inspection requirement. I have to pay to take in my recent, well maintained gas burners that always pass by a factor of 100 while these blue smoke trailing jalopies merrily go on their way.)
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brandegee 9:12AM (6/07/2007)
A number of market analyst reports say that diesel production will surge considerably over the next 10+ years. Bio-ethanol will also surge, but are nowhere near the same volume. I doubt the cost of a gallon of diesel will ratchet too far past the price of gasoline.
ClutchCargo 1:29PM (6/06/2007)
I can see my local dealer trying to sell one of these. MVA on the bottle line of about 6000 dollars. Good luck Honda.
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fhs 1:52AM (6/07/2007)
Actually I believe you will find that Australia is worse than the US. They are now in the process of going to 50 ppm sulfur by 2009.
I stated in an earlier post that EU spec is 10 ppm ... the fuel is running in the range of 7 ppm in practice ... that is half of what we doing here in the USA.
Daniel 1:53PM (6/06/2007)
How about a Diesel Hybrid???
One that gets about 80 MPG in a full size sedan.
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nagmashot 2:00PM (6/06/2007)
Audi sold already diesel hybrid in 1997 with the Audi A4 duo... but because of the diesel hype in europe at that time the car completly floped with only 90 produced.
Peugeot sells diesel hybrid next year.