63 MPGs - just not for us....

[Eric]

The new Mini Cooper Countryman can get 63 MPGs on the highway - just not on our highways.

Like so many other high-mileage, diesel-powered vehicles, it's not available in the United States. Instead we get gas-electric turkeys like the Toyota Prius hybrid - which maxes out at 48 MPGs on the highway. If you drive it at around 47 MPH in the left lane with your turn signal blinking... .

It's very strange.

Our government (well, maybe calling it "our" government is a stretch) has been browbeating the car industry to produce more "fuel efficient" cars for decades, yet at the same time, also for decades, made it very hard to sell high-efficiency diesel-powered passenger cars. VW, Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Land Rover and other European brands have been selling their cars here for a long time - just not their diesel-powered cars.

In Europe, diesel cars constitute about half the new cars sold; over here, less than 5 percent - chiefly because only a handful of diesel-powered passenger cars are even available.

For two reasons, mainly.

First, for years, we had not-so-great (for emissions reasons) diesel fuel that was fine for big rigs (which until recently could pollute to their hearts content, legally) but wreaked havoc with the finely tuned pollution control equipment fitted to modern passenger car diesel engines.

This, in turn, set up the potential not just for lots of warranty-related expenses and hassles for potential diesel-car buyers but also for even greater hassles and expenses for the car companies that sold them, when the government went after them for selling "dirty" diesels.

That's why we don't get diesels like the Mini Countryman D.

No 63 MPGs, either.

Even though our diesel fuel is now "clean" diesel - and the warranty/pollution control issues have been dealt with.

The European car companies are still super leery of bringing to market vehicles that could lead to problems for them with the EPA politburo. Their diesel-powered cars may be "cleaner" (in terms of tailpipe emissions) than a nun's conscience but there's still the endless pedantry of slightly different American vs. European regulatory codes. And not just federal codes, but also the different state codes, notably "California" codes that are both different and stricter than "49 state" codes. Some Northeastern states have also adopted "California" codes - which makes achieving compliance with all the varying codes - essential to being able to profitably sell a given car, nationwide - very difficult and very expensive.

Rather than spend beaucoups bucks on lawyers and other forms of paper-pushing to make the EPA and the various state-level eco-Nazis happy, the European car companies not surprisingly cut their losses and (mostly) keep their diesels to themselves, selling a few token models here.

You'd think the government (federal and state) would make it a priority to ease the regulatory chokehold a little, to streamline the ukase in order to get as many of these high-mileage diesels into mass circulation as the market will bear. Think what a difference a 10-15 MPG average uptick in the fuel economy of the typical passenger car would mean - not just in terms of reducing the aggregate fuel consumption of the nation but also in terms of placating the great god of global warming. Less fuel burned means less greenhouse gasses emitted - and a 10-15 MPG uptick in fuel efficiency spread out across say 20-30 percent of the passenger car fleet would mean a monster reduction in "greenhouse gasses." And it could be done without elaborate technology (hybrids) or another round of government edicts (CAFE) that just make new cars more and more expensive to achieve minimal, incremental upticks in their average "fleet" economy numbers. You can only do so much with a gas engine; the way they work is inherently less efficient. Getting even 45 MPG out of one - even in a compact-sized car - is no easy thing. With a diesel, it's no sweat - and you can get 45 MPG in a mid-sized luxury-sport sedan such as BMW 3 Series or Benz E-Class. In a small car like the Mini Countryman, 60-plus MPG is right here, right now. 70 MPG is realistic with a little tweaking. No hybrid can touch that. Hell, you'd need a Moped to match that.

Diesels deliver. They make sense. They work. People would love 'em if only they had a chance to drive 'em.

But they don't - because they do (make sense).

Maybe things will change. I don't expect them to.

Our government is run by lawyers, not engineers. Talkers, not doers. I doubt one out of 100 of them even knows how a diesel engine differs from a gasoline engine (other than the fuel it uses). So I'm not surprised by the government's inability to see how much it would help - everything from "the environment" to the economy - to knock down the stupid regulatory roadblocks that are keeping diesel cars on the other side of the pond.

[dieseleverything]

The 63 mpg figure is probably taken using imperial gallons. In US gallons it comes out to 52.5 mpg, still not bad. Imagine the results if "modern" technology was implemented in an older (and lighter) car, mpg's would be in the 70's....

Of course "modern" diesel technology means manufacturers can run much lower compression ratios than in the past, allowing them to use lighter (and less durable) materials. Once advanced technology on a diesel, aluminum cylinder heads are now the norm, some engines even have an aluminum block. Yet diesels continue to spin at higher speeds than ever before with increased emissions equipment, which could mean that "modern"* diesels may not be the durability kings that their ancestors were.


*"modern" because technology such as direct injection in diesels has been around since the 1920's....really modern stuff. A "proper" diesel would be an engine that needs no electricity or computer (other than the starter) to run, none have been installed in a car in the US since 1995.

[Dave Brand]

The 63 mpg figure is probably taken using imperial gallons. In US gallons it comes out to 52.5 mpg, still not bad.

The UK official combined figure is 64.2 mpg (Imperial). The 63 mpg may be the US official figure - it's difficult to compare as EPA test procedures are probably totally different to EC procedures.

[Kwozzie1]

I am wondering at the 63MPG ..... even my 1993 Peugeot 405 SRDT and my 1994 Citroen Xantia Turbo Diesel ((both same mother) managed 61mpg on the open road.

[Eric]

I am wondering at the 63MPG ..... even my 1993 Peugeot 405 SRDT and my 1994 Citroen Xantia Turbo Diesel ((both same mother) managed 61mpg on the open road.

Well, I can't say for sure - but the Mini is newer by about 10 years and also (probably more relevant) it's smaller/lighter.

At least, if you skip the AWD!

[Dave Brand]

Well, I can't say for sure - but the Mini is newer by about 10 years and also (probably more relevant) it's smaller/lighter.

Smaller? Arguably. Compared to the Peugeot 405 the Countryman's about a foot shorter but 3" wider. I can't find a height figure for the 405 but the Countryman looks substantially taller.

Lighter? Definitely not! The 405 diesel Rex mentioned had a kerb weight of 1080 kg; for the Countrman Cooper D it's 1385 kg!