Sharing the road

[wh500special 2,262]

I've been driving a diesel car for a short while now and have had a few interesting conversations with folks at the pumps when refuelling.  Most of them ask me what kind of mpg I'm getting.  One went on a tirade about the 1980's Oldsmobile diesel Regency 98 that blew up before its first fuel up.

 

It's been interesting to see, now that I use a different area of the station, what we share the road with.

 

Today, this rolled in next to me in the Auto diesel lane:

 

 

The wheels were higher than my car.  The driver had to deploy a ladder on the side to climb up and reach the fuel tank that must be 8 feet from the ground.  The tank on the crane unit is even higher.  I wish I knew what this thing weighs.  Absolutely a solid chunk of muscle.  I've passed these on the highway and wasn't overhwelmed by the size, but parking next to one and gawking at it was a different perspective. 

 

If you look close, you can see the driver up on the thing just above the phone number written high on the side.

 

It's the ultimate SUV.

 

Steve

 

 

[dcrage 630]

I had similiar experiences back in the 1980s when filling up my 1980 VW Rabbit Pickup truck at the diseal pump

[kaiser 100]

nice passat. i'm currently driving a 2013, 2.5l gas though.   i wanted a tdi so bad but the boss said nope. (it's a company car)

Edited December 11, 2013 by kaiser

[squonk 43,714]

Ah yes the Olds diesel. Partially responsible for some of my grey hairs. We used to take bets on what was broke when they got towed in. Piston, crank or both. One came in and the best we could tell one piston completely broke. The rod continued around and hit the cam driving that up into the intake manifold and kept going and took out half of the piston on the other side! 

Edited December 11, 2013 by squonk

[sorekiwi 761]

In 2003 we bought a new VW Golf TDI for my wife.  A very cool little car, that got over 40 mpg with her very heavy right foot.

 

Unfortunately it was plagued by electrical gremlins (all covered under warranty) that drove us crazy.  The cold icy night that left her stranded at work while 8 1/2 months pregnant was its last in our possession, it got traded in on a Subaru the next morning.

 

It was a shame, it was a well thought out car.  Loved the heated seats and mirrors.  A very quick and sweet handling car.  But the problems we had (and the amount of money we lost on that car)would make me very reluctant to buy another VW.

 

Glad that you have had a better experience than we did.

[wh500special 2,262]

VW isn't known for making the most reliable cars, that's for sure. The warranty is pretty long and the plan right now is to keep it until it expires. We'll go from there and keep our fingers crossed! Apparently they've done better with electrical systems, window regulators, and such in recent model years. We'll see.

This sucker gets amazing mileage for a fairly large family car. So far since I've had it I'm getting a solid 43 mpg lifetime average. On my commute, I usually get 48 to 51 in warmer weather. It's been cold, so the mileage has dropped a bit and I'm barely hitting my average now. Fuel cost per mile even with higher diesel prices compared to RUG has me at less than 9 cents per mile. I expect it to cost me a bit more over winter.

The best thing about the car is the 750 mile range I get on a tank. I haven't taken any long trips yet, but I expect to be able to drive from st Lou to the wh show in pa without stopping for fuel.

GM really blew it with that 350 cid diesel and soured the us for a while on diesel. I think they'll make a mild comeback as a gap bridging transition to cars with better batteries and more electrical assist. The funny thing I've seen about diesel cars is that whether you drive like a grandma or Mario Andretti, they seem to offer consistently high miles on a tank. Parking next to the huge road machines is just a perk!

Steve

[kaiser 100]

i've worked for vw for 15 years, the new cars are so much better then the older cars, starting in 2005 they really stepped it up in the reliability dept. the 2010's and up are some of the single most reliable cars i have seen, so much so that service business is off. lol they just don't break.

[6wheeler 669]

I am sure that crane is getting a little less mpg's than your VW. I always wanted a VW Rabbit diesel. One of my teachers in High School had one way back in the late 70's. He claimed it got between 50 and 60 mpg. By the way, that looks like a 30 ton truck crane. So it probably weighs between 70 and 90,000 pounds depending on how much counter weight he has on.

[shorts 182]

The Oldsmodiesel was the right idea at the right time, the approach was wrong, they never should have based the diesel on the gas engine block, it had reliability problems from the start and they knew it but It went to production because they had spent to much money on development and the powers that be didn't want to admit that it had serious issues with reliability until after it became a public nightmare that left a bad taste for diesel in the consumers mouths. Probably the beginning of the end of oldsmobile, they never really recovered from the bad publicity even though they led GM into the electronic controlled engine world. usually 1 or 2 years ahead of the rest of GM.

 

I bought a new 2001 golf TDI automatic that still gets 38 MPG, it got 40+ when it was new no matter how you drove it, the Ultra low sulfur fuel seems to be what hurt the mileage

Edited December 12, 2013 by shorts

[kaiser 100]

shorts, you may have carbon build up in the intake mani. thats what really hurts mileage/performance. it's like black concrete and over time it can reduce the intake runner to the size of a pencil.

removing and disabling the egr system will cure it, after it's cleaned out of course. there's a great forum for tdi's, tdiclub.com that has all the details on removing that system and cleaning the intake.

[dcrage 630]

One of my teachers in High School had one way back in the late 70's. He claimed it got between 50 and 60 mpg.

 

 

Never got 60 mpg with my pickup -- I did get over 50 when everything was working right and the weather was good -- Just like Steve was saying these VW diseals give you LONG distances between fuel stops -- 500 miles was no problem for me -- I think I got up close to 600 mlles on one tank -- The only real problem I had with my Rabbit Diseal Pickup was cold weather starting -- When it got below +5F it was iffy without the block heater plugged in -- Under 0F there was no chance getting it started

[wh500special 2,262]

I'm very familiar with the TDIClub website.  Been lurking there for about 12 years.  I always though WH tractor guys were fanatics, but we're nothing compared to the diesel VW guys.

 

This is a pic of the average MPG on the dash display after driving about 35 miles home from work one night.  I've found the display in my car to be surprisingly accurate so far, so this 50.7 is a good number for that trip.

Now that it's colder, I'm staying in the 40's.

 

Steve

[squonk 43,714]

I am sure that crane is getting a little less mpg's than your VW. I always wanted a VW Rabbit diesel. One of my teachers in High School had one way back in the late 70's. He claimed it got between 50 and 60 mpg. By the way, that looks like a 30 ton truck crane. So it probably weighs between 70 and 90,000 pounds depending on how much counter weight he has on.

A friend of owned an electrical contracting business . He got a Rabbit diesel pick-up to be a parts runner and go getter. Only problem was after putting a few tools, some wire nuts and a couple of pieces of conduit in the bed, the go getter got up and left!   

Edited December 12, 2013 by squonk

[AMC RULES 37,195]

From a heavy equipment operator's perspective...

rarely do I hear of, or experience first hand...people out there on the roads, who are happy to share the road with heavy equipment. 

I'm just sayin'. 

[6wheeler 669]

From a heavy equipment operator's perspective...

rarely do I hear of, or experience first hand...people out there on the roads, who are happy to share the road with heavy equipment. 

I'm just sayin'.

Well, People don't seem to like my concrete truck so much. I love it when I am empty and the cars all have to get in the left lane at the stop light so they don't get stuck behind this dang truck, With 375hp and an Allison automatic? Guess who leaves the light first. And usually stays that way