Honda Accord, Ridgeline to receive diesel power [1.5.7]

[dbb]

Before I'll consider a diesel over a gasoline engine, it must:

• be no louder;
• be no smellier;
• pollute no worse;
• cost no more to buy or maintain;
• not have a higher routine maintenance frequency;
• be no harder to start in any weather conditions;
• get no worse MPG;
• not have less HP or torque;
• offer a substantial improvement over one or more of the above;
• use fuel that is available at every gas station in the US and Canada.

[Fastang]

OK.... I'm still not convinced its right for the Ridgeline.
It seems... at least from that article (first post in this thread) that Honda
is talking about doing it.

Diesels should increase the towing capacity because most truck diesels will have much higher torque than their gasoline counterparts. Diesel will also get better gas mileage and depending on gearing and HP/TQ figures could be faster than the gasoline variant.

I thought that the towing capacity was more related to the vehicles curb weight than the torque... Sure more torque means you can tow more because the engine can handle it... but you just cant tow +7,500 lbs because the engine can... the rest of the vehicle needs to be stronger and heavier also.... Right?... I could be wrong.

Sure... cleaner fuel... but cost more too.
Quieter?...could be.
Beter MPG?.. ok... but again cost more per gallon... quite a bit more.

My original postion stands...

Isn't Honda's target customer a 41 year old father of 2
who goes to Home Depot on saturday,
and tows his boat to the lake on Sunday?

To make the Ridgeline in a diesel... will I my opinion change the Ridgeline into a larger full size, heavier, more costly vehicle.
People in the market for a super tower truck arent Honda's "target customers"

As an option, outstanding!
As the only choice, awful!

Excellent point

To each his own.
Go get'em Honda
They are already scared. Talk of a diesel scares them even more.lol

[Ridge]

Here's some info on the Honda Diesel:

http://paultan.org/archives/2005/05/...advertisement/

Honda has reinvented the Diesel. The Ridgeline's fuel efficiencey could be increased up to 30% with a diesel V6. It will also have superb torque and a higher tow rating. A V6 diesel will improve the Ridgeline's capabilities significantly. It could possibly even be a turbo diesel. This engine combined with even more refined exterior styling cues will make the Ridegline even better than it already is.

[fredridge]

Don't forget the most important reason for a diesel engine. You can run it on vegetable oil and have your exhaust smell like french fries.

[kermit777]

Originally Posted by fredridge

Don't forget the most important reason for a diesel engine. You can run it on vegetable oil and have your exhaust smell like french fries.

can finally implement my other idea in my ridgeline then
Inflating tires with Nitrogen???

Originally Posted by kermit777

know what'd be truly sweet, an engine that heats the oil to fry fries while driving and then pumps oil from the frialator in the engine bay straight to the tank so by the time you get to work you got done fries under the hood and you also made fuel to get there....

[fredridge]

I don't see why not, then you could convert the trunk into a Ronco rotisserie grill, "set it and forget it"

[ChrisM]

My 2 cents.

I know a bunch of people who have Powerstroke Fords. None of them ever smell like diesel fuel.

Honda will need a new transmission to handle the diesel motor's new found power. The current one will not take a 30% power increase from what I have heard. If it will, I want to be the first person in line for a Comptech supercharger.

If Honda comes out with a truly superior Diesel motor paired with a decent transmission that offsets the price of running higher priced diesel that has 30% more power and has much improved gas mileage, we are all toast when it comes to resale value. No one will want to buy one of the lesser powered, lower mileage, gas motor Ridgelines. (read - our trucks)

Another drawback to the gas motor... We can't make our trucks smell like a large order of fries. Who wants to buy a used truck that doesn't make you hungry every time you start it up?

[mrlizzzard]

Clean diesel,dirty diesel humbug!Europe enjoys a diesel over gas advantage by 65%.Yes 65% of vehicles are diesel currently.The clean diesel fuel is more of an oil company ruse than anything else.

I'd take diesel a good diesel in my Ridgeline today for $5000 extra.Why? So I could get 800 miles per tank,pull a real boat,keep it for 400,000 miles,get a 15% higher resale etc.Now I mean a good one,and I am sure Honda does have it.They sell thousands already in Europe both auto and marine.If you will notice the Chevy Duramax has not had rebates nor the Dodge Cummins.Ford has added a rebate fo the diesel because the 6.0 has had real problems.

Don't be mislead,Honda Ford,GM etc. sell hundreds of thousands of diesels worldwide NOW!That's because the govt's and people demanded more mpg,longer lasting engines requiring less care.

Why don't we start writing our representatives and demand the same?

To think we are to believe that oil companies had to "improve diesel fuel"to sell it here is laughable.They just insured the carbon is retained in the motor so the bleeding hearts can't see black harmless exhaust me thinks.

We have experts here could someone verify that dirty diesel in many ways is cleaner than our gas?

Heres a thought:"When something is cleaned ,something else must get dirty".

[Jenskp]

Along with the Acuras I sold there were VWs. Their diesels didn't smell at all their mpg was outstanding and the power was amazing. That's a VW diesel imagine was Honda can do with it. A diesel OPTION would be awesome except for the fact I just bought my Ridge.

[Raplon]

Originally Posted by mrlizzzard

Clean diesel,dirty diesel humbug!Europe enjoys a diesel over gas advantage by 65%.Yes 65% of vehicles are diesel currently.The clean diesel fuel is more of an oil company ruse than anything else.

It all depends on the cost. In Europe gasoline costs 4X of disel fuel. In Israel disel cars are heavily taxed, so, nobody has them. In USA disel is more expensive than even Super (93). Untill it costs the same as regular grade gasoline, there is no economical advantage. There is no way you would get 800 miles per tank. 1-2 miles extra per galon, maybe. My friend's Disel Suburban still gets 15-16 miles per galon and not 30. Also, disel engine is more expensive to maintain and we really lack mechanics who know how to fix them. I mean really know how to fix disels. To me it is a huge disadvantage. There are people that just like disels in general. I once new a guy who would only have disel. He had a collection of 4 disel cars that looked like junk. Everyone thought he was crazy.