Subaru STI: Is Diesel the Intersection of Power and Fuel Economy?
We all know that fast cars are fun and fuel-sipping cars are environmentally responsible, but is there a middle ground?
Short of expensive electric sports cars like the Tesla Roadster, there may be a solution to be found in diesel. Not only can diesel cars be fueled with waste vegetable oil, biodiesel, or some mixture of these fuels, but diesel engines produce a lot of torque and get better fuel economy than their gasoline-powered brethren.
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Autoexpress reports that the Impreza lineup will soon feature a 2.0L diesel engine sporting 148 bhp - but that engine could easily be tuned up to 180bhp for use in a sportier WRX model. This model could go 0-60 in under 7 seconds and wouldn’t top out until a respectable 140 mph.
Certainly impressive, but what we really care about is the fact that this engine could achieve up to 45mpg and reduce CO2 emissions 40% compared to the gasoline-powered STI.
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Source: Autoexpress
That Subaru model looks neat, I might make that my next car.
The way to get SERIOUS mileage out of diesels is with a series hybrid drivetrain, same as a diesel-electric submarine or locomotive.
Diesel engine drives generator, generator drives batteries, batteries drive electric motor.
The reason diesels work great in this scenario is that you can run them almost all the time at their “happy spot” narrow RPM range. Diesels have narrow powerbands, which is why semi tractors run up to 18 gears and top out at 2,200rpm or so.
So build a small diesel with peak power/mileage at around 2800rpm and more or less just leave it there. Even muffler requirements are much simpler when they’re tuned for a very narrow RPM range.
It gets better, Other than weight, there’s no efficiency penalty for running a grossly oversize electric motor - 400hp or so, no problem. So if you want to pull 10s in the quarter, just increase your battery bank a bit, run the same small economical diesel motor regardless.
Finally, supercapacitors are going to drop our “battery” weight requirements way down, and fairly soon. And if our diesel series hybrid also has a wall plug, we could do without dead dinosaurs OR biodiesel around town most of the time, firing up the generator only when needed or for long hauls.
Series hybrid sets are MUCH simpler and a bit lighter than the current parallel hybrids in which both the electric and internal combustion engines can mechanically drive the wheels.
Series hybrid diesels are the answer.
That diesel will never beat the STI in a street race but if you want to run them on a mountainious coarse with lots of twisties I bet that diesel would out do the STI. You need to see a Dyno plot of a Diesel. They have more power over their whole rpm range rather then a quick peak of a gasser. The diesel would always be in it’s power band and be able to come out of corner with immediate power without having to drop a gear.
Diesels are just a much nicer to drive, you never have to down shift to pass or climb.
My concern is once you start moding that diesel, all wheel drive will be awfully expensive to fix. You could easily tweak that motor to 400-500 lbsft of torque.
@Jack: You’ve never driven and STi, have you? You really don’t need to downshift to pass or climb in them either (and not that often in their lesser sibling, the base WRX)… And, AFAIK, diesels actually tend to have a thinner power-band and thus need more gears to keep it in that happy spot. Regardless, Jim’s point is spot-on — series hybrids are the way to go, especially as we see supercapacitors enter the market.
[...] trying to be a little more fuel efficient (especially if that doesn’t mean sacrificing power).read more | digg [...]
Too bad we don’t see any serious talk regarding a desil-hybred-plugin. That would probably be the most practical use of our current technology.
So 2002. Subaru doesn’t get it. Performance is mpg, or miles per dollar - not winning the ridiculous race to the next stop light. If they can’t produce a car that beats Prius mileage then they can’t produce. I own an ‘06 Outback and an ‘07 hybrid. The gas guzzler is on its way out.
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It’s about time diesels caught on in the US like the rest of the world. I love to see a lot more choices in the market place.
I have a 2005 Passat wagon and I can easily top 40 mpg if I drive 60 mph. It drops to 36 mpg at 80 mph. It starts easily in very cold northern Michigan winters and has wonderful aceleration. What more could you ask?
There will always be the consumer that wants the STI gasser version of the WRX. Though most of the people in the US have zero clue about diesel other than the big trucks have them.
As fuel prices finally start to hit prices that make US consumers really think about their car choices milege will be a top priority over 0-60mph numbers under 6seconds. Road trip cars capable of hauling 4+ people + gear that can get into the 30+mpg range will sell faster than they can be built. A road trip wagon that has AWD and some off road ability will be an even bigger eye opener if it posts 30+mpg. The thousands of SUV owners who are selling or will be selling really do want the space and capability of AWD. Very few need towing capablity over 3000lbs.
Subaru - BMW are in a nice position where they could be the first to the US market with a well built durable hauler that posts 30+mpg.
VW’s diesels will remain a specialty unless VW finally sees the light after 20+ years of piss poor quality and engineering hits a slam dunk with their new 2.0L diesels. I own a VW 1.8T its crap - funny I didn’t learn after the first two VW’s I owned. We will never own a VW again but the BMW- Subaru-Nissan diesel passenger cars are at the top of our list. If Subaru comes out with a 7 passenger flat 6 capable of 30+mpg it will be a no brainer our 2001 Legacy will be replaced with the diesel subaru. If Subaru drops the ball BMW will be on our list though doubt it will fit our budget.