Mercedez Benz News Mercedes-Benz Decides To Stop Efforts On Certifying 2017 Diesel Vehicles

[William Maley]

Those hoping to purchase a 2017 diesel vehicle from Mercedes-Benz will be disappointed by this news. Reuters has learned Mercedes' parent company, Diamler has dropped plans on trying to get 2017 model year diesel vehicles certified.

"We constantly review our portfolio offerings and make adjustments to meet immediate customer need. Combined with the increased effort to certify diesel engines in the U.S., we have put the certification process for diesel passenger cars on hold," said Mercedes-Benz USA spokesman Rob Moran.

Diesel only accounted for 1 percent of Mercedes-Benz's total sales in the U.S. for 2016.

This doesn't mean Mercedes is getting out of selling diesel vehicles in the U.S. Moran said the automaker is "leaving the door open to offer diesels as a potential option in our passenger cars and SUVs."

Source: Reuters

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[smk4565]

I think diesel is a hard sell even though they have great torque and mpg.  My guess is they will push hybrids plus they have a 48 volt system coming in 2018 that should boost mpg 15% over the current gas engines.

[riviera74]

^^^^ Agreed.  The diesel ship seems to have sailed.  Electric (when done right) seems to be the wave of the future.

[G. David Felt]

Yawn old news, VW has for the most part put the nails in the Diesel coffin!

[balthazar]

Except: trucks. There diesels are embraced & expanding.
VW may have put the nail into VW, not diesels.

[Drew Dowdell]

And yet... Mazda and Chevy are coming out with diesel vehicles.  BMW is still building theirs... and if the rush on 2015 VW diesels is any indication, VW may not want to step out of the game there either if they can get their cars right.  There is a buying contingent out there that likes diesel cars. 

I am still very much in favor of electrification, but the hybrids are still too far on the eco side of things for my taste.  If you're going to go to all the trouble of electrifying the powertrain, at least add the benefit of the large amounts of torque that electric motors provide. The Volt is the one that sort of gets it right, but even then it's technically not a hybrid.

I'm interested in trying a CT6 PEV

[ykX]

I have a very long commute, mostly highway and I was briefly considering getting daily driver with diesel engine.  However, after carefully calculating the expenses between regular 4 cylinder and a diesel car, considering the difference in price between the regular gas and the diesel and considering higher initial price, maintenance costs it simply didn't make sense getting diesel. 

In Europe diesel costs about as much as regular gas, so it makes sense.  Maybe it is better for somebody who needs higher torque for towing for example.

 

 

 

[Drew Dowdell]

On the highway, diesels nearly always beat their EPA estimates by a good margin. 

[ykX]

Looking at Fuelly at some of the cars that have/had diesel and 4 cylinder engines in the same cars it seems the difference on average is about 10-12 mpg.

Considering diesel is more expensive, diesel cars to begin with are more expensive and usually require higher maintenance doesn't seem to be worth it.

Not sure why Mazda and Chevy finally are bringing diesel here now but it seems to me it is not going to work out. 

[Drew Dowdell]

4 minutes ago, ykX said:

Looking at Fuelly at some of the cars that have/had diesel and 4 cylinder engines in the same cars it seems the difference on average is about 10-12 mpg.

Considering diesel is more expensive, diesel cars to begin with are more expensive and usually require higher maintenance doesn't seem to be worth it.

Not sure why Mazda and Chevy finally are bringing diesel here now but it seems to me it is not going to work out. 

where are you getting that diesels require more maintenance? they typically run longer service intervals than gas vehicles, so while the oil change might be a little more expensive, you do it half as often.  Coolant and other fluids would be the same interval, and there are no plugs to change (not that anyone does that anymore anyway)

[ykX]

6 minutes ago, Drew Dowdell said:

where are you getting that diesels require more maintenance? they typically run longer service intervals than gas vehicles, so while the oil change might be a little more expensive, you do it half as often.  Coolant and other fluids would be the same interval, and there are no plugs to change (not that anyone does that anymore anyway)

VW recommends changing fuel filter every 20k miles, every 10k urea tank needs to be refilled.  None of this required on the regular gas cars.  Oil change is the same at 10k miles.

Some other manufacturers recommend oil change more often then their gas  models.

Edited May 16, 2017 by ykX

[A Horse With No Name]

5 hours ago, ykX said:

VW recommends changing fuel filter every 20k miles, every 10k urea tank needs to be refilled.  None of this required on the regular gas cars.  Oil change is the same at 10k miles.

Some other manufacturers recommend oil change more often then their gas  models.

Our Jetta was the best most reliable car I ever owned before I sold it back.  I was regularly getting 58 miles to the gallon on the highway.

I have gotten in the sixties and even into the seventies with a friend's 2016 Prius.

[A Horse With No Name]

5 hours ago, Drew Dowdell said:

On the highway, diesels nearly always beat their EPA estimates by a good margin. 

Agreed...and I would love a diesel pickup truck actually.

 

[smk4565]

Diesel is cheaper than premium here, and in something like a BMW or Mercedes, they require premium, so diesel is not only the better fuel for MPG, but it is cheaper fuel too.  

There is a very strong argument for diesel, it is just a hard sell to the masses.  And it was 1% of Mercedes sales, so why pay to certify them, market them, carry inventory, etc.   I think Mercedes needs to quickly get to market the 48 volt electric system and the new inline 4 and 6 engines.  That could get them near the diesel gas mileage but with their conventional engines.

[balthazar]

My diesel truck didn't get EPA MPG numbers, but highway MPG certainly doesn't exceed city MPG by anything close to a 'good margin'... but perhaps DD was specifically talking about cars here.

[G. David Felt]

9 hours ago, balthazar said:

My diesel truck didn't get EPA MPG numbers, but highway MPG certainly doesn't exceed city MPG by anything close to a 'good margin'... but perhaps DD was specifically talking about cars here.

I would have to agree with you, I have rarely seen the diesel trucks get above EPA MPG. I think this is mostly a car thing.

[ykX]

11 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

Our Jetta was the best most reliable car I ever owned before I sold it back.  I was regularly getting 58 miles to the gallon on the highway.

I have gotten in the sixties and even into the seventies with a friend's 2016 Prius.

My coworker's TDI was getting also good mileage, I think over 40mpg on rural roads.  But around 100k his turbo blew up, cost him about $3k to fix it, just to return the car to VW six month later.

Drives Honda now.

[A Horse With No Name]

4 hours ago, ykX said:

My coworker's TDI was getting also good mileage, I think over 40mpg on rural roads.  But around 100k his turbo blew up, cost him about $3k to fix it, just to return the car to VW six month later.

Drives Honda now.

There is a real dearth of new cars I actually like well enough to live with for 60 payments or 60,000 miles. Nothing Honda builds excites me in the least.  I would honestly rather live somewhere I could take public transit vs. driving anything (outside of the NSX) Honda builds right now.

Pretty much feel the same about Ford, KIA, Nissan, most of Toyota, M-Benz, BMW, Hyundai....and the list goes on.

Really the only modern TDI VW's worth owning were the 2015 with the EA 288 motor.  The earlier ones the 2009-2014 had a ton of issues...inter-cooler icing, HPFP implosions, turbos, they ran the gamut...

4 hours ago, dfelt said:

I would have to agree with you, I have rarely seen the diesel trucks get above EPA MPG. I think this is mostly a car thing.

But they tow like an angry mule and sound like liquid sex when they are warming up in the morning...

 

14 hours ago, balthazar said:

My diesel truck didn't get EPA MPG numbers, but highway MPG certainly doesn't exceed city MPG by anything close to a 'good margin'... but perhaps DD was specifically talking about cars here.

I think he was....did you get rid of your diesel truck?

[G. David Felt]

1 hour ago, A Horse With No Name said:

But they tow like an angry mule and sound like liquid sex when they are warming up in the morning...

 

I think he was....did you get rid of your diesel truck?

So very true for the GM trucks, Ford is better now that they have gotten them a bit more quiet, RAM is just noisy with no real tuned exhaust note.

I doubt @balthazar would get rid of his diesel. He uses it way too much.

[balthazar]

8 hours ago, A Horse With No Name said:

....did you get rid of your diesel truck?

Nope- it's only got 168K on it! Planning some love for it this summer... lil touches, nothing major.
I assume the only diesel truck with EPA numbers is the Ram 1500- I believe trucks over what? 9000 GVW? are exempt from EPA estimates?

[A Horse With No Name]

15 minutes ago, balthazar said:

Nope- it's only got 168K on it! Planning some love for it this summer... lil touches, nothing major.
I assume the only diesel truck with EPA numbers is the Ram 1500- I believe trucks over what? 9000 GVW? are exempt from EPA estimates?

Glad to know...I love that truck!

7 hours ago, dfelt said:

So very true for the GM trucks, Ford is better now that they have gotten them a bit more quiet, RAM is just noisy with no real tuned exhaust note.

I doubt @balthazar would get rid of his diesel. He uses it way too much.

Ohhhhhhhhh so very true on the GM thing!