Toyota---Please!!!!

[DaveK]

I don't know about toyota, but there is supposed to be a new player in the US market with a diesel SUV, the Mihindra Company out of India. For some reason, the introduction was delayed, but still on track, or so I'm told.

The only way around the inability to buy factory diesels these days is to build it yourself - good luck there.

My research plods forward.

[Chazz Layne]

It just doesn't have quite the same appeal as the "hi-lux".

[DaveK]

Yeah...it may take some time to grow on the car buying public over here. I don't think they were working with an Italian design team when they put the sheet metal together.

[cruiserlarry]

Yeah...it may take some time to grow on the car buying public over here. I don't think they were working with an Italian design team when they put the sheet metal together.

I don't think they used ANY design team at all...

I can see the schoolyard banter now:

"Look, everyone Joey's mom got a Pacer diesel SUV !!!"

Yeah, it's that ugly....

[smslavin]

The only way around the inability to buy factory diesels these days is to build it yourself - good luck there.

The latest issue of Overland Journal has an article about a guy who converted his G-Wagen to bio-diesel. Pretty cool read.

[DaveK]

The only way around the inability to buy factory diesels these days is to build it yourself - good luck there.

The latest issue of Overland Journal has an article about a guy who converted his G-Wagen to bio-diesel. Pretty cool read.

The guy started off with a HUGE advantage as the GW was already a diesel. His conversion was just to run it on veg oil. I'd be very happy if I could have that option, even if I wouldn't do it.

[cruiserlarry]

Converting a diesel to veg-oil or bio-diesel is not difficult. I did it to my son's 63 passenger school bus conversion with an 8.2L Detroit diesel engine. It works great, gets better mileage, and runs cleaner. Just not convenient, thanks again to the oil industry - they'd rather not have the competition...

This is a whole different deal than converting a vehicle from gas to diesel - much more involved, as everything from the fuel tanks and lines, electrical, ECUs, cooling system, and suspension (due to weight) has to be replaced or modified.