Diesel Powered Dakota/Durango.

[moose42]

So I emailed Dodge about putting a 4 cylinder Cummins in their Dakota and Durango vehicles.
This is the canned answer I received.

Dear Moose42,

Thank you for your interest in a Diesel Powered Dodge Dakota or Durango.

The Chrysler Group has yet to announce any plans for a Diesel powered
Durango or Dakota at this time. However, with constantly shifting market
trends I would hesitate to discount the possibility of new products on
the horizon, specifically designed to suit your needs. Please feel free
to check back with us and your local dealership periodically for future
updates.

Obviously if they have a canned answer for this topic, I can't be the first average Joe to ask them about it.

What say you?

[Joe ex PNG]

It seems like that would be a pretty stock letter for many request or custom suggestions. Just a quick cut and paste- and boom.

[Precision]

that would be an out of the park winner, but only if they act quickly and provide serious gas mileage. getting a small powerful diesel instead of the hemi should cost dodge about the same, but if they could replicate the 28 mpg of a toyota hilux they wouldn't be able to make enough of them.

alas in typical bean counter fashion it will be shot down because "americans don't buy diesels". not paying attention to the fact that we have almost no choice and the the tdi vw's are selling well.

not a big fan of dakota's but i'd buy one or a frontier, ranger or tacoma in a +/- 2.5 liter diesel with 25+ mpg (which should be easy).

[Joe ex PNG]

Have I mentioned how much I love the Toyota 2.4L diesel in the Hilux? Sadly, you don't get those here, either. Then again, they are kind of slow on the highway (yeah, like a Prius isn't slow either)

[rightisright]

The Big Three will never build it. Why? Because it's a good idea.

[HTRN]

Right now, Chrysler is focusing on Hybrid technology, because that's whats trendy at the moment.

And with certain rare exceptions(the Challenger being the most recent example), Detroit is ALWAYS clueless.


HTRN

[Rich Jordan]

There's also the fact that, right now, diesel is more expensive than premium gas almost everywhere in the country. That didn't used to be the case.

That means at least a part of the mileage-based savings is already eaten up, plus the customer has to overcome that initial obstacle (fuel costs more) and translate it to less easily understood running cost of use/ownership. That is a harder sell.

[Precision]

Rich,

I understand your point. I also understand that MOST people are bad at math. (not implying that you are).

However, my gas truck (used for work) gets 8.5mpg doing the work. My diesel gets 14+ outfitted exactly the same way. 60% better fuel mileage. At the worst, our prices were $5.00 for diesel and $4.00 for gas. A 25% premium. 60% better mileage with a 25% additional cost per gallon.

Two things on diesel prices.
#1 is the fuel tax on diesel is much of the extra cost.
#2 it is almost at parity with 87 octane in my area right now ( admittedly for the first time in 3-4 years).

Ford has a small diesel passenger car they are selling in Europe that gets +/- 65MPG. But they refuse to sell it here. "Americans won't buy diesels" And they make it in England so the reverse import "costs too much". According to the article I read, it would cost about $1500 more than a Prius but get about 15-20 MPG better. I foresee lots of buyers.

But what do I know.

[Baja boy]

well, I paid $2.95 /gallon for diesel here in Yuma Az today and unleaded reg. was $2.99/gallon. All our personal trucks are diesels, Fords, Dodges and GMC's---4 door -4 wheel drives and most of our work trucks are diesels too. We get on the average 30% better fuel mileage with the diesels and the trucks are lasting us up to 400,000 miles --very few of our gas trucks make it that far --if any !!