Turbocharged direct injection, Toyota info, and Irish LandCruisers

[murf]

on my recent trip to Ireland, my wife and I had planned a travel-the-country itinerary which covered the lower half of the Emerald Island (yes, VERY green there).. With most roads no wider than a standard driveway with walls of trees, shrubs, and ancient walls on either side the smaller the car, the better. Being that there were no Toyotas available from the rental stable (I wanted a car I was familiar with all the controls), at the last minute we upgraded to the new Audi Q3 Turbo direct injected 2.0 diesel with the 6 speed manual. Of course they are right hand drive, drive on the left, and every intersection is a roundabout... no worries I signed up for the full coverage zero deductible

(concerning TDI coming to the US, I also got some insight from a Toyota exec which I will cover below.)

Now I haven't really had any time behind the wheel of a TDI but was very impressed. the newer technology engine designs really are efficient in squeezing out the power. It had the strong low end pull of the diesel with the long and strong pull up to speed with the turbo. My wife had to snap me out of my rally car driving mentality a few times (bummer)

Unless you are on one of the main motorways, all the other roads are narrow and you have to know exactly where your side mirrors are at all times because there are only inches to spare on both sides. This drew a couple from my wife on occasion when big busses would come up. Irish drivers were pretty impressive!

The first week of our two week trip was with Toyota so I had a chance to speak with a top exec about the awesomeness of my TDi experience. I asked the question that myself among many others have asked: why not in the US? Evidently it came down to emissions and the CART standards. The diesels put out to out too much NOx . Even though diesel dominates in Europe, there is even talk that in the large cities diesel will be banned to some extent. This means it goes back to hybrid, new technology super efficient gas engines like the Atkinson design, and the Hydrogen fuel vehicles.

We need a breakthrough in battery technology and/or to build the infrastructure to refill hydrogen vehicles.

 

[murf]

I logged 1200 kilometers driving (745 miles) on our trip and I did not lose a mirror, or scrape anything. Driving on the left became natural after a while and was able to enjoy the drive.

During our trip I kept an eye out for Land Cruisers. I came to the conclusion that there isn't alot recreational 4 wheeling in Ireland(?) and most of the LC's were there for pulling horse trailers or for the farmers use in the muddy back roads. All the LC's I saw were the GX470 style although I saw a 100 series in Dublin. Also a Hilux here and there.

I finally saw one 80 series in the middle of Cork...and it wasn't white.

 

[murf]

Being close to England there was a influence of Land Rovers and many were restored classics which were impressive. Near Dublin on the weekend I saw a group of three well built classic Rovers headed somewhere together but couldn't get a pic in time. Here are some that I did capture:

 

[GOLDY]

Murf, Thanks for the great trip write up and pictures. Sounds like you guys had a great time.

Inquiring minds want to know.


Did you kiss the Blarney Stone?

 

[murf]

indeed I did!

you have to lay on your back and lean over the battlement to kiss it. Cant fall through the bars but still high up~

 

[oilbrnr]

TDi's are awesome. The whole diesel situation in the US is discouraging and questionable. Almost makes me want to put on my foil hat as there has to be something going on behind the scenes.

 

[Cruiser AZ]

I did a study abroad program in Ireland and yeah there isn't much of a car scene. Recreational off roading is almost non existent they interesting geography for the most part. Most 4x4s are used by farmers as farm equipment as was said earlier. I saw Land Rovers being used to heard sheep. When it comes to family hauling wagons and hatchbacks rule over there. I did admire the defenders though.

 

[medtro]

indeed I did!

you have to lay on your back and lean over the battlement to kiss it. Cant fall through the bars but still high up~

View attachment 1099718 View attachment 1099719

Just saw the same thing on ABC's show 2 mins ago.

 

[Living in the Past]

The first week of our two week trip was with Toyota so I had a chance to speak with a top exec about the awesomeness of my TDi experience. I asked the question that myself among many others have asked: why not in the US? Evidently it came down to emissions and the CART standards. The diesels put out to out too much NOx . Even though diesel dominates in Europe, there is even talk that in the large cities diesel will be banned to some extent. .

So does this mean all the talk about a diesel Tundra is just that and there won't be any Toyota diesel pickups in the US?

 

[murf]

So does this mean all the talk about a diesel Tundra is just that and there won't be any Toyota diesel pickups in the US?

Toyota had actually developed a proprietary new technology deisel but backed out moving forward with the plans when the economy tanked in 07. now some rumors that they might team up with Cummins as a supplier if they do decide to move forward(?)

 

[Living in the Past]

Toyota had actually developed a proprietary new technology deisel but backed out moving forward with the plans when the economy tanked in 07. now some rumors that they might team up with Cummins as a supplier if they do decide to move forward(?)

So Toyota who has sold millions of vehicles with diesel engines if it decides goes with a diesel will use the same manufacturer that the Fiat pickups have?

 

[murf]

....toyota hydrogen vehicles.

http://jalopnik.com/toyota-mirai-goes-312-miles-before-having-to-hunt-for-a-1715017983

 

[msahr]

Cool write up! I'd love to try the right hand drive - drive on the left thing!

I finally saw one 80 series in the middle of Cork...and it wasn't white.



View attachment 1099614

What a relief!

 

[zona]

Toyota had actually developed a proprietary new technology deisel but backed out moving forward with the plans when the economy tanked in 07. now some rumors that they might team up with Cummins as a supplier if they do decide to move forward(?)

Love the pics, drink any Guinness? Haha

 

[Rudster]

Been to Ireland and did the blarney stone thing. Beautiful scenic country with great hospitality. Sounds like a great trip you had Murf.

 

[murf]

reposted from earier this year:
Concerning TDI coming to the US, I also got some insight from a Toyota exec about the awesomeness of my TDi experience. I asked the question that myself among many others have asked: why not in the US? Evidently it came down to emissions and the CART standards. The diesels put out to out too much NOx . Even though diesel dominates in Europe, there is even talk that in the large cities diesel will be banned to some extent. This means it goes back to hybrid, new technology super efficient gas engines like the Atkinson design, and the Hydrogen fuel vehicles.

We need a breakthrough in battery technology and/or to build the infrastructure to refill hydrogen vehicles.

So..... I kept asking myself if it is so hard to meet NOx emissions why do the German auto makers seem to be the only ones with the magic formula And no one else can pull it off!? They're all over the place!

I guess when the software only shows 1/40th of the Nox emissions....VW/Audi has made a hard bed to lay in.

 

[GBinAZ]

Thats problem with software (firmware in this case) and computer models, no one knows what's happening under the hood. You can make the program do, and display, anything you want and game the system. You have to look at the code to see whats really going on.

 

[Otter]

Nice writeup, Murf. Looks like a great trip.

I find it interesting that Toyota is still working on a hydrogen vehicle. I just can't see the infrastructure getting built out for that. I'm more on board with the Tesla formula. Electricity is already everywhere, and not that hard to put charging stations in convenient locations. Tesla seems to have the battery technology figured out. Since they've opened up all of their patents, I'm surprised more auto manufacturers haven't jumped on that.

 

[GWcruiser]

Looks like you had a great trip Eric... but I have to ask: did you really kiss the stones? If yes, must have been like kissing one million lips at once. ...

With TDi, if I recall the Auto 101 class I took in 1970, diesel burns much hotter than gasoline, hence a natural NOx generator - so they need to run rich to cool down the burn and reduce the NO2 production. And a rich mixture means less economy. The fact VW figured out a way to set up the mix for US tests is bad, that they implemented it in production cars is serious bad. I'm waiting for the other shoe to fall when owners find out how the cars drive tuned down to meet US & Euro specs. I don't think it'll be pretty.

As for next gen, electric will probably win. Infrastructure is in place, hidden costs are easy to hide, and people will happily pay a larger electric bill to save gas money (paying once a month is better than a weekly surprise that changes for no apparent reason). Battery tech is improving, too. The new Lithium-Iron mix has life specs similar to well made lead-acid wet cells... and I think that's what Tesla is putting in their cars and the home power banks they are now selling to solar users. Just need to get the cost down and I think adoption rates will jump... I could even see non-solar homes add batteries for demand smoothing (tiered pricing is becoming a hot button in power circles, making power usage prohibitive in some time slots - like dinner time).

Going out on a limb, I once saw a turbine powered electric. Turbine ran at max efficiency when needed to charge the batts ... and had no connection to the road. It solved the 'where do I plug in?' issue... and modified it to 'where do I buy JP1 around here?'. Gensets have less stringent emission requirements .

 

[Pitch]

My wife and I are in Ireland now (still gotta check up on CSC, as it is not a pub night for us). We are staying in a rural part of East Co Clare, so we are seeing more Irish Cruisers. In the last 8 days I have seen 2 100's, one 200, and probably 100+ 150 series Prado Land Cruisers. The 150 diesels dominate here, which makes sense, as they are narrower. They come in both 2 and 4 door varieties, all are diesels/sticks as far as I can tell. Hilux pick ups are common as well. Half ton puck ups are non-existent.

I will echo what @murf said about the narrow roads... Wow! And Irish drivers are dialed in to their roadways and cars. No way would I want to drive our Tundra here. Heck, our Opel Astra hatchback rental is as wide as I would want. I must say, though, this 5sp manual diesel car gets about 56mpg's!!! Very un-Cruiser like.