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Cruze Diesel Road Trip reveals the good and bad, but no ugly

Most of us have strong opinions on diesel-powered cars based on our perceptions of and experience with them. I used to thoroughly dislike oil burners for their noise, smoke and lackluster performance, and the fact that they ran on greasy, smelly stuff that was more expensive than gasoline, could be hard to find and was nasty to get on your hands when refueling. Those negatives, for me, trumped diesel's major positives of big torque for strong acceleration and better fuel economy. Are any of those knocks on diesel still valid today? I'm not talking semis, which continue to annoy me when their operators for some reason almost never shut them down. At any busy truck stop, the air seems always filled with the sound – and sometimes smell – of dozens of big-rig diesels idling endlessly and mindlessly. Or diesel heavy-duty pickups. Those muscular workhorses are far more refined than they once were and burn much less fuel than their gasoline counterparts. But good luck arriving home late at night, or departing early morning, without waking your housemates and neighbors with their clattery racket. No, I'm talking diesel-powered passenger cars, which account for more than half the market in Europe (diesel fuel is cheaper there) yet still barely bump the sales charts in North America. Diesel fuel remains more expensive here, too few stations carry it, and too many Americans remember when diesel cars were noisy, smelly slugs. Also, US emissions requirements make them substantially more expensive to certify, and therefore to buy. But put aside (if you can) higher vehicle purchase and fuel prices, and today's diesel cars can be delightful to drive while delivering much better fuel efficiency than gas-powered versions. So far in the US, all except Chevrolet's compact Cruze Diesel come from German brands, and all are amazingly quiet, visually clean (no smoke) and can be torquey-fun to drive. When a GM Powertrain engineering team set out to modify a tried-and-true GM of Europe turbodiesel four for North American Chevy Cruze compacts, says assistant chief engineer Mike Siegrist, it had a clear target in mind: the Volkswagen Jetta TDI 2.0-liter diesel. And they'll tell you that they beat it in nearly every way. "I believe we have a superior product," he says. "It's powerful, efficient and clean, and it will change perceptions of what a diesel car can be." The 2.0L Cruze turbodiesel pumps out 151 SAE certified horses and 264 pound-feet of torque (at just 2,000 rpm) vs.

GM to invest $632 million in Indiana plant for future pickup truck production

General Motors plans to invest $632 million in its Fort Wayne, Indiana, assembly facility to prepare the plant for future internal combustion engine full-size light duty trucks, it said on Monday. The investment will be used to support new conveyors, tooling and equipment for the plant that manufactures GM's Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 trucks. GM has detailed more than $2.3 billion in planned investment in a series of announcements since last week as it works to retool existing North American auto plants and introduce more efficient next-generation internal-combustion full-size trucks and SUVs. Another investment announcement is planned later this week. The largest U.S. automaker is continuing to make big investments in gas-powered vehicles even as it vows to stop building them in 2035. Last week, GM said it was investing more than $500 million in its Arlington, Texas, assembly plant to prepare it for production of internal combustion engine full-size SUVs. GM faces increasingly stringent emissions requirements from California and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Last week, GM also said it plans to invest more than $1 billion to re-tool two manufacturing sites in Flint, Michigan, to prepare for a new generation of its heavy-duty trucks. The Texas announcement highlights the company's commitment to continue "providing customers with a strong portfolio of (internal combustion) vehicles for years to come," GM said last week. On Tuesday, GM said it would invest C$280 million ($210 million) in its Canadian Oshawa Assembly to produce the next-generation internal combustion engine full-size trucks. GM paid $128.2 million in fines for failing to meet Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program requirements for 2016 and 2017, records released recently show. The EPA in April proposed requiring a 56% reduction in projected fleet average emissions over 2026 requirements. (Reporting by David Sherpardson in Washington and Shivansh Tiwary in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Conor Humphries) Plants/Manufacturing Chevrolet GM GMC

Should heavy-duty pickup trucks have window stickers with fuel mileage estimates?

If you were to stroll into your nearest Chevrolet, Ford, GMC, Nissan, or Ram dealership, you'd find a bunch of pickup trucks. Most of those would have proper window stickers labeled with things like base prices, options prices, location of manufacture, and, crucially, fuel economy estimates. But you'd also run across a number of heavy-duty trucks with no such fuel mileage data from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA doesn't require automakers to publish the valuable miles-per-gallon measurement for vehicles with gross weight ratings that exceed 8,500 pounds. That makes it difficult for consumers to compare behemoths powered by turbocharged diesel engines – between one another, and between smaller, gasoline-fueled trucks. Consumer Reports doesn't think it should be this way, and it's spearheading an effort (PDF link) to get the government to require manufacturers to publish fuel economy estimates. In its own testing, CR found that heavy-duty pickups powered by Ford's Power Stroke, GM's Duramax, and FCA's Cummins diesel engines (which doesn't include the Ram's EcoDiesel) get worse fuel mileage than their lighter-duty gas-powered siblings. We're not so sure HD-truck buyers are unaware of this fact – big diesels don't really come into their own until big loads are placed in their beds or attached to their trailer hitches. Under heavy workloads, the diesel trucks will almost certainly return greater efficiency than a similar gas-powered truck. What's more, HD trucks with lumbering diesels in general make the driver feel more confident while towing due to greater torque at low engine RPM than gas trucks. They also offer greater max-weight limits. Still, we agree EPA fuel mileage estimates should be offered for heavy-duty pickups. And we think the comparisons provided by Consumer Reports might be interesting to potential buyers. Click here to see the results of CR's tests, and let us know what you think using the poll below. Related Video: Featured Gallery 2017 Ford F-Series Super Duty: First Drive View 22 Photos News Source: Consumer Reports Government/Legal Green Read This Chevrolet Ford GMC Nissan RAM Fuel Efficiency Truck Commercial Vehicles Diesel Vehicles poll gmc sierra hd chevy silverado hd