that is mighty sweet mileage for an SUV of that size!

:eek::eek:

That's astounding mileage! I haven't even hit 30mpg in my e300d!

He told me the paper won't print anything that propagates illegalities toward the purchase of a diesel passenger car in a state that deems them as emissions unfriendly. I countered by stating:

1) The Department of Motor Vehicles says I can register it with no problem. Does that mean they're not part of the state/Schwarzenegger bureaucracy to shove overpriced hydrogen cars down our throat, when we have diesel fuel virtually everywhere and diesel cars waiting to come over from Europe and Japan?
-- I received no answer.

2) Why is it illegal? The vehicle has two skillet-sized catalytic converters on its tailpipes that burn away literally every chemical this car emits.
-- I received no answer.

3) The air exiting the exhaust has been measured by air quality entities to be cleaner than the air going through the front grill.
-- I received no answer.

If anything, there's some entertainment value in how we located the car, how strangers on the East Coast linked only by virtue of being Porsche enthusiasts helped us validate the car, and the enormous amount of legal documentation that had to be processed because this is an out-of-state diesel. But Dan Neil simply won't touch the story based on legalities arrayed for new diesels, not used diesels. :rolleyes:

I'm not certain, but I think someone in Sacramento is pushing hard with hydrogen because Arnold touts it like a ragamuffin working a medicine show while the Air Quality Management Board still thinks new diesel is the old diesel from the 1970s and '80s.

Meanwhile, the consumer who want a vehicle that has more power and functionality than gasoline equivalents, and gets twice as better gas mileage, while being environmentally friendly, is getting screwed hard.

Thanks, Richard. Again, sorry the Mountaineer didn't work out for you.

The BlueTech E is here. In fact the engine in the BlueTech E is the same as in our ML. The state of California, however, mandates no one can own a BlueTech. They can only be leased, which as leases go, puts hard restrictions on the amount of miles the car can be driven.

The BlueTech E is supposed to be a fantastic car. 0-60 in 5.5 seconds. Gets 37 mpg, and can be driven from Detroit to Washington DC on one tank of fuel.

But we as Californians aren't allowed to own one.

Calif. has more stringent particulate emissions regs because it has more or a problem with particulates. They are a severe health problem. If you had a kid with asthma you'd understand that.

MB has always said they would be able to meet the new regs with their newest technology, which IIRC includes some urea based filtering or reaction vessel.

One thing I'd like to see is some diesel hybrids - makes much more sense to me than gas-hybrids. And if you want torque and electric motor is what you want.

CA. air quality has improved substantially since about 1984, when it seemed cleaner cars were emerging. I'm not certain, but the particulates are near non-existent with the MB diesels. CA officials suggest it's "soot" that makes the diesel MB unavailable.

Yes on the urea filtering - I couldn't think of the name - but that's the catalytic system within the exhaust system.

A guy on a diesel forum posted this pamphlet he received in the mail:

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/f...el911/ZE1b.jpg

According to the guy who posted it, there are 4 refineries in the area highlighted in the image, but this particular environmental group has "decided" that diesels are to blame

The diesels are horrible. They are seriously outdated and are fixed illegally. There are a number of refineries in the Long Beach area, but the trucks really do need to go. A lot of the truckers agree.

That's awesome. Bonus points for "sticking it to the man". :)

how much did that puppy cost ??

Dave is right about the port of L.A. I'm the biggest diesel lover around, but the situation with the dilapidated old semis with illegal Mexicans driving them for slave wages is an environmental and public safety disaster. If they could clean up that operation, (it's the busiest port in the world), and begin to gradually convert the ships to newer diesel technology, the improvement would be monumental.

I know that it would be a big short-term capital investment for many, but the technology is in place today and there would be a huge GDP benefit for truck makers and dealers, ship retrofitters, etc... This is an example of where the big bucks are in green industries.

California should be dismissed from the United States for becoming a totalitarian state. If Stalin were still alive, he could be governor tomorrow.

Brilliant statement there, Joe Bob.

You could get one of these new in CA. They aren't made any more now though. Ford had started to develop a small diesel for the F-150 line of trucks but discontinued it because it did not look profitable at the time (of $1.35 gasoline).

http://www.avto-otchet.net/CarReviews/2392_0.jpg

The commercial trucks need to be cleaned up pronto. It is obvious that they are responsible for a majority of the smog in the LA area. It is interesting that they have the CA consumer jump through all the hoops with smog but nothing happens with the semis. Do the transport companies have such a strong lobby, or are they all registered out of state?

George

dd,

Could California car dealers buy those as used cars from out of state, and then sell them in California? Or can you only import them into california as the consumer/end user?

the - I don't believe many dealers want to outlay the cash investment to buy one of these cars from out of state, and chance not selling one, and have the car just taking up space. Unless there's a trade in with a modern diesel M-B (highly unlikely after talking to five M-B dealerships in the SoCal area), there are virtually none available in the state for very long, unless it's some thoroughly stripped out model. There was a used GL class diesel with 10K available up in Walnut Creek for about a day, and was bought for close to retail new - that was the first and last modern diesel M-B I heard of available in Cali within the last three months.

Your best bet is to do daily searches on the M-B website for diesels to see what's available. But you have to be quick about contacting the dealership as these last a very short time on the lot. The last two I've heard of available in the country was Texas and Colorado. Ours was the third, in Maryland. It was only by fate that the car in Maryland had the exact color and interior we wanted.

Only for commercial use, IIRC.

The DMV in California is the only state entity that so far welcomes the clean-burning diesels. As long as they have at least 7,500 miles, they can be registered as easily as any gasoline-powered car. Also, the clean-burning diesels are exempt from smog checks.

These were available to the general public in CA. They were classified as a heavy duty vehicle or similar, which made them exempt, regardless of the final consumer. You can still buy the large diesel pickup trucks from ford, chevy and dodge here in CA. But today there are no more diesel SUVs available in CA.

A question I have never gotten a good answer for: Why is diesel usually more expensive than gasoline???

George

Cool. I didn't know that about the Expedition. Those were enormous trucks.

As for the price of diesel, that's a very good question. And it seems to me only within the last couple years that the price has increased to, then surpassed that of 91-octane gasoline in CA.

Could it be that diesel costs more to refine than gasoline? Or...
...are the oil companies hedging their bets that there will soon be more demand for diesel fuel?

I don't know. :confused:

Regardless of the 20-cents more per gallon I see for diesel fuel, because the diesel Mercedes gets twice as better mpg., it will still cost us less to run the diesel than our 4.6 V8 Mountaineer, in which we use only premium fuel.

New (cleaner) diesel => new refinery process => mo' money

..or so I hear.