Be nice to have that torque. And.. I WANT THE HOOD!

I dunno man. I think it would be rather efficient. But I've got a sneeking suspicion were gonna get hybrids crammed down our throughts.

Personaly Im all about diesel power!!! Wanted it for years.

the emissions laws and fuel will be the same across 50 states by 2007, so start looking at that time for more diesel offerings.

the aussie nissans get a 2.5l turbo diesel, but that seems small for something as large as the new X and Frontier. At least by american standards.

Considering a Dodge / Mercedes Sprinter 3500 dually with 5000 lbs payload capacity only have a 2.7L, a 2.5L on an X is huge.

If high speed performance is important (not for my truck), then you can always opt for the gas.

Hybrids suck. They'll die out once people realize that they require $10K in batteries every few years.

I propose Diesel SFA Xterras for everybody!!!

Nissan offers a nice 3.0 liter Diesel in the Terrano sold in Europe and other parts of the world. I think this might be a good Xterra engine. The Terrano (4 door version) is similar to the Xterra in most dimensions. :rolleyes:

Kinda off topic but this x looks weird with the non tinted windows. I dont like it

Not to mention the only hybrid SUVs out there (toyotas and Escape using Toyota tech) can't do low speed offroading because the motors would burn out if you let them turn too slow.

What do you mean? What about slowly moving city traffic? Sometimes you are creeping along a one lane road. Why would it cause them to burn out?

It does look kinda weird w/o the tinted windows.

thats the first thing i noticed, def weird, but i also noticed, DESERT RUNNERS

Yes, I’m curious as well. I own a Prius and it will go as slow as you want it to. It also has a decent control gear (kind of like downshifting) to protect the hybrid system, but allowing an “engine braking” like effect.

-Doug

I wonder if they'll release an '05 Turbo Diesel down there... hmm...

Slow moving traffic doesn't require high torque.

If my engine craps out, I will find a T-Diesil to replace the 3.3

First of all, in principle at least, I wouldn't mind a diesel at all. Now, for the practical side of things.

Gas just dipped below $2 a gallon here this weekend (hooray!). How much is diesel? $2.49 or higher. To break even on a per-mile basis, my diesel Xterra should get at least 23 mpg city and 26 or 27 mpg highway.

The up front premium of having a diesel engine wouldn't bother me as much, because you typically get most all of that premium back when you sell down the road.

Let's also not forget that diesel fuel in the US will soon have to meet much stricter standards on sulfur content. Removing more sulfur means additional cost, which in turn means, well, additional cost to the consumer.

Still, all that low-end grunt would be super cool.

Yeah like MediStorm mentioned, slow moving traffic means almost idle and at the most 1/5 throttle or something. The motor is perfectly fine for those momentary operations.

If you're stuck on a 40degree incline and pushing 1/2 throttle at pretty much 0 mph speeds, then the current passing through the motor will be huge. Motors needs to turn to be efficient (back EMF).

Remember, the rear motors are connected directly to the drive shaft without going through the transmission. So even if the Highlander has a crawling transfer case, it won't make a difference on the motor's turning speeds - it'll still turn slow at slow speeds and burn out.

Why not hydro-static vehicles? Imagine the torque you could put out. A good pump and a variable displacement motor connected to the axles would give you any speed you wanted with no idle/burnout problems. The engine would always be protected from overload by relief valves, and a nice winch set up on top of it. No tranny, no gigantic battery, just another tank of oil, probably tucked in where the tranny was.
Honestly, from what I have seen through SME I would say the future is in hydrogen. They are really promoting development of hydrogen manufactuing design. the equipment looks prety cool.

And the other problem is that the EPA will make the manufacturer put smog like EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) on it before it can be imported.

Do you know what the efficiency of such a setup would be?

I've always though using fluid to transfer power is not the most efficient way; torque converter being a good exmple. They just can't compare to pure mechanical power transfer. And also, unlike a torque converter, I don't think that you can lock a hydrostatic transmission (although I guess if the pumps are pure positive displacement, then it's "locked").

The Navara, and the new Pathfinder I think, use the 3.0 ZD30 Turbo diesel. As does the Patrol. I think there are a couple of threads about this floating around.

A cheap pump like you would use on a log splitter runs about 85% efficent. A high performance piston pump will run about 95% and the same for a good motor. So my 01 with 170 at the PTO would get me 153 at the axle after the pump and motor take their cut. K&N's dyno chart shows the same engine running 134.5 hp. So a net gain of 20 hp.
Also the engine can run at a constant rpm and the pump/motors will varry displacement to change speed.
The system is locked to the extent you set your relief valve. GE did research on using this in their locomotives, it literally tore up the track.

Actually, a torque converter has torque multiplication. So the torque being applied is multiplied by 1.7 to 2.5 times (typically) that being applied. Consequently, an A/T is has more torque applied to the rear wheels than a M/T, which only has a 1:1. This is why they are preferred by many for towing (more torque from a standstill) and for off-roading (more torque for climbing, and more controllable power). So you're right... Pure mechanical power transfer doesn't compare!

Once up to speed, the torque converter does lock up, preventing wasted energy and increasing fuel economy.

But back to the topic... Sooner or later, you'll see more diesels offered here in the States. Jeep just started offering them on their Liberty, and soon the Wrangler (per rumors). But diesel fuel is more expensive here than gas, sometimes as much as $1 more per gallon. That's up to $21 more per tank. Are you ready to pay that much more per fillup?

It may have more torque, and better economy, but since the fuel is more expensive, it may be a wash. So for now, I'm happier with a very healthy 4.0L gas engine in my X, which has decent fuel economy (18-20 MPG), and uses cheap go-go juice (now $2.17 local and dropping...).

Remember that the life of a diesel engine is much longer and they are a more robust design.
Either way, gasoline or diesel, its all going to be obsolite some day.

Keep in mind the newer diesel engines are designed to also run on bio-diesel, a renewable man-made power source. Hey, make it yourself! http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html

Truck diesel engines are made to last much longer, don't know if the same can be said of consumer grade diesels. A coworker has a VW Jetta diesel with 100K+, and it's already smoking.