My Father had a Cutlass Cruiser station wagon with the Diesel in it, and he didn't have much problems with it at all. The motor was a little bit underpowered for a car that weighed almost 4 tons, but it got great mileage (30 MPG's on the highway), and lasted darned near forever. The car made a little more noise at idle, but once one was up to speed, the normal wind and tire noise sort of drowned out the growl of the engine. Being a young boy at the time, I liked it because it sounded tough, like a big semi-truck!
Dad worked in the trucking business at the time, so he purchased Diesel fuel at the truck stops on his work account. He also had the mechanics at the shop change the oil and maintain the engine for him. This is probably the reason the car lasted so long. Most of the problems that these cars had were due to poor quality fuel, and mechanics that didn't know how to maintain them, like putting SG instead of SD grade motor oil in them, and re-using fasteners when the motor was torn down. Those engines too, would go through air filters like mad because they sucked so much air down. A major cause of poor performance was that the users would not change the air filters frequently enough.
Dad put 200,000 miles on that car between 1980, and 1986 before buying an Astro-van. (The Astro was a rare excellent GM design from the 80's) That Cutlass then went to the Rescue Squad, where they used it as a first-responder car for the next 10 years and put another 100,000 miles on it. It's demise came when someone put gasoline in it and trashed the injector pump.
Dad's always been a Diesel dude, so when the Duramax engine was developed for the pickups, he had to have one! In 2004, he bought one. That truck has been absloutely flawless, and hasn't needed the first trip back to the dealer for even the slightest warranty work. It gets almost 24 MPG's on the highway, which is quite an accomplishment for a truck that weighs close to 5000 pounds empty, and is about as aerodynamic as a brick wall. The truck pulls around his huge 28 foot slide-out RV like it's not even back there. The sound of the motor is great, a very smooth "precision" sound, unlike the old 5.7/6.2/6.5 family of Diesels GM made. Actually, the Duramax is an Isusu design. If one buys a cab-forward Isusu box-truck, they are equipped with a 4 cylinder 150 HP version of the duramax...it's just the pickup motor chopped in half!
For me, I am seriously considering getting one of the Jeep Liberty trucks with the Mercedes Diesel engine in it. It's been the only vehicle around that has ever come close to matching the performance of my Astro van. Mercedes knows how to do diesel engines too, so I can't go wrong there! My 4.3 liter/ 5-speed Astro has 170 HP, and gets 25 MPG's on the highway, and will pull a 5000 pound trailer. The Jeep Liberty CRD has 160 HP, gets 28MPG's highway and will pull 5000 pounds too. The only thing is that I'll hafta sacrifice some interior space, and some handling. The Astro rolls a little bit, but sticks to the road pretty good. The Liberty CRD bounces, jounces and gets pushed out of shape when hanging through turns...but it's an SUV after all, it does have 4WD, and that will be nice for launching my boat from a beach...something my Astro definitely WON'T do!
Dad worked in the trucking business at the time, so he purchased Diesel fuel at the truck stops on his work account. He also had the mechanics at the shop change the oil and maintain the engine for him. This is probably the reason the car lasted so long. Most of the problems that these cars had were due to poor quality fuel, and mechanics that didn't know how to maintain them, like putting SG instead of SD grade motor oil in them, and re-using fasteners when the motor was torn down. Those engines too, would go through air filters like mad because they sucked so much air down. A major cause of poor performance was that the users would not change the air filters frequently enough.
Dad put 200,000 miles on that car between 1980, and 1986 before buying an Astro-van. (The Astro was a rare excellent GM design from the 80's) That Cutlass then went to the Rescue Squad, where they used it as a first-responder car for the next 10 years and put another 100,000 miles on it. It's demise came when someone put gasoline in it and trashed the injector pump.
Dad's always been a Diesel dude, so when the Duramax engine was developed for the pickups, he had to have one! In 2004, he bought one. That truck has been absloutely flawless, and hasn't needed the first trip back to the dealer for even the slightest warranty work. It gets almost 24 MPG's on the highway, which is quite an accomplishment for a truck that weighs close to 5000 pounds empty, and is about as aerodynamic as a brick wall. The truck pulls around his huge 28 foot slide-out RV like it's not even back there. The sound of the motor is great, a very smooth "precision" sound, unlike the old 5.7/6.2/6.5 family of Diesels GM made. Actually, the Duramax is an Isusu design. If one buys a cab-forward Isusu box-truck, they are equipped with a 4 cylinder 150 HP version of the duramax...it's just the pickup motor chopped in half!
For me, I am seriously considering getting one of the Jeep Liberty trucks with the Mercedes Diesel engine in it. It's been the only vehicle around that has ever come close to matching the performance of my Astro van. Mercedes knows how to do diesel engines too, so I can't go wrong there! My 4.3 liter/ 5-speed Astro has 170 HP, and gets 25 MPG's on the highway, and will pull a 5000 pound trailer. The Jeep Liberty CRD has 160 HP, gets 28MPG's highway and will pull 5000 pounds too. The only thing is that I'll hafta sacrifice some interior space, and some handling. The Astro rolls a little bit, but sticks to the road pretty good. The Liberty CRD bounces, jounces and gets pushed out of shape when hanging through turns...but it's an SUV after all, it does have 4WD, and that will be nice for launching my boat from a beach...something my Astro definitely WON'T do!
