[Savage223]

Forgive me if this has been asked before. I looked around but didn't see it.
Twice now, A European told me that the Euro version of the TDI gets 85 MP G . (That's GALLON and NOT LITER.) They attributed the MPG difference due to the emissions controls dictated by the US.
Does anyone know if this is true?
What is to stop a US conversion back to (no smog) Euro version, if so? I mean, in my area the car is exempt from testing. I'm all for clean, but my thought is that 30 MPG difference is a hell of a lot cleaner than emissions cleaned up, and burning that much fuel- even if cleaned up- has got to emit more pollutants overall than the so-called "clean" we are supposed to have here in the states. This, not to mention performance differences.
As you can see from my other posts, I've got far more to worry about right now, but this question's been nagging me since I heard it.

 

[GoFaster]

There may be "a" version of "some" TDI that gets this sort of mileage (e.g. the "3-litre" version of the Lupo, which is out of production), but not a "comparable" version of a vehicle sold in North America.
In case you haven't heard, European vehicles have their own emission standards, they are Euro 1, 2, 3, or 4 depending on year, so it's not true that European cars have no "smog" equipment, either. By the way, the "3-litre" version of the Lupo met Euro 4 emission standards.
A hypothetical diesel engine that's totally non-emission-controlled but optimized totally for efficiency would probably use only slightly less fuel (5% is a reasonable guess, certainly not more than 10%) than one that meets Euro 4 or US EPA Tier 2 bin 10 (current-production PD-100). The current emissions equipment doesn't cost a diesel engine all *that* much.
The next-generation vehicles that could require extra heat to the particulate traps to regenerate them could be a different story, but that story hasn't been written yet, and we're not there yet.

 

[Savage223]

Re: (GoFaster)

Thorough answer man, thanks!

 

[RatRedux]

Re: (Savage223)

The next step in Europe is Euro 5.
There are already Euro 5 compliant engines on the market in the commercial truck and bus industry. They utilize both cooled EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) and SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) with urea injection.

Germany is offering truck and bus operators road fee incentives up to the year 2009 if they operate a vehicle with an engine meeting Euro 5 standards.