Mahindra diesel pickup

[floyd]

Originally Posted by mcbrew

Floyd, you must not be familiar with modern diesels. My Sprinter van has a 156hp CRD engine (2.7 liter 5 cylinder) and can drive through the hills of western PA at 85+ MPH all day long. I have had if loaded with over 6,000 pounds of cargo and it still wants to go fast. I kept the speed down, though.... Since I was a bit overloaded. Got 22 MPG on that particular trip, and that was using biodiesel, which reduces MPG slightly.

The torque is impressive. Not only does it have 243 pounds of torque, but it peaks at just 1,600 RPM and stays there through 2,500 RPM. It has a 6,000 pound towing capacity in the US. A bit higher abroad.

I made no comment about it's power, It's a compact truck and weighs almost a thousand pounds more than the average of it's competition.
I must admit that my familiarity with diesels is limited, I just retired from many years as a fleet mechanic with over 400 pieces of equipment to mind. Everything from lombardini light plants to 990 Cat payloaders, including a couple hundred light and medium trucks and Semis.
We had 2,3,4,6,8,&12 cylinder diesels in the fleet, both 2 & four stroke, plus stationary engines as well.
Your 5cyl is a great engine, too bad it has been replaced with a lesser 6.

[2yax2go]

That little "chicken law" has been scooted around by Sprinter by bringing them in as "Passenger Vans" stripping them down and rebuilding as cargo vans with kits provided by the exporting company not 30 miles from where I live. Ford is doing the same thing with the Transit Connect.

I'm wondering if Mahindra & Mahindra hasn't renigged on their agreement with Global to take advantage of their already ongoing contracts with Navistar. Thereby, making Mahindra & Mahindra more money for themselves.

With the increase in sales in India, I think we will see an impressive increase in the projected price if they ever do hit the market here. It may be a great tug, but it could be pushed way out of this old gal's pockebtook.

Our local Toyota dealership was one of those who signed on with Global to be a dealer when they came stateside. We were excited we might actually get to test drive one without having to drive a million miles to do it. We were sort of hoping that they'd be well tested by the time we were ready to hit the road full-time in a couple of years and in need of a newer gently used tug. Now....who knows?

Reckon I'll keep researching the Sprinter's and Jeep Liberty Diesels for a while.

[GeorgeR]

Originally Posted by 2yax2go

That little "chicken law" has been scooted around by Sprinter by bringing them in as "Passenger Vans" stripping them down and rebuilding as cargo vans with kits provided by the exporting company not 30 miles from where I live. Ford is doing the same thing with the Transit Connect.

I'm wondering if Mahindra & Mahindra hasn't renigged on their agreement with Global to take advantage of their already ongoing contracts with Navistar. Thereby, making Mahindra & Mahindra more money for themselves.

With the increase in sales in India, I think we will see an impressive increase in the projected price if they ever do hit the market here. It may be a great tug, but it could be pushed way out of this old gal's pockebtook.

Our local Toyota dealership was one of those who signed on with Global to be a dealer when they came stateside. We were excited we might actually get to test drive one without having to drive a million miles to do it. We were sort of hoping that they'd be well tested by the time we were ready to hit the road full-time in a couple of years and in need of a newer gently used tug. Now....who knows?

Reckon I'll keep researching the Sprinter's and Jeep Liberty Diesels for a while.

I thought cargo vans have no windows, how do you remove windows and replace them with solid wall sheet metal with or without a chicken law. Please help me to understand your point.
George.

[Gilles D]

Originally Posted by 2yax2go

Reckon I'll keep researching the Sprinter's and Jeep Liberty Diesels for a while.

Liberty owners have to be mecanic "Incline" because there is no VM motori expert working for Damler Chrysler in North America! Your best bet is a mecanic working on marine and tractor version of this engine in North America and some friend's on LostJeep forum. Owning a Liberty CRD is like owning a exotique car, some parts cost 3 to 4 times the price of gasser version. Just changing the timing belt is a $1000 job!

The Cherokee 2007 -2008 and Mercedes ML have the same 3L bluetec diesel engine but not the same electronic system ECU. The Mercedes got better mpg. Maintenance are expensive and it cost a "Leg and a arm" to buy one, put the BWM X5 and new VW Touareg diesel in the same bag...

I dont have a crystal ball and can't predict the first diesel half ton pickup to be sell in America, To many time we get false hope and crash and burn news...I dont old my breath anymore since CARB do a great job to kill this market ...Like GM have kill the EV-1 .....I can just speculate about a Mahindra 2WD with a price tag of $20,000 doing 30 mpg, it's look like a 3 generation behind Toyota but have no competition so they have a chance to do it righ...Time will tell.....

[GeorgeR]

Originally Posted by Joe Z

I am hoping this Mahindra diesel will get the attention of the three big automakers here in the US and come up with a "Ranger" size diesel............................................ ...........
Joe

I hope you are correct, but I am very doubtful that a small truck from India will sway automotive/fuel market forces in the US. If an excellent EU example (50% of all cars sold in EU are diesels) is not sufficient to disrupt the US love affair with gasoline then a little diesel from India will not. If we would follow the EU example of 50% diesels on our roads the fuel demand would be reduced by 15-20%. This would be a dramatic loss of revenues for some mighty entities.
Mr. Rudolf Diesel who invented diesel engines based his invention on vegetable oil. The diesel fuel made form crude oil was made years after Diesel’s first invention. In the US there is a lot of talk about biodiesel; unfortunately, it is only a spin with such a minute number of diesel cars here (except big trucks). I am rather pessimistic of any serious penetration of diesel technology to the US. The Mahandra truck could meet the same fate as Mr. Rudolf Diesel’s unexplained death in 1913.
George.

[mcbrew]

Originally Posted by GeorgeR

I thought cargo vans have no windows, how do you remove windows and replace them with solid wall sheet metal with or without a chicken law. Please help me to understand your point.
George.

Sprinter "wagons" (passenger versions) are brought over as-is. The cargo versions are fully assembled in Germany, then partially disassembled for export to the US. "Final" assembly (reassembly) is done here. I believe this is to avoid some import duties.

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by mcbrew

Sprinter "wagons" (passenger versions) are brought over as-is. The cargo versions are fully assembled in Germany, then partially disassembled for export to the US. "Final" assembly (reassembly) is done here. I believe this is to avoid some import duties.

And.. so all the US mandated safety items can be added. For example all the glass. Check any car sold in the US for a tiny seal sandblasted into the corner. You can usually see it on the windshield, not so door window glass because it's below the window sill.

[mcbrew]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

And.. so all the US mandated safety items can be added. For example all the glass. Check any car sold in the US for a tiny seal sandblasted into the corner. You can usually see it on the windshield, not so door window glass because it's below the window sill.

Donna, not sure about all vehicles these days, but I know that my VW and my Scion both entered this country with glass already installed. I know that the prep job on the VW was pretty simple. They remove the solar panel, remove paint protectors, install windshield wipers, license plate holders, and a few body plugs. All other safety items are on the vehicles when they get here, since they are made for the US market.

[Lizbeth]

Originally Posted by mcbrew

Donna, not sure about all vehicles these days, but I know that my VW and my Scion both entered this country with glass already installed. I know that the prep job on the VW was pretty simple. They remove the solar panel, remove paint protectors, install windshield wipers, license plate holders, and a few body plugs. All other safety items are on the vehicles when they get here, since they are made for the US market.

solar panel?

[GeorgeR]

When I bought my VW it came with the trickle charge solar panel with cigarette lighter plug. I think it is 5W.

A few years ago I bought a VW with EU delivery and it was delivered in Germany with US specs. After my trip in EU it arrived to San Francisco and no changes were made by the dealer.

George.

[Terry G]

I was in India for a month late last year and I saw lots of Mahindra trucks. Vehicles have to be tough there because the roads are often in poor condition. The strange thing--they seem to have bought all the old tooling for Willys Jeep. There were also some newer SUV types but the vast majority of small trucks on the road seemed to be Willys copies. Check out this picture:

[Lizbeth]

Being a Jeep person I love that. ^

[2yax2go]

Mahindra was once a builder of the Willy's and, for me, I think it's probably part of the nostalgic charm I feel when I look at them. Dad had a Willy's for several years when I was a kid....l loved riding in that rough and ready stiff sprung thing....in fact it may not have had springs or shocks.

I was a mite wrong about the Sprinter's though. The passenger vans come in as is and stay that way. What happens is that the cargo vans are built in EU, desconstructed before shipping and sent with kits to be rebuilt once they hit the US. That's where the Freightliner plant about 30 miles from me comes in. They rebuild them and then send/sell them to the dealerships. My apologies for the confusion.

Won't be holding my breath on seeing/test driving the Mahindra before we're ready for the long haul. But, I will keep hoping they do appear and are as road worthy as hyped if they do.

[Gilles D]

Originally Posted by Terry G

I was in India for a month late last year and I saw lots of Mahindra trucks. Vehicles have to be tough there because the roads are often in poor condition. The strange thing--they seem to have bought all the old tooling for Willys Jeep. There were also some newer SUV types but the vast majority of small trucks on the road seemed to be Willys copies. Check out this picture:

Ho I like that one! Look like a old CJ truck cab version Never seen one like that before! It's a Mahindra Jeep,they still built a version with front and rear leaf spring named THAR DI and The CRDe with IFS front suspension Take a look
Thar

[Joe Z]

I heard the same story about Mahindra having a part in building the Willy's way back. They also have a hand in farm equipment so this truck will be interesting to watch.
Joe

[Tom U]

Originally Posted by Joe Z

I heard the same story about Mahindra having a part in building the Willy's way back. They also have a hand in farm equipment so this truck will be interesting to watch.
Joe

Google Mahindra and spend some time on the site. They were licensed Wiilly's manufacturer. There is a history of the company on the site.

[Ken C]

The long-delayed Mahindra diesel pickup got U.S. fuel-economy ratings today: 19 city/21 highway. U.S. dealers had hyped 30 mpg.

article here

[Gerda, H]

Whow, that is quite a change downwards... Not as inviting anymore to change to Mahindra...

[Joe Z]

Dissapointing

[GeorgeR]

I have the 2006 Jetta TDI with EPA numbers around 30 mpg/city and 40 mpg/hwy. Current Jettas EPA numbers are 30/42 mpg. Since 2006 my average is 39.85 mpg. Somehow my numbers are not representing the EPA’s test numbers. I looked at the EPA test procedure and noticed two factors possibly unfriendly to diesel:
1. Based on my experience with the Jetta TDI and the F350 7.3 PSD which have the instantaneous MPG readouts, I noticed that cold diesel engines don’t deliver good fuel economy. Unfortunately, a portion of EPA test includes cold engine with higher for my taste acceleration. I used my truck rarely but almost always use the electric engine heater before a trip.
2. The EPA's high speed test includes 80 mph with the 8.46 mph/sec (7 sec to 60mph) acceleration. For Mahindra it is likely the pedal to the metal. Too bad EPA did not include a rubber burning session.
For details see Detailed Test Information I was actually surprise how these tests are performed with the human factor likely contributing to the test variability.
George.