Does anyone know what the status is on BMW bringing the Mini Cooper D over. In the Globe and Mail article from last year, BMW was planning to launch the BMW 320D, 525D, and Cooper D this year in North America, or only Canada.

 

I know I was really looking forward to this, but now that diesel is so much more expensive than even premium, its hard to say if it would be worth it...I wonder if that may make it harder to be introduced here in the US since diesel is now the most expensive gas

 

What's up with that eh? Diesel used to be really cheap from what I recall.
However its only ten cents more per litre right? and it doubles the mileage on its gas burning brother.

 

Not to mention, there are the bio-diesel alternatives...

 

Are you talking about ethanol? Cause that is the worst possible source of energy.

 

Ethanol is an unleaded fuel. Biodiesel is fuel that is distilled from left-over fry cookers, and other sources of previously used oil.

 

Isn't ethanol the oil currently harvested from corn crops leading to the spike in some areas in the food industry?

 

Yes, which is why it's crap. But it's not because of the raising food prices, although that's a big bummer.

The issue is EROEI. This stands for energy-returned-on-energy-invested. The idea in looking for cleaner/cheaper fuels is that it should provide a benefit. We should get better fuel economy, pay less, and pollute less for the entire life cycle of the product. For ethanol, we are actually producing as much or more pollution, and consuming as much or more crude oil to farm, refine, and transport the ethanol than we would if we just used crude. It's a scam, and one that (hopefully) won't last much longer.

At any rate, biodiesel is fantastic, and nothing like ethanol.

 

do a search for bio-diesel on google. Basically free gas AND the MINI D gets 72 mpg. You can't beat that

 

The price of diesel has gone up but the better fuel economy should make it a better deal in the long run. Europe has been developing the D powered cars for so long they are really beginning to perform as well or better than gas. Hopefully it is onluy a matter of time before the US gets on board as well.

 

I've been hoping for the new (2007+) diesel engine to make it to the states since I heard about it and it's "numbers".

According to mini.co.uk, the R56 diesel puts out the EXACT same amount of CO2 as a Prius. They also have an extra-urban MPG figure of 67 US MPG. That testing cycles doesn't match up with the US highway figures though, so I think the US highway EPA figure would be about 48 US MPG.

 

Well around here you can get premium for $3.75 and diesel is like $4.10

So yeah it is more expensive, but I am sure it will pay off with its much improved economy

 

That is 72 Imperial MPG, which works out to 60 US MPG. Traditionally diesel cars get 40% better mileage than the equivalent gasoline car. If you go to the MINI2 website and go in the Duper section you will see that very few are getting 72 imperial MPG.

 

I believe there was a Q&A on motoringfile.com which included this very same question.

I believe the answer was that the Cooper D won't be in the US anytime soon. The basic problem is NOx emissions from the diesel engine. While the Copper D's diesel engine has low CO2 emissions, the NOx emissions don't meet 50 states emissions standards.

Some newer diesel engines coming out take care of this problem with certain scrubbing technologies. One such technology is called BlueTec, which requires a urea solution to scrub the NOx. It was stated that this approach wouldn't work for the MINI cause they'd have to find a place to store the fluid reservoir.

I'd point out the specific article, but MotoringFile appears to be down ATM.

 

FYI, there was a sudden increase in diesel because it is "not your grandads diesel"... it is a new, low sulfer version that has been selling in Europe for several years. It is more expensive to refine but results in very efficient engines that are clean burning. MINI most likely will not bring a Cooper diesel, because of the urea tank issue, but a Clubman remains a possibilty.

 

no one will market something they are not sure they can sell. so it would be a good idea for as many people as possible to write mini and express an interest in a D car.

 

Ethanol is just pure alcohol. In the case of the US the plan was to produce that using corn. Ethanol itself, although it has been attacked by the media, is a fine form of fuel. In Brazil they already use E85 as their main fuel fermenting ethanol from their sugar cane. Unlike corn, sugar cane to ethanol is a very energy positive process, but unfortunately the US farming lobbies are too strong and all of our "green" bills supported corn farmers and wasting energy.

Biodiesel can take on a number of different forms, but basically is more of a raw oil form (like vegetable oil you cook with). This seems to be more practical, because not as much refinement/fermenting is needed but only time will tell if anything works. Several things have been working on small scale, but nothing has come up as a viable mass production energy positive thing yet.

 

I would probably be interested in a MINI D... but it goes back to spending $5,000 more in MSRP, which you likely will only gain back if you drive it 200,000 miles +. I say stick with your current MINI, watch your tire pressure, no jack-rabb- haha couldn't even get through that one.

No seriously though, do the math. Why finance a whole new MINI to get more MPG? Unless you're some idiot enviro-freak who is willing to pay $5,000 more to "save the environment" (in a pretentious, scholarly arrogant tone).


Anyways, I do agree though yes- a MINI D here in the States would be awesome.

 

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No kidding? Wow, I had no idea that it would be so much more money. $28,000 for the base MINI D? Geez ...

I agree - it would be great to drive a D and get like 50 mpg. But not for that premium.

 

The BMW diesels will be interesting. I recently was in Germany visiting relatives. I have a cousin who has a BMW M station wagon. (Seems to be about the size of a 5 or even 7 series, not the 3 series wagon they sell here.) His wagon has a 6 cylinder turbo diesel engine. From the outside it had the typical diesel idle, but on the inside it was very smooth and quiet and had quite a bit of get up and go. If they use the same engine here in the 3 series D, I could see driving one.

On another interesting note, my family lives in a small farming community in the north. The fields were in full yellow bloom. I asked what they were and was told they were hops. I said fur bier? Nein, fur biodiesel. The hops were in bloom everywhere. The BMW used petrol diesel, however, not biodiesel.

Diesels were everywhere. I saw a Honda CR-V with a CDI label, a ford fiesta, and the smart car was diesel. The rental car we drove was a audi A3 with a 2.0 liter TDI engine. It drove really well, not quite as smooth and quiet as the BMW, but good none the same. Over there diesel was the cheaper fuel, about 10 cents per liter cheaper than unleaded regular.

 

No, it's not $28,000.

I was just exaggerating a bit to show the cost of MSRP vs. the actual savings. For example, the Civic Hybrid is, if I remember right, about $4K more than the regular. I figure you'd have to drive about 200,000 miles to recoup that extra $4K (not taking into account inflation, etc.).

Or you can be really idiotic and buy a Lexus LS460H- $33K more than the regular- for a whopping $400 annual savings in gas!

 

Well maybe my math is wrong but it looks like the base price for the Cooper D is 14,000 British Pounds Sterling. So ... isn't that $28,000?

Jeff

 

Thats is also a strong dollar VS. our weak dollar.. 32k Starting price for the US sounds about right...

 

But you must remember that the conversion just doesnt hold up with the product...

The MC (non S) is 13,000 pounds in the UK, which should mean at least $26,000 here, but in all reality it is only $18,000...so i would guess the D to only be at most a thousand or 2 more

 

That makes a lot of sense. I forgot how much less that we pay vs Europeans for just about everything. Anyway, we'll see what happens. It may be a fair while before we see the D here. I'd like to see a twin turbo D w/ all wheel drive ...