This Diesel engine has been the standard for all Cherokees sold in Europe for at least 12 months. The merger Daimler-Chrysler now brings a lot of technology to the US. It's quite clear,that this Diesel engine only will have succes on the US market as long as Oil does not collaps. Otherwise, US customers will choose the 5.7 litre and 6.1 litre HEMY engines.

This kind of tech. bleed-over is one of the main reasons I think Chrysler is in the best shape of the US "Big Three."

They certainly have the same over-reliance on trucks as Ford and GM, but they at least have a couple of low-end cars (Caliber and PT Cruiser) that are selling pretty well. Those models give them a more credibility than either Ford or GM has currently, and could be excellent platforms for clean diesels or even EV's. (The company that did the EV Mini, mentioned here on GCC, also does an EV PT Cruiser, for example. Chrysler should be in serious discussions with that outfit or others about a joint venture to do a limited production EV Cruiser.)

@kiwi: You are wrong. this is not a Diesel from VM, but it is of course from Mercedes Benz.
It is the same engine as it is in the Mercedes Benz E320 CDI.

I have often thought that diesels would be better suited for the driving styles of Americans. For years, American cars seem to have tried to get diesel characteristic out of a gasoline engine, i.e. high tourque at low rpm and relatively low power (measured in hp per liter), also at relatively low rpm. I distinctly remember seing a 5.0 liter engine with less than 200 hp! It should give twice that much even without aggressive tuning.

American cars rarely go very fast (like when I'm going 120 mph on the German Autobahn), but they're built to accelerate fast. However, it is a fundamental characteristic of a gasoline engine that if you want a sedan to be able to accelerate 0-60mph in less than 8 seconds, then the engine is automatically powerful enough to make the car go 150 mph in top speed. The picture is a little differenc for trucks and SUVs, with the aerodynamics of a brick.

A diesel is different. It provides excellent low-rpm acceleration for overtaking, without the unrealistically high top speed, while also giving superior fuel economy. It is also very quiet at cruising speed.

But I guess until a couple of years ago, American car manufacturers could just make the engines bigger to get enough torque without a substantial economic penalty at the pump.

And then there is the matter of a more expensive engine and higher emissions, of course...

You can also get this engine in the 300c in Europe.

"Electrically actuated intake-port swirl valves"
This made me think of an advertisement I've seen recently for the "VortexValve".

Now, anytime I see a gas saving device I am skeptical, but this seem similar.

Question, doesn't the system have to know the device is there to be effective? The fuel injection is based on the assumed air flow.

I am not that technical, so if anyone know how this works and if the "VortexValve" idea has any merit, please post.

Thank you Sid.

Abraham:

On old carbureted engines swirl inducing device positioned after carburetor does improve gasoline evaporation and hence combustion/efficiency. On modern fuel injected engines swirl in air intake tract is irrelevant. On diesel engines swirl in combustion chamber is necessary to improve fuel mixing/combustion, but too much swirl increases heat transfer to combustion chamber’s walls and efficiency suffers. So facilitating desired amount of swirl in combustion chamber on all engine RPM and load is a good thing.

It does not. The 2007 Grand Cherokee is a 45-state vehicle.

Yes, Massachusetts is one of the five that won't see the 2007 Grand Cherokee CRD. The concept Cherokee BLUETEC--which would be the 50-state version--isn't yet slated for production.

Can I get LPG kits for V8 engines like diesel 6.9 or 7.3( Ford )