Volkswagen introducing new Tiguan SUV; fuel consumption of 5.3 L/100km (44 mpg US) in Bluemotion variant with Stop/Start
25 May 2011
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The new Tiguan. Click to enlarge. |
Volkswagen is introducing the new Tiguan, announced earlier this year and shown at the Geneva Motor Show in March. In Germany, the 2012 Tiguan will arrive on the market in mid-June; other European countries will follow at the beginning of August, and overseas markets at the end of August. Tiguan first appeared in 2007, with nearly 700,000 units delivered worldwide.
The new version of the compact SUV, which is available in on-road and off-road models, features a range of seven engines (3 diesel, 4 gasoline) in the European line-up, with fuel consumption ranging from 8.6 L/100km (27 mpg US) down to 5.3 l/100 km (44 mpg US) for the two front-wheel drive Tiguans 2.0 TDI with BlueMotion Technology (81 kW / 110 PS and 103 kW / 140 PS).
Three of the seven engines offered in Europe—all of them charged four-cylinder direct injection engines—are new to the Tiguan line-up. The four gasoline engines (TSI with 1.4 to 2.0 litres displacement) produce between 90 kW / 122 PS and 155 kW / 210 PS. The three diesel engines (TDI) span a power range from 81 kW / 110 PS to 125 kW / 170 PS. Also available as an option on the new Tiguan is the 7-speed dual-clutch transmission (DSG).
All BlueMotion Technology versions of the Tiguan have a Stop/Start system and battery regeneration. Even with all-wheel drive, fuel consumption for the 103 kW / 140 PS Tiguan 2.0 TDI 4MOTION BlueMotion Technology is 5.8 L/100 km (41 mpg US).
Tiguan’s highest volume markets are all of Europe, Russia, the US, China, Brazil and Australia. In Germany, its average market share in the compact SUV segment was about 21% in 2010, while it was 12% across Europe. In Germany, where advance sales have already begun, Volkswagen has so far received about 10,000 orders for the new model.
Diesel is the most energy and CO2 efficient liquid fuel to make from oil. It is also one of the most energy efficient liquid fuels to be used. There is little reason to make or sell gasoline powered personal vehicles. Liquid petroleum gases or compressed methane can also be used as the major fraction of the fuel of diesel engines where available. Most automobile trips under 20 miles, could use compressed methane for the majority of the fuel needed for the trip, and diesel is available for trips of infinite length.
The hydraulic hybrid system developed by Artemis or an equivalent can be used to get as much as twice the fuel use at low cost from identical engines and vehicles. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 25 May 2011 at 08:21 AM
A mild hybrid start/stop system is cost effective. There may come a day when all cars sold will have some form of this.
Posted by: SJC | 25 May 2011 at 01:03 PM
"and overseas markets at the end of August"
You can bet that NO diesels with their 44 mpg, will be coming to the US.
Posted by: jeffa | 25 May 2011 at 02:58 PM
The U.S. has a LOT of big rig truck miles, there is only so much diesel that comes out of a refinery, if 100 million cars in the U.S. were diesel, I do not know where we would get the fuel. The U.S. now exports diesel to Europe, that would stop.
Posted by: SJC | 26 May 2011 at 07:50 AM
Isn't the EU fuel economy figure a bit optimistic, or 'inflated'?
Posted by: Pierre | 26 May 2011 at 03:16 PM
Pierre, you're correct. If that vehicle were legal here, there's no way it would get 44mpg in the EPA ratings. Of course, it's unlikely to be legal here, as it probably doesn't meant the clean diesel requirements of the US.
SJC, a start/stop system doesn't make all that much sense on a diesel. Diesels are hard to start and use very little fuel when not under load. I also find it interesting that GM got lambasted when they had a mild hybrid system on their SUVs.
SJC (on other post), I completely agree about the limited amount of diesel produced per barrel. A primary reason diesel in the US is more expensive than gasoline is because we're selling a lot of it to Europe (which subsidizes diesel). There's not much diesel to go around. As bio-diesel tech improves, that may get better, but it's not there yet.
Posted by: Nrb | 26 May 2011 at 07:22 PM
I could see using dual fuel on trucks then using diesel on cars and stop exports to Europe. Using natural gas on trucks would shift the fuel and reduce oil imports.
This has to be a systematic plan that takes all relevant factors into consideration. That is oil companies, refineries, natural gas companies, coal companies, utilities and all the rest.
Posted by: SJC | 27 May 2011 at 06:37 AM
I don't know if this is still the case or not, but at one time, we were importing gasoline/petrol from the EU (especially France and Netherlands) while exporting diesel. Again, this is older info, but many EU refineries used hydrocracking, which produces a greater proportion of middle distillates (diesel/kerosene/heating oil/jet fuel) and US refineries have used catalytic cracking, which produces more gasoline (and lower-grade diesel with more aromatics).
New heavy oil and bitumen oil refining technologies may have shifted these proportions in recent years. As we deplete the easy-to-get light crude, we may see those proportions change.
Posted by: wesmontage | 28 May 2011 at 10:00 AM
We're already using more nat-gas-derived hydrogen than we used to in order to desulfurize diesel. I think we'll need even more hydrogen to refine heavy oils, and still more to produce gasoline. Stripping H2 from methane via steam reforming wastes part of the energy from gas, which could be part of the reason diesel is less energy-intensive to refine than gasoline. Heavy oils contain less hydrogen, so it has to come from somewhere.
Diesel contains less hydrogen per energy unit than gasoline, yet total carbon emissions per energy unit are comparable.
Any petroleum engineers out there who can add to or correct this?
Posted by: wesmontage | 28 May 2011 at 10:01 AM
This is an achievement with a large rather heavy vehicle.
Could it be that we do not like small higher efficiency diesel because we have not been able to make them?
Posted by: HarveyD | 01 June 2011 at 12:35 PM