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New Jeep Wrangler Diesel Coming?

29K views 88 replies 41 participants last post by  SchizophrenicMC 
#1 ·
I just read on another forum that I frequent that there was a euro spec JK diesel being tested around Detroit. Pictures and all were posted. Don't know if I can post the link to the other forum so if so, just let me know. Otherwise, has anyone else seen or heard anything about this?

It was a white, left hand drive JK with soft upper doors, two door model with CRD badging and all.
 
#2 ·
They've been testing those for a few years now, Chrysler has a fleet of diesel JKs in Detroit and Toledo for various purposes.

Don't expect to see anything diesel for the JK until the model refresh.
 
#9 ·
We have diesels in our jeeps here and have had for years. And yes they are brilliant. We had a 2008 JK with 2.8 4cyl buy now we have a 2012 GC with that 3.0 V6. It is nothing short of amazing. I asked the question in a thread on CJ forum why you don't get offered oil burners in the States and got lots of answers. It's a shame cause they are great engines from VM Motori.
32.7 mpg doing 65 highway cycle. Not bad for a full family vehicle.

Look for the thread on CJ if you're interested. Not a bad read and quite funny in parts, seething about tow mirrors.
 
#13 ·
To be fair, the KJ and WK diesels were substantially more expensive, and, IIRC, only available on higher trim levels. Expect $5,000 over the price of the standard Pentastar.

And keep in mind, a European gallon isn't the same as an American gallon. 32.8 MPG in Imperial gallons is only 27.3 in American gallons. Granted, that's still a lot better than the 20 combined of the standard Pentastar.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for diesels-if I had the money, I'd slap down a deposit today. As it stands, I'm planning on squeezing my pennies and buying the first used Grand Cherokee (or Wrangler, depending on when it happens) diesel I can find in a year or so. Still, the diesel will take several years to pay off over the gasser, especially if diesel remains more expensive than gas.

The diesel is a no-brainer for someone who plans to keep their WKII for a long period of time-IE, at least 7 or 8 years. But for those who are constantly cycling and/or leasing cars, it's not going to save them any money.
 
#12 ·
Germany's know has diesels and hashed them for a while in the wrangler, brazil has one too but it's not a jeep. But yes diesel is expensive but I know in Germany it's a lot more then here.

If you get bored check out the troller they have in brazil, it looks sick and very similar to a wrangler.
 
#14 ·
Marauder_Pilot said:
To be fair, the KJ and WK diesels were substantially more expensive, and, IIRC, only available on higher trim levels. Expect $5,000 over the price of the standard Pentastar.

And keep in mind, a European gallon isn't the same as an American gallon. 32.8 MPG in Imperial gallons is only 27.3 in American gallons. Granted, that's still a lot better than the 20 combined of the standard Pentastar.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for diesels-if I had the money, I'd slap down a deposit today. As it stands, I'm planning on squeezing my pennies and buying the first used Grand Cherokee (or Wrangler, depending on when it happens) diesel I can find in a year or so. Still, the diesel will take several years to pay off over the gasser, especially if diesel remains more expensive than gas.

The diesel is a no-brainer for someone who plans to keep their WKII for a long period of time-IE, at least 7 or 8 years. But for those who are constantly cycling and/or leasing cars, it's not going to save them any money.
When you switch the dash in our GC it is reading USG. We're in oz not Europe. Just sayin
 
#15 ·
Australia uses the European gallon. Technically, everybody in the world uses the Euro gallon except America, but it's generally used in the rest of North America as well.
 
#16 ·
Marauder_Pilot said:
Australia uses the European gallon. Technically, everybody in the world uses the Euro gallon except America, but it's generally used in the rest of North America as well.
Next time I fillerup ill do the comparo between what the pump says in litres versus the computer converting to gallons and get back to you.
 
#18 ·
I'll take 27, 30, 32, whatever it is it is better than I'm getting now in my JK. Not to mention the increased torque from the diesel.

I think I will either eventually put a diesel in myself if it takes to long to get them here in the States, or buy a new one when it comes out.
 
#19 ·
If you're looking to do the swap just for fuel economy, it doesn't make any sort of financial sense.

A Cummins 4BT in good shape or rebuilt is a few thousand, a Toyota or Volkswagen 4-cylinder is even more. Then you need a new transmission and a bunch of assorted swap parts...you're looking at $6,000 in parts alone for a good 4BT swap. And that's assuming you do all the work yourself...turnkey diesel swaps get well north of $10,000, enough to run a Wrangler on gasoline for basically its entire lifespan.

Plus, the 4BT is actually a terrible choice for a DD Jeep-unless your Jeep is built up heavy as hell, apparently it never puts enough strain on the engine to get it to warm up fully (That was the problem that a formerly-local 4BT-powered TJ owner had-it rocked faces off-road, but was barely more efficient than the original I6)
 
#20 ·
Yesterday, the World Health Organization named diesel fumes a carcinogen and linked it with lung cancer especially prevalent in over the road trucker (who coincidently are probably heavy smokers). That being said, I probably wouldn't be looking for any new diesel applications coming from the big three automakers any time soon. WHO confirms diesel fumes carcinogenic http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-06-13/diesel-fumes-carcinogenic/4068414
 
#22 ·
I don't know about you, but it's October for me, not June.

And the WHO has no regulatory powers concerning the auto industry. The EPA already recognizes many car exhaust chemical as carcinogens.
 
#21 ·
Ok so we'll now put diesels with well done steaks, burnt toast, alcohol, thinners and all the other things that "may contribute to cancer" shall we? What next, coffee, cake and sex? Probably only when taken in that order.

Exactly how close would one need to be to the tailpipe and for how long in any one session or cumulative before one "may" inhale enough of these nasty carcinogens before one "may" get cancer?

With all due respect guys I think the majority of us will die of old age before we die from diesel fumes inhalation. They have been around for a while now, not exactly new technology. Having said that I'd hazard a guess that more have passed from petrol (gas as you blokes say) than we'll ever see from diesel fumes.

Everything gives you cancer these days. I'd say you'd probably get more harm from a house full of new carpet off-gassing than a new GC diesel.

Rant off.
 
#24 ·
A diesel and nothing else? No. Horsepower is not the problem, Pentastar-equipped Grand Cherokees will tow 5000 pounds, the Ram 1500 will tow 6200. The frame, brakes, steering, ect all need to be reworked to up the Wranglers towing capacity.
 
#25 ·
ccfoodog said:
Would a diesel improve the towing capacity of the Wrangler Unlimited?

Thanks,

-john
It won't improve the towing capacity but I don't think that's what you're actually meaning. If you mean ability to tow easily and not be changing gears every time you come to a grade then yes it will. It's all about the torque and diesels have that in spades. We used to drag a loaded trailer all over the place behind a 2008 2.8CRD JKU and you literally forget it's there. Can't wait to load up our new GC 3.0V6 and how that goes.
 
#26 ·
Marauder_Pilot said:
And keep in mind, a European gallon isn't the same as an American gallon. 32.8 MPG in Imperial gallons is only 27.3 in American gallons. Granted, that's still a lot better than the 20 combined of the standard Pentastar.
.
Just checked the owners manual and its all in US not metric gallons etc.
 
#27 ·
Diesel Wrangler

I really wish the American auto makers would quit screwing us over and put out diesels left and right. Europes been doing it for decades. I for one, would gladly pay the increase in overall cost and fuel prices for diesel. Three reasons- much better MPG's, diesel engines last forever, and typically you receive much better power output.
 
#28 ·
people still have bad taste for diesels here in the U.S. because of some terrible designs from manufactures. you also have the incorrect belief that diesels get poor gas milage and are unreliable. It all points to low possibility of them producing a lot of them to sell over here.
 
#29 ·
bravobravo said:
people still have bad taste for diesels here in the U.S. because of some terrible designs from manufactures. you also have the incorrect belief that diesels get poor gas milage and are unreliable. It all points to low possibility of them producing a lot of them to sell over here.
Yeah it's a double edged sword though with reliability I reckon although that remains to be seen. We have loads of diesels over here, they are in everything even little Hyundai I30. The thing is diesels are no longer big solid blocks with a few pistons going up and down slowly. They are high revving, variable vein turbo, high performance engines and as everyone knows when you squeeze more power or torque out of the same sized holes there has to be a trade off. In our opinion that trade off will be that we won't see 3 or 4 or 800 thousand miles from our current HO diesels like we typically have from our old land cruisers and such.
For the time being though we are all loving the new crop of high performance oil burners from Europe. As soon as they offer the 3.0 V6 in the JK ill get back into one of those.
 
#30 ·
Lets revive this thread for discussion. I heard on the grapevine that Fiat is planning a test amount of Wranglers and GC's with diesels.
They wuld be using the Fiat 3.0, and the import would be in 2014. So lets see if any get this far,
and since I live in the socialist state of California, it probably would not make it here.
 
#31 ·
Wrong on all accounts. The Grand Cherokee diesel is already out, and will be available on dealer lots in the spring. The Wrangler won't get a diesel until 2016 at the earliest. The 3.0L diesel is a VM Motori, not a Fiat, and it's 50-state legal.
 
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