Got a 96 Ford Bronco with 5.8L. When the Tundra first came out, on I-71 
in Tenn. a long upgrade, the Tundra could barely get by us. He was 
empty, I was pulling 6000 lbs. (a body damaged Pathfinder on a U-haul 
car haul trailer). Mileage Atlanta to Cleveland was 12 MPG, most of the 
time over 70 mph. No trailer, realtively flat open highway 75- 80 mph 
its around 18 mpg, and best was 24.2 mpg ATL -CLE light weight, cruising 
with 135 miles on the blue grass parkway around 35 mph. It's 0 - 60 
close to 9 seconds. The E4OD tranny isn't as good off the line as the 
C-6. The 89 Bronco would easily give a Mustang GT fits to 50, but at 60 
he was gone. The Bronco can haul 5 people, drop the people off, stop the 
lumber yard and pick a dozen sheets of plywood, just slide it in and 
drive down the road, no rope needed. :) When hitting snow drifts at 50 
MPH, better be ready to look out the side window when the snow piles on 
the hood. :)

Nate Duehr wrote:
> Tachyon wrote:
>
>   
>> 8500 RPM 4cyls don't cut it in the US for the most part. Plus there are
>> North American engines that make over 500lb/ft of torque, find me a euro
>> vehicle with those numbers.
>>     
>
> Um, you get to it below.  VW's Touareg comes very close to 500 lb/ft in 
> the V10 model.
>
> Any giant SUV that can beat most of the production "sports" cars off the 
> line and in the 1/4 mile always is impressive.  :-) :-) :-)
>
> Hell, it comes within a couple tenths of a second of beating the Porche 
> Cayenne in the 0-60 MPH test.
>
>   
>> What's irritating about the US market is that diesels provide exactly
>> the type of seat of the pants torque that Americans crave, but they
>> won't buy them here because Americans are too marketing and perception
>> driven. I wish every American would test drive a Mercedes 320-CDI. Given
>> the _mere_ 204 horsepower, it has torque up the wazoo, and is a blast to
>> drive. It shames the gas powered BMW 530 I drove back to back with it.
>>     
>
> As an American who bought a VW Jetta Wagon Diesel for my wife, I'm 
> wholeheartedly overjoyed with it.  Less than 100 HP in that little 
> turbo-diesel without the turbo, and a nice German suspension where they 
> paid attention to detail, and a nice acceleration "feel" from the 
> torque, which is up around 160 lb/ft, if I remember correctly.  That's a 
> great little car.
>
> Now that refineries in the U.S. have been forced to lower the sulfur 
> content -- diesel is a nice way to go.
>
> Now if the Germans, Brits, or Japanese would just put a REAL pickup 
> truck with a diesel into the U.S. Market...
>
> The Nissan Titan wallops the current older-generation U.S. trucks for 
> quality, fit-and-finish, and various other things -- while still 
> maintaining a good price point -- but where's the diesel version?  I 
> need to TOW heavy things, and I don't want to lower my fuel economy to 
> drop to about 8-10 MPG to do it.
>
> Nate
>   
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