Honda Gearing-Up for U.S. Diesels
Honda is quite literally gearing up its California-complaint diesels for the U.S. market. A few months ago, Honda started telling everyone that their i-DTEC oil-burning engines were headed for the U.S. Diesel fans were all a-twitter– even if the high mileage, high torque powerplant was destined to sit in the new, overdone and overweight Accord (or more expensive but generally better looking TSX). What Car reminds us just how much prep is involved. Step one, emissions compliance with a particulate standard that’s twice as tough as the European Union’s. Step two, configure an automatic transmission to work with the dman thing. That’s right, until now the Honda-branded diesels (in Honda cars) were stick only. As less than 10 percent of U.S. driver know how to drive a manual car, a diesel-compatible autobox is mission critical. Other updates in diesel news: Volkswagen hasn’t released any info about its 50-state diesel engine since it said it would be delayed… again. So no, that’s not really an update. It’s a complaint. Get on the ball VW, before Honda beats you to the punch.