SuperTruck: The 2017 Ford F-250 Super Duty 4X4 Crew Cab

2017 Ford F-250 Super Duty 4X4 Crew Cab.

Used to be there was a stark difference between a half-ton and a 3/4-ton pickup. The bigger ones were clearly meant for work, or hauling very large horse or travel trailers.  You could tell just by looking.

Standard half-ton pickup trucks like the Ford F-150 have become so big and so rugged that you might wonder what an F-250 Super Duty is for.  Or, if you're a long-time Super Duty buyer, you might be underestimating an F-150's capabilities.

It's even tougher to sort out just by eyeballing, since both models can be loaded up with luxury extras that were once reserved for machines with a three-pointed star on the hood.

No, this is going to require a hard look at the facts.

The Mid-Size Diesel That Does: The 2016 GMC Canyon 4WD SLT

The 2016 GMC Canyon 4WD SLT.

Until this year, if you wanted a diesel pickup, you wanted a big pickup.  Not just the full-size half ton pickup, mind you, but one of the "Super Duty", "Extra Duty" or "Heavy Duty" 3/4 ton or one ton trucks.  The last GMC pickup I reviewed was one of those---two years ago---a beautiful behemoth Sierra 2500 HD with an as-tested price of $62,525 and an observed fuel economy of 13.4 miles per gallon in a mix of city street and urban freeway driving.

But what if you want less truck, need a lower purchase price and would like more miles per gallon?

Mazda 6 Diesel: 43 MPG Highway?

Mazda's CEO is telling The Detroit News that its new diesel engine will get hybrid-like numbers "without any electrification." 

As in 43 MPG highway in the 2012 Mazda 6.

Full story here.

BMW Diesel 6 To Power Carbon Motors' Police Car

Just ten days after Ford took the wraps off its new Taurus-based police vehicle, Carbon Motors, which says it will make only one car...the E7, and only for the police market, beginning in 2012, now says it'll be powered by a BMW diesel 6-cylinder engine.  Carbon will also be fighting Chevrolet's revived Caprice police cruiser.   Details from NASDAQ here.

Dodge Ram 3500 Laramie Crew Cab Review

What you see is the new Dodge Ram 3500 Laramie Crew Cab in its natural environment. The 3500 is a one-ton pickup...the kind of thing best suited for hauling huge horse trailers (or Brahma bull trailers) around. The ideal rodeo vehicle.

In fact, I would have said that the market for this was pretty well limited to the horses for business and/or pleasure set until I drove it.

Volkswagen Jetta TDI Review

A lifetime of exposure to noisy, smelly city buses and 18-wheelers (not to mention passenger cars of the 70s and 80s) has given diesel a bad reputation.

Time to shake that once and for all. And a great way to do that is with a drive in a Volkswagen Jetta TDI.

TDI is Volkswagen's clean diesel engine...a terrific marriage of ultra-low sulfur fuel and a technology that burns fuel so efficiently, there's very little waste.

Kneel down by the tailpipe of a running TDI and there's no diesel odor whatsoever.

The 140 horsepower made by the 2-liter four-cylinder engine isn't a world-beater, but diesels are all about torque...and the TDI makes 236 pounds per foot of it...it's a cliche, but it really does pull like a locomotive.



Inside, the Jetta TDI is all business, no frills...but not cheap or austere. Everything is logically placed, falls easily to hand, and moves with a solid, high-quality feel.

The big payoff here is mileage. The EPA says 29 city, 40 highway...and we managed 42 and a half in a week of 50/50 urban freeways and surface streets, which makes it as good as our real-world experience with both the new Honda Insight and the Mercury Milan Hybrid.

Where the Jetta TDI pulls ahead is in the value equation. $22,830 base price (our tester had a six-speed automatic for $1,100 and a sunroof for $1,000...which, after destination charges, put the bottom line at $25,640.) and diesel longevity...250,000 miles is equivalent to 100,000 miles or less in a gasoline engine. 400,000 miles or more is not uncommon.

It doesn't scream "hey, look at me, I'm saving the planet!" the way Toyota Priuses (Prii?) and Insights do...it just gets the job done...and there's a very good chance it will be doing that job a lot longer. The Jetta TDI earns its place not only on TireKicker's Top Ten Fuel Savers, but also on TireKicker's Top 20 Cars.

BMW X5 xDrive35d Review

Diesel rules. Just not here in the USA. But BMW's working to change that.

A great way to make the case for diesel's economy and lower emissions is to put it in an SUV.

The X5 xDrive35d (that's the name, folks) is one of the new generation of clean diesels...odorless, largely noiseless, with good performance from a V6 making 265 horsepower and tons of torque.

The EPA says 26 miles per gallon on the highway...which is five mpg better than the X5 3.0 6-cylinder gasoline engine...rated at 260 horsepower. And the price premium to step up to the diesel is less than $4,000. But that does put the base price a shade above $50,000...which seems to be a major psychological price point in the new reality.

I had the tester for a week and a half and it was flawless...a great drive...and the diesel engine is a great match for the x5's size and weight...that strong, linear power delivery imparting an extra sense of solidity to the vehicle. And there's the knowledge that diesel engines are routinely capable of 250,000, 500,000 and more miles in a lifetime.

Apart from large, mainly 3/4 ton and 1 ton American trucks, it's the Germans who are carrying the flag on diesel. They're not wrong.

Mercedes-Benz ML 320 BlueTec Review

Noise? No.

Smell? No.

Slow acceleration? No.

Trouble passing emissions? No.

Must not be a diesel, right? Think again. Mercedes-Benz new BlueTec has done what a lot of people said was impossible just a few short years ago...passed tough new emissions testing in all 50 states without substantial and expensive reformulation of diesel fuel.

How clean is it? Well, I stood by the tailpipe of our idling ML320 test car last week and couldn't detect a trace of diesel smell.

Those tough regulations have kept many diesels off the U.S. market for the past few years. A shame, too, since diesels have huge benefits including great fuel economy and long engine life.

If you've avoided diesels like the plague since the dark days of the 1980s, when smell, slug-like 0-60 times and (in the case of GM diesels) questionable reliability were the norm, the ML320 BlueTec would be a perfect introduction to the state of the art. First, there's no waiting for the glow plugs to heat up to start (that one's been gone for a decade or more), neither the inside nor the outside of the ML320 BlueTec smells like a city bus pulling away from a stop, it doesn't clatter like diesels used to and it performs much like a gasoline-powered engine...but with multiples of torque and miles per gallon.

A gasoline-powered ML320 is probably a 16-mile per gallon vehicle in the city. The BlueTec version we tested did 23 and a half. The trip computer showed 550 miles range when we started...and it actually crept close to 600 on the freeway. Yes, diesel fuel costs more than gasoline these days, but the difference in economy tips the scale in the BlueTec's favor.

And then there's longevity. Mercedes' gasoline engines are well-engineered...200,000 miles with proper maintenance should be no sweat. A Mercedes diesel? 400,000 or 500,000 is more like it. And there are million-mile examples out there.

If you're shopping for a luxury mid-size SUV but want clean air, better mileage and a long-term payoff on your investment, the ML320 BlueTec makes a very strong case for itself.