Out with the Old

In with a Jeep EcoDiesel

I can’t seem to buy vehicles without a diesel anymore. Before I ramble on here since I’m going to be talking about a couple “unconventional diesels”, know that I have had my 7.3L Ford since 2002, daily drove it for 18-years, not so much a daily anymore, but it takes care of all my truck needs, racing, hauling or towing. These little diesels I’ve gotten into are just supplementing my diesel fleet.

A few years ago, in search of a better daily driver, I bought a 2011 335d (“d” for diesel) BMW. Amazing car, super-fast, handles great, and is capable of 40+ MPG. Now, before buying it, I knew that these cars had serious maintenance issues in stock form. The PCM fails commonly, intake carbon build up is excessive, valve cover gasket fails over pressurizing the crank case, swirl flaps can fall into the valves, harmonic balancers fail, urea system is problematic, vacuum lines crack, it goes on from there. My diesel addiction helped me look past all that as, when you get the issues fixed, like I said, it’s an AMAZING car. I just sold it, drove it cross country several times, towed a boat home on one of those trips, raced it a bunch, loved that car, it’s one I’ll always miss, I’ll likely get another one someday.

The vehicle I replaced it with? Well it’s the first brand new vehicle I’ve ever purchased, a 2020 Jeep Wrangler JL, with the EcoDiesel option. I couple years ago I moved and finally decided needed something better suited to where I’m at now, and the Jeep just made sense. It’s by no means loaded. Axles don’t lock, cloth interior, but it’s not a stocker either. Here comes my diesel addiction: For the price, I could have gotten a loaded Rubicon with all the bells and whistles. The diesel option adds $6000 to the bottom line, which unless you get a super bare bones version, it puts you at Rubicon level pricing. In my defense, and the EcoDiesel’s defense, the diesel does have much more torque, gets better mileage and has a bunch more range than any of the gassers. It really is pretty quick, plus I’m certain it’ll last much longer. All of this more than justified the added cost to me, especially since I know I’ll be modifying the heck out of it.

So, this means you’re going to be seeing a little Jeep EcoDiesel content every now and then. I’ve already installed one of those throttle pedal enhancers (more on that next issue); 37-inch tires are waiting for it in my garage as is a 4-inch lift. Where we go from there, I’m not sure yet, I’d like to see how it performs first, and then upgrade as the need arises. At the moment there’s not much for engine performance on the market, hopefully that’ll change soon so we can see exactly what this little 3.0L EcoDiesel can really do. I’m excited about it. Stay tuned…