I’m not alone, as at least one good friend of mine would like the exact same thing, and we’re both big fans of Audis and Volkswagens. As it turns out, Audi and VW offer a whole host of diesel all wheel drive stick shift wagons in Europe. Here’s a roundup of some of my favorite Volkswagen and Audi wagons that I can’t have.

VW Passat Wagon

VW Jetta Wagon

L/100km to mpg converter: 3 = 84.5; 4 = 63.8; 4.5 = 56.3; 5 = 50.1; 5.5 = 46; 6 = 42; 6.5 = 39.1; 7 = 36.35; 7.5 = 33.8; 8 = 31.9; 9 = 28.15

Audi A6 Wagon

Audi A3

Audi A4 Allroad Quattro

Peugeot 3008 Hybrid4

Peugeot 3008 and soon to be available in the Peugeot 508RXH wagon, the “Hybrid4″ technology offers a four cylinder Diesel engine in the front of the car, an electric motor in the rear and the ability to run the car in all-electric mode, as a hybrid or in all wheel drive mode.

Citroen DS5

There is no mechanical connection between the two drivetrains. A computer tells the car which engine to activate and when.  This technology allows the car to be a quiet urban commuter, a fuel-sipping highway cruiser and a Swiss Alp climber all in one. Leave Paris in all-electric mode, drive

Peugeot 508RXH

towards the mountains in standard hybrid mode, leaving most of the driving to the Diesel engine up front, arrive in the mountains and switch to all wheel drive for the final few miles of your trip.

Of course, there’s nothing stopping any of the manufacturers offering hybrids in the US from offering something like that here, but needless to say, this is an expensive system and with fuel costing about half

Hybrid4 Selector

what it does in Europe, they may feel (and justifiably so) that the demand would not be there.

Like the Scenic, the Espace is available in two sizes, Espace and Grand Espace. Both are seven seater minivans, with the Grand Espace having some extra cargo

Renault Espace

room behind the third row of seats.

The Espace and Grand Espace are both available with a  range of 2.0 liter, four cylinder turbo diesel engines producing  130, 150 and 175 horsepower. The Espace with the 130hp engine obtains a fuel consumption rating of 6.5l/100km (39mpg)and the

Renault Grand Espace

Grand Espace with the 175hp engine has a rating of  7.2l/100km (35mpg). Both vans come with a versatile seating arrangement in back featuring five individual bucket seats on tracks that can be slid forward or back, folded flat or removed altogether.

The Renault Trafic is more along the lines of a regular size minivan by American standards. Of course, American market minivans aren’t all that mini these days,

Renault Trafic

most models having grown quite a bit in the last 25 years since we started seeing this type of vehicle. So the Trafic is a smaller van or a larger minivan in Europe, whereas in the US it is about the size of other minivans that are available here.  It also is available in regular and grand sizes and comes with a 2.0 liter, four

Renault Grand Trafic

cylinder turbo diesel engine producing either 90 or 115 horsepower. It is available in 8 and 9 seater configurations.

Renault’s full size van, which would compete against the Ford E-Series vans, the GMC/Chevy full size vans, the Dodge/Mercedes/Freightliner Sprinter and the soon-to-be-released Ford Transit (and perhaps an offering from Fiat to appear at Dodge dealers?) is the Master. It is available in longer and shorter versions, as a utility van or a passenger van and comes with a 2.3 liter, four cylinder turbo diesel engine producing 148 horsepower. There is a smaller passenger van version, which seats

Renault Master 17 seater van

8 people and a larger van/bus that can seat 17 people.  Even the largest versions of this van are admirably propelled by the fuel efficient four cylinder turbo diesel engine.

Renault can play with the big boys too, but their big vans and trucks consume a lot less fuel than similar size vehicles in the US, thanks to their torquey and efficient four cylinder diesel engines, which are capable of powering even the largest vans they offer.

Europeans in general, and the French in particular, seem to be enamored of the tall hatchback/small van type of vehicle. These types of cars tend to offer more interior room for less exterior girth, consequently minimizing fuel consumption while maximizing the ability to haul people and cargo. Renault, along with Citroen, discussed below, makes a few cars that fit into this category. We’re going to look today at some of their smaller hatchbacks and vans. Renault’s larger vans will be discussed in a future posting.

The Renault Kangoo and Kangoo BeBop are similar to the Ford Transit/Tourneo Connect (discussed below). The Kangoo is about the size of a Tourneo Connect

Renault Kangoo

and the Kangoo BeBop is a smaller version, without rear sliding doors.  The Kangoo is available with a 110hp 1.6 liter four cylinder turbo diesel engine.  This engine returns fuel consumption of 5.3 liters/100km in mixed driving (48 mpg), not bad for a little trucklet that seats five people and will swallow tons of cargo.

Renault Kangoo BeBop

The Kangoo BeBop is available with the same engine and achieves similar fuel consumption. It is a smaller vehicle, seats four people and is targeted at a younger, active audience.

Renault Scenic

The Renault Scenic and Grand Scenic compete with the Citroen C4 Picasso and Grand C4 Picasso. The Scenic has a more traditional design than the C4 Picasso while offering similarly large interior dimensions and small exterior dimensions.  It is available with a 1.6 liter four cylinder turbo diesel engine producing 130hp and returning fuel consumption of 4.4 liters/100km (58mpg).

The Grand Scenic is available with this same engine and returns similar fuel

Renault Grand Scenic

economy. It is available as a 5 seater or a 7 seater. The shape is that of either a large hatchback or a small minivan.

These Renaults are another example of great cars that we, in the US, are missing out on.  Fuel efficient, high quality and stylish, at least two of which did not apply to Renaults the last time we saw them here.  Next week we’ll check out the larger Renault minivans and full size vans.

BMW 5-Series Wagon

The 5-Series, BMW’s mid-size offering is available with a 2.0 liter, 4 cylinder engine with 218hp. This engine can be had in the sedan and wagon with all wheel drive. The wagon, as you may have noticed, is no longer available in the US. A less powerful version of the same engine is available with 184hp, better fuel economy, but no all wheel drive. A 525d xDrive Touring (218hp all wheel drive wagon) consumes 5.5 liters of fuel per 100km in mixed driving.  This translates to roughly 46mpg US.

BMW 3-Series Wagon

The smaller 3-series is available with these same engines and an even more fuel efficient 163hp version. In the 3-Series, the 184hp engine is available with all wheel drive. The 3-Series wagon with this engine and all wheel drive gets slightly better fuel economy than the all wheel drive 5-Series with the more powerful engine. The 163hp version with rear wheel drive achieves fuel consumption of 4.3l/100km (59mpg).

Not to be left out, the big 7-Series is also available with a diesel engine, although

BMW 7-Series

only a six cylinder. A 740d xDrive with all wheel drive and a 3.0 liter six cylinder engine producing 306hp manages to achieve fuel consumption of 7l/100km (36mpg), not bad at all for a very powerful and fast full size sedan.

For those Americans who insist on an SUV no matter what, how about a BMW X3 xDrive 20d? 184hp, 5.6l/100km (45 mpg) fuel consumption.  Or an X5. The bigger SUV is available with a 245hp 3.0 liter six cylinder diesel engine and has a fuel consumption rating of 7.4l/100km (35mpg).

Contrary to popular opinion in the US, driving pleasure need not be sacrificed for fuel economy. These BMW diesels prove it. Many of us are eagerly awaiting the arrival of these cars on this side of the ocean.

Ford Transit Connect Utility Van

The Transit Connect is also available in a passenger wagon version, which is labeled Tourneo Connect.

Ford Tourneo Connect Passenger Wagon

The Tourneo Connect and Transit Connect are available with a 1.8 liter Diesel engine and have a fuel consumption rating of 31/45 mpg city/highway in the UK

compared to 21/26 for the gas-engine Transit Connect available in the US.

Similarly, the European Focus is available with Diesel engines that are not available in the US. The most fuel efficient Focus in the US is rated 28/40mpg, whereas a Diesel Focus with a 1.6 liter engine in the UK achieves fuel economy of 41/63mpg.

Ford Focus Wagon

Furthermore, the Focus in the UK is available in an appealing small wagon body style that combines great fuel economy with great utility.

Ford makes some great cars and what they offer in the US is superior to what they offered a few years ago in terms of style, quality and fuel economy, but we’re still missing out on some their best cars and engines, which are available only in Europe.

If you’re lucky enough to have driven one of these vehicles in Europe, please post here and let us know about your experience.

Ford Focus Five-Door Hatchback

Let’s take a look at the Multivan. The predecessor to the Multivan was once available in the US under the label Eurovan. The current Multivan in Europe is available with the same 2.0TDI engine found in many other Volkswagens and the 4Motion system as well. It has about as much passenger and cargo room as a Chevy Suburban, but manages to make do with an engine about 1/3 the size of that found in the Suburban. This is the ultimate vehicle for moving lots of people, cargo and skis.

The Sharan is a more typical size minivan, except, of course, for the fact that it gets far better fuel economy than any minivan available in the US. It is available with the same 2.0TDI engine and 4Motion all wheel drive.

VW Sharan

VW Multivan Interior

VW Multivan

Let’s take a look at the S Class first since that represents perhaps one of the most audacious applications of a four cylinder Diesel engine. The model name is a bit of a mouthful: S 250 CDI BlueEfficiency. It is the most efficient full size luxury car available in Europe, and by far more efficient than anything of similar size (and quite a few smaller cars too) available in the US.

Mercedes S 250 CDI BlueEfficiency

It is rated at 41mpg combined in the European Driving Cycle. This is due in part to “stop/start” technology, which shuts down the engine when the car is at a complete stop. This technology offers some of the benefits of a hybrid without the added cost and complexity.  A four cylinder engine in a car this size is certainly not the norm, but the engine produces 204 horsepower and 369 lb/ft of torque, more than enough to power the car and enough to outperform a gas-engine V8 S Class from the early 90′s.

This same engine is available in the smaller C and E class, where it delivers even better fuel economy. In fact, these smaller cars are available with even smaller four cylinder Diesel engines, which produce even better fuel economy.

The C and E class are available with all wheel drive and a four cylinder Diesel engine, while the S class requires you to upgrade to the six cylinder Diesel to get the all wheel drive, although even that car gets fairly good mileage for such a large car (this model, the S350 Bluetec 4Matic is rated 21/31mpg and is available in the US).

These cars provide convincing proof that you can have your cake and eat it too, just not in the US.

I had the pleasure of driving the predecessor to the C4 Picasso, the Xsara Picasso, several years ago when I was living in France. The car had a somewhat awkward “bubble” shape on the outside. However, reservations about the exterior design evaporated once we were in the car. It had a gigantic trunk, a completely flat load floor (no hump running down the middle of the car) and back seats that each folded down individually (you could put down one, two or three seats in any combination). The car was equipped with a 1.6 liter turbodiesel four cylinder engine and returned approximately 40 mpg on a trip from Paris to Beaune, which included some highway driving at speeds of 85-105mph, some driving around town in Beaune, some driving through the countryside looking for wineries and getting in and out of Paris.

The C4 Picasso offers a similar experience in a more modern vehicle, and with a much cooler exterior design (although it is admittedly not for everyone).

This car is only 175 inches long  (two inches shorter than a Honda Civic), but has a 17.5 cubic foot trunk, 61 cubic of storage space with all seats folded and plenty of room for five adults in the passenger compartment. Getting into a car like this makes you realize how inefficiently most cars today are packaged. Wanting more space is certainly understandable, but how many large gas-guzzlers could we eliminate if we had access to spacious, modern cars like this one?

The Grand C4 Picasso is a larger version of the C4 Picasso, with seating for seven. It is smaller than most minivans in the US.  It is somewhat similar in size to the Kia Rondo, Mazda 5 or first generation Honda Odyssey. With its Diesel engines, it consumes far less fuel than any seven seater currently available in the US.

In this blog I am going to write about things that I hope are of interest to the biodiesel community. In particular, I am going to concentrate on writing about many wonderful diesel cars that are not available in the US.