Era of Diesel Engines

Diesel engine used to be the preferred engine for SUVs & heavy vehicle owners due to its economy however from the late 198*s till the end of 200*s diesel engines were loved by all Pakistanis and used specially in cars.

The trend of diesel engine conversion in cars started when the prices of petrol started going up and people came around to look for cheaper alternatives; LPG was already being used by Taxis and a very few private vehicles and CNG was unheard of; at that time diesel engine was the ultimate solution and the most preferred choice to go for and people started converting their cars with diesel engines. The only reason people stopped converting cars to diesel engine is because of the prices of Diesel going so high & standing next to Petrol.

This trend picked up its speed when Iraq attacked Kuwait and we got a lot of Kuwaiti cars being driven to Pakistan. Now petrol was free in Kuwait and it was any Pakistani's dream destination and because petrol was free they all had big cars (where the smallest engine was 2000cc Petrol) with petrol engines. This was a time when in Pakistan having a 1300cc car was considered as luxury and if you had 1600cc petrol car then you were considered as royal. Those Kuwaiti cars had a big attraction that they were available at dirt cheap prices mainly due to the fact that when those Pakistani families returned they only had their cars as an asset which they could en-cash to meet their immediate needs and also those cars were all left hand drive vehicles and the local Pakistanis exploited the situation to the fullest. Pakistanis started buying those cars can the petrol engines were replaced with diesel engines.

Most common and preferred engines at that time were following:

1C - It was a 1800cc Toyota engine with 64 hp (48 kW) at 4700 rpm, and torque 86 lb·ft (117 N·m) at 2700 rpm and it was introduced in late 70s till late 80s.

2C - It was also from Toyota C series and it was a 2000cc engine producing 73 hp (54 kW) at 4700 rpm, and torque 97 lb·ft (132 N·m) at 3000 rpm. 2C was introduced in 90s and the famous corolla 2.0D also had a 2C engine which was 2C-E which was basically an EFi based engine. 2C came till as late as 2008 in Pakistan. 2CT was a turbocharged version of 2C which was also used by conversionists of that time.

1N - Another engine which was used at that time was 1N which was 1500cc Diesel engine producing 54.2 hp (40.4 kW) at 5,200 rpm with 67.2 ft·lbf (91 N·m) of torque at 3,000 rpm.

While the conversion was happening automobile assemblers & importers also saw the potential in this & various cars were offered in Pakistan with factory fitted diesel engine:

Toyota Corolla (1996 - 2008) - Toyota offered 2000cc diesel engine as factory fitted option for 12 years and the engine was offered in CE100 (1996 - 2001), CE120 (2002 - 2008) and CE140 (2008)

Nissan Sunny (1997 - 2001) - Nissan offered 2000cc diesel engine in Pakistan assembled sunny B14 and it received a very good response from customers.

Fiat UNO (2001 - 2003) - Fiat was assembled in Pakistan for a very short time however when it was available it was only available with 1700cc diesel engine.

Kia Sportage (2002 - 2005) - KIA also assembled their five seater small suv for a short time locally and it was offered with a 2000cc diesel engine as well.

Mitsubishi Galant (2004 - 2005) - When Dewan started importing Mitsubishi Cars in Pakistan they knew the potential diesel engine had so among other options 2000cc diesel galant was also offered.

BMW (2004 - 2006) - BMW being imported by Dewan also gave option of Diesel engines however they did not get successful due to the low combustion ratio of Pakistani diesel and the high combustion ratio required to run which ended up in failure of BMW diesel in Pakistan.

Other than the above models we also got following cars as used / reconditioned options with factory fitted Diesel:

Toyota Corolla - CE70, CE80, CE90

Daihatsu Charade - G11 & G100

Mitsubishi Lancer (1992) and Nissan Sunny (1993 - B13) under prime minister officers scheme (previously yellow cab scheme). There were Peugeots as well offered under same scheme however they didn't make it to the limelight of success.

Lastly the cars which were very common for Diesel engine conversion

Toyota Corolla - EE30, EE70, EE80, EE90

Daihatsu Charade - G11 & G100

Toyota Corona - RT80 & RT100

Nissan Sunny - B11, B12, B13

Apart from the diesel engine vehicles being famous for their economy they were also hot cakes among car snatchers / thieves as well and thus security was a big concern of those cars. Those were the days when SUVs used to have the famous Diesel engine sound, diesel was cheap and petrol was expensive; its all in the golden days of history now.

Just one guy's opinion

OA