WranglerDan

As one of the lucky few to be driving a CRD JK, I can't understand why they aren't available to y'all over there. I believe you now have ULSD fuel, and the particulate filters fitted pass Swiss/Euro emissions regulations. The fuel economy is far better, not to mention the driveability and sheer suitability of the 2.8 VM motor to the Wrangler. We also have the petrol V6 available here, with a longer wait for diesels. The Rubi only comes in petrol. After driving both versions, I am glad I paid and waited the extra for the CRD: It really is the perfect motor.
All I can think of is that VM could not guarantee a certain volume to meet US demand, and/or Jeep thinks that US consumers would balk at the extra $2+ K off the floor for an imported engine vs. the V6.

Smopho

The big difference here is that the NOx emission standards are still much stricter now than Europe since 2007. To beat NOx, you can take several approaches. One is to greatly cool combustion temps through very aggressive use of Exhaust gas recirculation. This is not that simple on a diesel because of the high temps of the gases require some kind of cooling first. The CRD does this through design of their EGR valve integrated into the manifold. But, it has major problems I'll elaborate on in a bit. The other approach to NOx control is to go to a more traditional combustion cycle like Rudolf Diesel originaly invented where you have a more constant cylinder pressure and inject fuel throughout the combustion cycle, with more fuel at the later part of the cycle. This is much different than pre 2007 diesels where you generate a very high initial peak cylinder pressure and hence get a lot more power. Going to the original diesel cycle kills power and you need a lot more displacement to get the power you had before you change the fueling map for NOx. The last way you kill NOx is with exahust after treatment via UREA injection. Daimler Benz owns the patents on this, and will license it, but it is per vehicle and would add substantial cost to a vehicle. Put this on top of the premium you'd have to already pay for the added cost of building a diesel, and you're looking at a motor option that would cost the consumer something like $5-6000 more than gas. What is the payback on that in fuel costs? Right now, probably 10plus years, not a very good economic decision for the average buyer. Granted, the people on this forum are not average buyers, but we are a very small percentage of total Wranglers bought.

OK, here's the problem with the existing CRD's EGR. The CRD also uses a design where it vents the crankcase into the intake upstream of the EGR valve. That vented gas is rich in oil vapor, which hits the very hot EGR valve and forms coke deposits. This in turn kills the EGR functionality after a few tens of thousands of miles resulting in engine codes and sever loss of power. My CRD has suffered from this problem and I've come to accept the fact I'll be replacing the EGR valve every 20-30K miles. When this happens, the vehicle is not driveable and the design of the valve does not lend itself to cleaning and re-using it. I've tried. Lucky for me, mine is still covered under the emissions warranty for a little while more.

I still love my Liberty CRD. It's got enough power to easily get scratch, or do a burnout with the automatic with a little braking applied. It never gets worse than 22-24 mpg in the city, and consistently gets 27-30 mpg on the Highway at 70mph. When you look at the added weight and reduced efficiency of the of the 3.6Diesel over the 2.8, I'd pick the later. I don't think anyone would be disappointed in the power. With my stock 6sp Rubicon, my wife's Liberty CRD beats me to freeway speed by about 3 vehicle lengths.