Related Sections: Vehicles
Diesel cars are slow and smelly, NOT
While the American divisions of the world's car manufacturers push complex hybrid cars as a solution to our bloated fuel consumption, most of the rest of the world has embraced modern Diesel technology. American's perceptions of Diesel vehicles are often clouded by visions of commercial trucks and the sluggish cars of decades ago, but in the meantime, Diesel performance has been transformed. This picture is me in an Opel (Saturn) Astra rental car cruising down the German Autobahn last week at 229 kmh (142 mph). It's a budget model with a 1.9 liter four cylinder Diesel, and in 3000 miles of driving we averaged over 40 mpg.
With gasoline running around $8 or more per gallon in Europe, they have managed to raise the average car's fuel economy to over 35 miles per gallon. Yet today there are almost no high mileage Diesel vehicles available in the USA. Go figure.
By Stone at 9:06 PM ON 04/12/08
Probably because diesel costs more than gas (at least in the US). It's a lesson in cost efficiency by the manufacturers. I believe (and hope) the primary focus is on non-fossil fuels. Hydrogen, Now!
By twelvetwelveproffet at 9:17 PM ON 04/12/08
Hmmmmmm 142 miles per hour and taking a picture of the dash. Ya, you american schwinhoots (sp) are sooooooo velcome over here in das fatherland.
By shinri at 9:59 PM ON 04/12/08
Photo was clearly taken from the passenger seat
By Alessio at 10:38 PM ON 04/12/08
i'm italian, we have an huge diffusion of diesel car, 'couse even if dieasel costs more than petrol (here the petrol is very expensive), diesel engines are more economical in terms of consumptions, and you can reach also high speeds.
By scharfy at 11:44 PM ON 04/12/08
Here in The States I get laughed at for not driving a Truck, SUV or muscle-car by some.
Others chastise me for not driving a Prius because... well... it's a Prius.
I love my VW TDI though. I don't need to be the biggest, fastest or environmentally fashionable. I just need good gas mileage.
By Dwindle at 9:10 AM ON 04/13/08
Personally, I think modern Diesels smell even worse than their predecessors. They burn my eyes! Americans are usually shocked at the smell of Euro cities, as it's not noticeable in the US.
By Umpa at 9:16 AM ON 04/13/08
Dwindle:
Ours smell of diesel yours smell of gasoline, the difference is what your used to :)
By Veelan at 4:05 PM ON 04/15/08
The Jetta diesel passes California pollution requirements, and is supposed to get 50mpg highway and 40mpg city.
By LJ at 4:33 PM ON 04/15/08
Stone, diesel costs *slightly* more, but when you get half again to twice the mileage, the extra thirty cents per gallon (this is in NYC) is well worth it when one goes so far on a tank.
I recently drove from Denver to Atlanta -- 2.5 tanks of diesel fuel in my VW TDI.
And diesel lovers rejoice! BMW, Mercedes-Benz, VW, Audi and HONDA have all pledged to bring diesel-powered cars beginning in 2009. They will be 50-state legal, too. With the advances made in emission collection/recycling, the cars will put out less than their equivalent gas-powered brethren.
And just think, a BMW 535d -- 0-60 in 6.5s AND nearly 40mpg.
By w2bsa at 9:24 AM ON 04/16/08
There are 30 mpg diesel trucks on the road. One was built by Ford. I believe it was a diesel engine Expedition. It used a low rear axle ratio for cruising rather than a high rear axle ratio for heavy hauling and pulling.
By diesel at 2:59 PM ON 04/17/08
Welcome to the rest of the world :) I love my VW TDI too. 55mpg, no problem. And that's at European speeds ;) It's not rattly, not smelly, and if (when) we run out of fossil fuels, it'll run just as happily on veggy oil - the fuel it was actually designed for!
By jamast at 6:17 PM ON 05/13/08
if you're dumb enough to be convinced that you'll have enough veggie oil, i have some land for sale, just drop by at low tide
for the record, diesel motors were designed to run on hemp oil
By Ron. at 2:48 AM ON 12/11/08
Diesel (Dr Rudolf) designed the engine to run on Coal dust . Hemp Oil? ,nope,not even peanut oil as has often been suggested but as diesels burn fuel by compressing air which raises the temperature to 900C you can run them on any oilo type fluid . large ship engines run on Crude oil,which comes with sand,water and even rocks and has tyo heated before the diesels can run on it. The most common dodge can be found in the UK where tesco's sell canola cooking oil in 2 liter bottles for less than a liter of diesel. So...you go to Resco's,buy your fuel,dump it directly into your fuel tank and you are right to go .Check out the Uk.ssang yong owners site for more info .
Cheers!!
By Slantsixx at 1:49 PM ON 08/08/09
My next purchase will be an Audi A4 Avant turbo diesel (when available stateside). 0-60 in 6.2 seconds and still gets 33MPG in the city. Leave your SUV in the garage, wagons are better. Most studies show that single-digit percentages of American SUVs ever see anything other than paved road. If you need to carry a lot of people, get a minivan; if you need cargo get a wagon. No reason to be getting 12-14MPG to go get the groceries or go to work. The only reason to get an SUV is if you need to move a lot of people while pulling a trailer or if you go offroading at least a few times per year; otherwise you're wasting your money and fuel.
And since when is it cool to have a big ass slow car versus a smaller yet speedy (and more efficient) one?
on your cellphone!
Text DVICE to 72434
editor@dvice.com
Slantsixx:
My next purchase will be an Audi A4 Avant turbo diesel (when available stateside). 0-60 in 6.2 seconds and still ge...More »