I think people will read the good reviews that say its not stinky or rattley, and then say to themselves, "yeah, but its a stinky rattley diesel so I'll never buy it." Its the same as the V6, V8, or I4 preference. In the 80s, many people refused to buy little V6s. They wanted the power of the V8... regardless of the fact that many of the V6s made more power than the V8 in the 80s. They wanted more power, so they bought the engine with less power ??
The American public is so fleeced. We (as a whole) buy horsepower, but feel torque. We beg for more fuel efficiency, then buy 6500-lb SUVs that get 12 MPG. We complain about the smog, but then enact emissions laws that don't help smog at all. We won't buy diesels because they're noisy, smoky, and rattley, but most people who refuse to own one never drove one.
So, when we've completely depleted the world's fossil fuel supply and all of you can't buy gasoline because the last 500 gallons are owned by ExxonMobil and they're charging $6000 a gallon, I'll just fill up with biodiesel and keep on driving.