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Originally Posted by beef_bourito
my dad is a perfect example of that, his dad had a diesel back in the 60s or 70s and it was really slow, he thinks diesels are all slow because of that car. stupid french people.
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Well, LOL! Actually, it was the French that came up with the fancy converters that burn up diesel soot (Peugeot, I think). Now Mercedes has added this urea chemical to the diesel exhaust stream to clean things up even more (BlueTec). The end result is that Euro diesel cars are now far cleaner than gasoline cars.
The terms "Diesel" and "Performance" DO go together, as Audi has proven to everyone's astonishment on the race tracks in Europe. It was the addition of Turbos that really put diesels on the map. I can personally vouch for the performance of one TDI car - the VW Golf TDI. I have cruised these rented cars down the Autobahns all day at over 100 mph (160kph) and still averaged 43 mpg. This is important where gas costs between 6-8 dollars per gallon, and until fairly recently, diesel cost about 20% less than 87 octane. As of August 31 this year, diesel and 87 octane in Vienna (Austria) were the same price - 1.25 euros per liter (3.8 liters per gallon).
So, IMHO, what's keeping diesels off American roads is due not only to the old misperceptions, but also to the premium cost for the diesel engine and the ridiculous price of fuel here. But please do the math and you'll still save about 5-10% on your fuel expenses with a VW Golf TDI despite the diesel cost preminum of 50-70 cents per gallon. Figure about 45-50 mpg for a sanely driven Golf and don't forget the conversion from Euros to the Dollar.
