[Stefan2006]

Newsweek magazine had an online article about how old diesels are smokey, rattle, and slow....my car is pretty fast and quiet.

Read here:http://www.newsweek.com/id/129032

some parts

Diesel-powered vehicles haven't enjoyed the best reputation in the United States, despite the well-known benefit of impressive fuel efficiency. Consumers have long been unimpressed by other traits, such as their black clouds of exhaust soot, ear-rattling racket and, ahem, let's call it "stately" acceleration.
And while that 10-year-old Dodge Ram pickup with the Cummins turbodiesel and 18-wheeler-wannabe exhaust stacks sitting next to you at the traffic light still forces you to close your window and curse its oppressive noise, today's diesels are so quiet it's hard to distinguish them from gas-powered models, and that's why you probably haven't noticed them on the road.
But BMW and Mercedes are embracing diesel power, even for sporty models. BMW has dubbed its effort "EfficientDynamics," and the company's diesel lineup includes a 204-horsepower version of the new 1-series compact model. Producing more than 200 horsepower from 2.0-liters of displacement means the engine exceeds the 100 horsepower per liter threshold long seen as the line of demarcation between "regular" engines and true high-performance power plants.


General Motors is bullish on diesel's potential to reduce the consumption of pickups and SUVs, but CEO Rick Wagoner is more guarded about its potential in cars.

"You are going to see an explosion of diesels in the truck segment," he predicted. "Don't rule out cars, but we aren't forecasting a huge increase in the U.S. market demand for diesels."

 

[gino5]

journalism is a story. no story, no journalist, no sell magazine

The whole point is to make diesel cars sound like they were horrible. Even the part which says "stately" acceleration is screaming undesirable. It's a journalist who made a few phone calls and wrote a story. Then they have 10 other stories to work on.

If the journalist actually drove a modern diesel, they would have written a different story, like cinderalla coming to the main stage. At the end of the story, they even present the opposing view, GM's Wagoner saying how diesels aren't forecasted to have a huge increase. It's a story, with a beginning (diesels are bad) a middle, (diesels are forecast to be big) and an end (the opposing view).

 

[Superbass]

Maybe when talking about diesels from the 70s. The next gen bluetec TDI or whatever they call it will be the best TDI yet! Maybe GM is right, there will be a larger market but it'll be trucks for US makers and light diesels from Germans and Honda.

 

[LIQUIDSILVER]

I love how they show the Audi R8 TDI as an example of high performance diesel when it's still only a concept. Impressive that the BMW 2.0L has over 200hp, that has to be at least 275 torque.

 

[freerider]

What a piece of trash. "Consumers have long been unimpressed by other traits, such as their black clouds of exhaust soot, ear-rattling racket and, ahem, let's call it "stately" acceleration"????

I wish the title was "diesel, the fast track to meeting CAFE" or "diesel, old solutions to new problems".

 

[JohnPk]

What a piece of trash. "Consumers have long been unimpressed by other traits, such as their black clouds of exhaust soot, ear-rattling racket and, ahem, let's call it "stately" acceleration"????

I wish the title was "diesel, the fast track to meeting CAFE" or "diesel, old solutions to new problems".

It's because hybrids or smaller cars or more efficient gas engines are also solutions to new CAFE standards too

 

[Superbass]

I saw an ad in New Yorker magazine for the twin turbo bmw diesel...odd, since they are not out yet. Is the 200hp engine 4 or 6 cylinder?

 

[Guest]

It's almost definitely a 4 cylinder since the tdi is not too far behind, the twin turbo engine must have been a 6 cylinder one.

 

[buggy9]

yeah, the 6 cylinder must be the twin turbo engine because it must be very hard to fit twin turbos or too expensive to fit twin turbos on a 4 cylinder engine.