[XRP]

I have seen more people going with diesel engines in the us.. i know they are more popular in other out US, but why..

I wouldnt ask with a Ford F-250 cuz in know what they can do and i want one, but why in smaller cars??

Compared to Gas...
reliability??
performance??
What??

[Le Chef]

Significantly better fuel economy than gas based on comparable engine size. Significantly greater torque which means much better everyday in gear performance.

[powertech83]

Originally Posted by Le Chef

Significantly better fuel economy than gas based on comparable engine size. Significantly greater torque which means much better everyday in gear performance.

+1

They are way more refined and much cleaner nowadays too

[clivem2]

Diesel & petrol (gas) drive differently. With petrol it's more about power and response. With diesel it's more about a huge lump of torque so the car goes fast without it feeling as though you're working the engine hard. This is more a European view, a big US V8 won't be like a BMW straight 6 so it depends what you comparing with.

On a track day you'd want a petrol car whereas drive A to B normal roads a diesel car can be really fun and easy to drive.

[XRP]

but how about reliability?? do they last longer like the trucks?? how about expense of maintenance when Warranty is done??

[robwoods]

In the UK it's all about economy.

My 20d is hardly fast (though it accelerates well 20-60mph) but at 135p per UK litre you just can't afford to run a big petrol car here unless you are very wealthy. Most of my driving averages around 20mph other than motorway runs so it's just fine for me.

[Mako]

I think Diesel is cheaper than gas/petrol in Europe as well, not seasonally cheaper like in the US, but cheaper all the time, so better MPG, cheaper, and similar performance, why not get a Diesel,

Diesel would decrease in price in the US if we adopted it more, if even 15% of the cars sold here were Diesel we would see a nice decrease.

But no, we are going the electric route! My wife works at Walgreens and keeps telling me about the Electric initiative to have electric charging stations at almost every store by 20XX... So you can get your prescription, photos, milk and gas all in one spot I don't mind electric but they just aren't worth it right now and won't be unless some breakthrough technology comes our way, Diesel is the way to go.

[sfax]

Originally Posted by Mako

I think Diesel is cheaper than gas/petrol in Europe as well, not seasonally cheaper like in the US, but cheaper all the time, so better MPG, cheaper, and similar performance, why not get a Diesel,

Diesel would decrease in price in the US if we adopted it more, if even 15% of the cars sold here were Diesel we would see a nice decrease.

But no, we are going the electric route! My wife works at Walgreens and keeps telling me about the Electric initiative to have electric charging stations at almost every store by 20XX... So you can get your prescription, photos, milk and gas all in one spot I don't mind electric but they just aren't worth it right now and won't be unless some breakthrough technology comes our way, Diesel is the way to go.

Diesel is about 3-4p more expensive per litre in the UK. Diesel engines are noisier and usually more expensive to buy than their petrol counterparts. I prefer driving petrol cars but haven't driven the larger (>2) diesels to be fair.

The main reason people buy diesels here is better mpg so cheaper fuel per mile but there is also an impact on tax because you pay more road tax the more CO2 per km your car emits. On company car tax CO2 makes a big difference too

[clivem2]

Yes, I suppose we should differentiate between smaller diesels more for economy / low CO2 vs those for performance and some economy / low CO2. Even so, the small diesels still have great torque vs petrol, though less responsiveness. The torque is addictive, the poorer responsiveness is not.

[Vintage]

My X5 35d is incredible and I would quickly buy other diesel BMWs if there were more availability here in the USofA. I am sold: quiet, clean, no diesel smell, crazy torque/acceleration, and truly great gas mileage!!!

[mhrir]

The break even point of the fuel savings vs the additional cost of the diesel engine is far out in the future. For example using the base prices of a 328i, 335i, and 335d; and the average annual fuel cost from the fuelecomony.gov website it will take 4 years to break even vs a 335i and 18 years compared to a 328i.

[Mako]

Originally Posted by mhrir

The break even point of the fuel savings vs the additional cost of the diesel engine is far out in the future. For example using the base prices of a 328i, 335i, and 335d; and the average annual fuel cost from the fuelecomony.gov website it will take 4 years to break even vs a 335i and 18 years compared to a 328i.

Yes but they don't take 2 things into consideration. 1) US tax incentive which is huge 2) higher resale value than the gas engines because of better mpg and original msrp.