Diesel is cleaning up its act
The concept of dirty diesel is dead. It's official, most of the world's leading car manufacturers have finished experimenting with diesel engines, they have improved them in line with consumer standards, and are now putting them into fullscale production.
The obvious attraction of improved fuel economy makes diesel the smart choice on today's roads, so the big European car companies, namely BMW, Mercedes, Volvo, Jaguar and Peugeot have catered for drivers with their latest offerings. The Peugeot 307 and 407, Jaguar S-Type diesel, Mercedes 3-litre V6 in both the E-Class sedan and M-Class SUV along with BMW's 530d and 120d, are all groundbreaking offerings. They put the whole concept of the dirty diesel engine to bed once and for all. These cars are powerful, economical, technologically smarter machines, which is good news for drivers as well as the environment.
Test drivers and reviewers all agree, these cars are not reminiscent of the diesel engine of old. The dirty, smelly, loud, bus and truck engines that were engineered en-masse for the family car in the late 1970's when the original fuel crisis began. Sure they were more economical, and every driver wanted one for the money that was to be saved, but no one openly admitted to ever having enjoyed driving them.
But the diesels of today are different. They offer all the economy of the diesel of old in a more refined package. They are quieter, efficient and most importantly, powerful. The power through the drive train is perfectly aligned. These engines don't peter out at the top end of the tachometer as you might expect, they perform like your ordinary petrol engine would, and that's the surprising thing.
