Diesel engine is no 7th wonder of the world. Modern gasoline turbo engines have the same characteristics than diesel engines – broad low end torque, which makes highway driving/passing and pulling heavy loads as easy as with diesel engines. you can use high gears and low rpm at higher highway speeds – no need to change gears down when passing other cars on highway etc.

Even the most modern diesels are noisier than gasoline engines. Especially when starting and even more during cold weather. And your hands will stink afterwards, even after washing. When you go to eat after tanking your diesel car its awful, the smell from your fingers…
In europe diesels are not so popular because everybody here is way smarter than in the U.S., but mainly because of the market hype, hype like in the U.S. with hybrids.

As my can runs some mix of BioDiesel most of the time the smell is basically “french fries” and just about everyone who rides in my car remarks about the smell in a positive way. Go figure.

Sunnyvale you are right about the resale value of Diesels. I could sell my Jetta TDI today and probably get close to what I paid for it new. I won’t though, as finding a new Diesel is hard to do. Demand far exceeds supply. Peruse the “completed” section of ebay and check out the actual sales. Same goes for old Diesel-Benz’ from the 80s. They go for 2x what the gasoline ones sell for while having ZERO collectible value… just damn useful as a car! So much for Bob Lutz’ “no demand for Diesels” flawed logic. There is demand, just not for a Diesel from GM!

–chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org

As a college student I worked at Busch Gardens in Tampa right next to the brewery. I remember my first day being repelled by the stench of the hops and the brewery. A few months later a guest (thats what we called customers) asked me and my co workers how we could stand the stench. We looked at each other and said what stench? Oh yeah I remember that when I first started but we honestly couldn’t smell it anymore. The problem is that non diesel drivers might smell what you no longer can detect.

I’ve never had an issue finding fuel, and to be honest I don’t notice the smell or any “mess” around the pumps… of course I live in the Pacific Northwest where the constant rain keeps everything clean. I also make my own fuel at home and *that* is a dirty job, so perhaps my frame of reference is seriously shifted as well.

As for driving perceptions, it is all about frame of reference. When I drive a gasoline-powered car they seem to rev all the time and buzz like a bee in a beer can while cruising on the highway. When I drive my friend’s gasoline Jetta on the Interstate it sounds like a chainsaw, turning 3500 @ 70 MPH, while my TDI hums along at 2100 at the same speed… with a SMALLER engine. Go figure.

I’ll never buy another gasoline-powered car again… ever.

I’m insanely envious of our European friends who can pick any car in any trim (including 2-seat convertibles!) with a turbo-Diesel engine. If Audi or Alfa Romeo offered a TT or a Spider with a Diesel here in the US, I’d buy it tomorrow.

–chuck
http://chuck.goolsbee.org

I graduated from a 80’s VW Rabbit diesel (the BEST student car!) to diesel trucks because I needed/wanted something larger and there wasn’t an affordable fullsize diesel sedan on the market.

I’m somewhat envious of the Europeans because they can/could get the Magnum wagon with a V6 turbodiesel.

If I was looking in that market today, I wouldn’t consider the newer VW TDIs though, if only because of their onerous oil requirements.

We are not looking to change over to “truck fuel”. We simply want to pull up to the same pump in the same service station and pump out the same good ole liquid we have been using forever.

It is a given that electric drivetrains will become far more common in the near future regardless if gasoline or diesel is pumped into the ICE. So Auto Mechs will need to ramp up on this new technology. But will they be willing to learn to service diesel engines? Exactly how quickly will the Honda service departments be able to deal with the new diesel engines? Remember they ALL need to become skilled in technology for it to work for Honda. It will not serve their costumers well if they can get their diesel Accord serviced during a road trip because the dealer in that area does NOT do diesels.

Everytime this discussion comes up I simple state that the availablity of diesel is not sufficiant in the USA. I cant buy it at the local Amoco, Exxon, Mobil, Getty, Sunoco. To get diesel in my neck of the woods I need to get on the interstate and travel down a exit to the service station on the highway, not very convenient.

Honda could make a mint on the deisel accord with just a little good marketing.

Many states have cheaper gasoline than diesel fuel. Diesels make a lot of sense in those states. In Illinois you would need to go about 100,000 miles just to break even (mileage differs by make/model).

Could the higher cost in some states combined with lower availability be reducing demand?

I wonder where people are getting this information? I’ve yet to meet anyone who talks cars who thinks of diesels as less efficient than gas, on the contrary, most people I’m in contact with on a regular basis are anxious for more diesel options. Where are the people getting these (mis)conceptions from, and who did KBB poll? Rumpelstiltskin?

On the diesel downside, the price of entry and the current high price of diesel fuel has been the only negative I’m hearing (including my f-i-l who drives a Silverado with the Isuzu diesel and Allison 6).

Similar experience refueling a rented diesel cube van. I had difficulty finding a diesel filling station. My hands, shoes and the van floor smelled for hours. It’s not a pleasant odor. I had to wash my hands with mechanics soap degreaser. My shoes are still in the garage.

The far higher cost of routine diesel maintenance makes overall savings doubtful. Several years ago a VW diesel oil change was $117. It’s probably more now.

The insistence around these parts (granted not as bad as AutoBlog or Popular Mechanics) that people don’t like diesels for irrational reasons is really just people not being willing to consider the fact that there are good, objective, reasons to dislike them. I don’t know why; it seems pretty damn obvious to me that the diesels on the road TODAY are still a ton noisier and ton dirtier than the gas engines we have today.

I still get to drive behind a lot of diesels – some are trucks; others are Mercedes sedans. One thing in common: they all stink; and almost all are incredibly noisy.

Yeah, Diesels still are dirty, and only people who have actually refueled one are capable of discussing the concept

Agreed – as a former 300D owner, I actually liked the car very much. Fueling it – not so much. And even as the new (future?) crop of diesels make my 300D seem tough to live with, how do we address the fueling issue? I mean – I know how – get fueling stations to clean (unlikely)…but how does it get that way? I understand larger fueling stations near interstates being so dirty – but why my little Texaco in the ‘burbs? I never, NEVER saw a clean diesel pump/area in 3 years of driving around South Florida.

I’ll be really interested to see what the final EPA numbers on the more affordable diesels from VW & Honda look like, with Nissan & crowd to follow. (I’m crossing my fingers that VW doesn’t screw up the TDI Jetta Sportwagen intro, but not holding my breath…)