Never mind that the speedometer needle is pegged at 260 km/h. Consider, instead, that the tachometer needle is reading barely 4,000 rpm. Two-sixty in a BMW on a German autobahn is not that unexpected, but what manner of BMW engine generates such velocity with so little effort?

Would you believe a BMW diesel?

You may be having a hard time getting your head around this. For one thing, the very notion of a 260-km/h diesel is borderline oxymoronic, given that the whole point of diesel is fuel economy. For another, who the heck even knew that BMW makes diesels?

The latter fact may perplex North Americans, in whose minds diesel is synonymous with slow, and BMW is synonymous with Ultimate Driving Machine. But it's an everyday fact for Europeans. BMW's first diesel was launched in 1983, and that 524td hit the ground running - it was the fastest diesel car of its time.

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Diesels are not slow, they just normally don't have a lot of top end speed. They have a lot of down low grunt because of the torquey nature of diesels and they have a low redline so it doesn't allow for a high top speed. Diesels are more fuel efficient but the price of diesel fuel might offset the fuel efficiency. Diesels are more clean than they used to be. I wish the general public would get their head out of the ground about diesels.

 

manual transmissions on diesel cars arent very fun to drive either. Low redlines + manual tranny = very frequent shifting and gear hunting

 

Cleaner than they were, but still not that clean. There are also new studies linking diesel exhaust particulate from diluted diesel exhaust fumes to an aggravation of ischemic coronary heart disease. This is on top of lung problems as well. The last thing we need in this country is an increase in prevalence of the #1 cause of death!

I think if fuel efficiency can be achieved with unleaded gasoline hybrids, that is the way to go.

 

True but 286hp, > 400lb-ft of torque and Corolla-like efficiency is pretty good.

Of course the cleanest of diesels only achieve a T2B5 rating or ULEV-II (which is the same as most gasoline models out there).

 

330D and 530D are very nice.
They are getting better and better on Diesel Tech now.

 

yea they seem nice but too bad the price of diesel around NY is 350ish around my area. hope they can convert to the bio-diesel thing.

 

same here, diesel always cost more than Gas here, by .2 or so.

 

These are very good points but we are talking about the latest gen of high tech diesels which we haven't seen in the US. The Mercedes technology is quite impressive in this area:

"In order to bring together all these technologies within a single, appropriate package, Mercedes-Benz is following a graduated plan that includes the following phases:

Optimization of the engines and their combustion processes to minimize untreated emissions. This includes electronic engine management, four valves per cylinder, third-generation common-rail direct injection with piezoelectric injectors, a turbocharger with variable nozzle turbine and exhaust gas recirculation.

Oxidizing catalytic converters to minimize emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and unburned hydrocarbons (HC).

The particulate filter, fitted as standard in all Mercedes-Benz diesel cars in many countries since summer 2005, reduces particulate emissions by as much as 98 percent, thus easily undercutting even the current EU 4 particulate limits (0.025 g/km). This technology also ensures compliance with the US limits currently in force.

Nitrogen oxides - whose concentration is higher than in the exhaust gases of gasoline engines due to the specific combustion process in diesel engines - are reduced to such an extent that even the world's most stringent exhaust gas limits can be complied with. Here the so-called BLUETEC technology is utilised. This reduction is achieved either with an advanced DeNOx storage catalytic converter, available in the E 320 BLUETEC from autumn 2006, or with the more complex but even more effective AdBlue injection. This, combined with Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) creates the most effective method of exhaust gas aftertreatment currently available. This enables nitrogen oxide levels to be reduced by up to 80 percent. The Mercedes Benz engineers will be show-casing the combination with AdBlue injection in the Vision GL 320 BLUETEC at the Detroit show and are developing the process for use as a standard system in passenger cars.

The SCR process is based on the injection of the reducing agent AdBlue into the exhaust gas stream. AdBlue is an aqueous urea solution that is carried in a separate tank. Since an average of around 0.1 liters per 100 km (2352.15 mpg or 1 to 3 percent of diesel consumption) is all that is required, the tank can be designed so that it only needs to be refilled when service staff are carrying out regular, scheduled mainte-nance. When AdBlue is injected into the pre-cleaned exhaust gas, ammonia (NH3) is released, causing the nitrogen oxides to be converted into harmless nitrogen (and water) in a downstream catalytic converter. The decisive factor in ensuring that the catalytic converter works extremely efficiently is precise metering in line with the current engine operating state."

The particulate filter is self regenerating. When the computer senses that it has trapped a certain amount of particulates, it adjusts the mixture of the engine increasing the temperature of the exhaust stream to burn off the particulates. I would be skeptical about how well all of this works but remember, these high tech diesels have been available in Europe for several years now and are living up to claims. The amount of particulates that will be added by these cars is infinitesimal, especially when compared to that of commercial vehicles. I don't know about other states but Cali has been clamping down on commercial vehicles for some time and that is where the biggest reductions need to be made.

As for hybrid technology, diesel isn't so much competitive as complementing. Everyone is expecting diesel hybrids and these high tech diesels are impressive in their own right.

"The latest example of outstanding economy was seen in a test drive involving a Mercedes-Benz S-Class featuring the new 320 CDI engine on a stretch of the famous Route 66 between Chicago and Los Angeles. In this test, conducted by two freelance journalists over a distance of 3563 km (2214 miles), the average fuel consumption came in at 6.5 liters per 100 km (36.2 mpg)."

You aren't talking about a 10% increase in mileage with these diesels. My informal survey over the last couple of days has diesel being the lowest cost fuel at Cali stations right now. It is somewhere between regular gas price and maybe five to ten cents a gallon cheaper than regular. I don't know how long this has been going on because it seemed to me that diesel was more expensive than premium not too long ago. I guess the low sulphur diesel supply has finally caught up with demand. The S class used in this test is at best around a 20mpg real world average car. The BlueTec therefore is producing around an 80% increase in fuel economy. It seems to me that the numbers I have seen on the E class is that it is more like a 50% increase also from around 20 for the petro version to the low 30s for the diesel. This easily pays for the differential in diesel fuel and MB isn't charging very much for the diesel option. These cars offer an alternative and with them now available even in Cali, I hope the other makers, such as bimmer, bring their diesels as well. If bimmer can pull of the same performance as the BlueTec without the AdBlue, that is something.