Diesel Vs. Gas

[tl01]

Which would you buy if the cars was essentially priced the same.... same car just different fuel type? Would you worry about the diesel air particles health wise? Assume that the diesel gets slightly better gas mileage but is slightly slower for acceleration.

[codex57]

Modern diesel? Presuming prices were the same, definitely diesel. I can live with the slower acceleration cuz they tend to have way better torque. I dunno, in CA, you don't need that much passing oomph on our freeways. Not overly worried about particulates due to current diesel tech, altho maintenance is likely to be a bit more.

[tl01]

I wanted the diesel.. but as it turns out... the special pricing is not on the diesel model. Just confirmed. The MSRP on the diesel is about $1000 lower.. but there are special $$ rates on the gas model. Oh well! It would have been a modern diesel. I had read that modern diesels still of particulate issues though much better than old ones.

[codex57]

There are particulates, but there's some serious technology in catching them. Way better than before. Admittedly not as clean as gas, but at such a level, there are much worse offenders out there.

Yes, cars pollute. However, the tech has gotten so good, they produce relatively little harmful crap. I'm comparing it to the factories I see along the freeway. Put some scrubbers on one factory, and you'd prolly wipe out tens of thousands of cars worth of pollution in just one year.

It's all a balancing act and you gotta remember to look at the big picture once in a while. While diesel has more particulates, the gas mileage is better so you're consuming less fossil fuels than regular gas.

[beeman]

I've driven gas and I've driven diesel. It really depends how much your going to drive it. Diesels like to run. If you hardly drive, and most trips are short it really doesn't pay to own a diesel. If you do lots of driving where the engine has a chance to warm up diesels are great. Their economy on the highway is much better than a gas engine, however in city driving the differences will not be near as noticeable.
When I recently bought a new to me one ton for beekeeping I chose to go for the diesel model. The diesel was comparative in price to the gas models of the same era, gets twice the fuel economy on the highway, and all around the truck was in better condition. This truck will drive about 15,000kms (9000 mi) a year. If I was planning on less mileage each year I would have gone for a gas model.

[southpawboston]

There are particulates, but there's some serious technology in catching them. Way better than before. Admittedly not as clean as gas, but at such a level, there are much worse offenders out there.


true, diesel puts out more particulates, but less CO2.

[skipspin]

Diesel.

DH haa been oogling over the diesel Mazda5- only available overseas. Oh, and it' seats 7. I SO wish we could get it here. He already has a diesel truck.

[stevel]

I work in the service department at an audi dealer and we are just now getting diesels in the US....

for the same price, stick with gasoline because there is going to be a very serious amount more involved in maintaining a modern diesel engine and emissions systems. the exhaust is not like a gasoline exhaust which is essentially maintenance free, unless it rots out or the catalytic converter fails.

on the german variants you need to monitor the adblue fluid which is there to minnimize the emissions which is great... but, if it runs out, they have made it so the vehicle will be completely dissabled, even if there is diesel fuel in the tank. thus you will be towed because of it. even a modern diesel, if not in perfect running condition will pollute in a very nasty way which is why they are not allowed to let the engine run if the adblue is empty.......

if you do not intend to keep the vehicle beyond the warranty period, this may not be a concern, assuming you can get good warranty service.

I drove one of the audi Q7 diesels and it was nothing to be excited about driving, even with a wonderful torque number. so my take is, unless you're going to tow 5000 pounds, they just aren't worth it at this time. :twocents: