I haven't paid attention to the cost of diesel at the pump lately. But I drove a very nice Citroen or Opel (forget which) in the UK way back in '98 that was comparable size-wise to the current Altima. Even then, this was light years ahead of the diesel Toronado my folks had when I was a kid.

If diesels offered people a way to get much-improved gas mileage without sacrificing performance entirely, then I'm all for it. It just kills me that they're lagging so much in getting to the US market.

I love my FEH, but it's a much fussier style of driving to avoid watching that MPG meter start creeping downward. I think the Mercedes are the only current diesels available in the US. IIRC, the Jetta has been pulled, and the Jeeps didn't go far and ended with the Daimler divestment. But BMW has a 3-series that they need to be convinced to bring in, and supposedly Honda will have something by '09 or '10.

 

I understand the issue as a problem with meeting the clean exhaust pipe standards for all 50 states. Yes, some of our states have higher emission standards than those in Europe or elsewhere. Wonder why the mainstream media doesn't talk about this?

 

What are you referring to? This has been in the news that I've seen. The big deal, though, is that diesels now have to meet the same emissions standards that gas engines meet.

And the reason Diesels haven't been around is because they are polluting beasts. It is true that they reduce greenhouse gas emissions, but basically everything else is horrible. The new round of diesels should solve that issue, and I will become a fan again. Even now, for all the talk of cleaner, quieter diesels, I see new trucks all the time that belch out nasty clouds of diesel particulate, and because of the noise I have to roll my window up if I'm next to one at a stop light.

Finally, some of the diesel issue has been our fuel supply. Until fairly recently we had high sulfur diesel fuel which is supposed to pollute more. Europe cleaned theirs up quite some time ago.

Done ranting now.

 

Here's a good recent summary on diesel auto prospects:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/auto...html?series=19