Future of Diesel

G

gov

Senior member
As mentioned my new DD is a Diesel - first diesel I have owned in 50 years of driving ! Well impressed with the torque and how quiet the engine is compared with bygone days :D Annoying that just having bought it war seems to be being declared on all diesel drivers - scaremongering stories about doubling the RFL and hiking in duty for diesel at the pumps :( Ironic that this emanates from EU Directives relating to pollution issues - we are being constantly reminded that we are leaving the EU so why are we kowtowing to their tune when it is broadly accepted that modern diesel engines are so much cleaner - my new car has RFL at £110 which , if I am reading the new rules coming in to effect from April will remain unchanged but no guarantee that duty will remain as is- more the opposite :(
 
I think the problem with diesels is petrol engines engines are slowly catching up in the MPG stakes so question why you need a diesel in the first place these days. I was watching a youtube vid of the the new Fiesta ST with 200bhp from a 1.5 3cyl and uses 2 cyls when cruising for economy, amazing how manufacturers are producing high output small capacity engines and whilst being economical. I've had two 1 Series diesels in the past and like yourself enjoyed the torque but little else to be honest, used to hate getting diesel on the hands when filling up.

Tim.
 
My 2 series is 2 years old now and happy with it but have been thinking of changing it for a petrol version incase the cost of running a diesel suddenly become more expensive following the recent comments
 
The problem with diesels is that even the "clean"' ones that pass the EU tests are dirty, toxic, polluting things emittings massively more NOX in real world driving than the "official" figures, cheat device fitted or not. It's high time they were taxed appropriately.
 
I've been working on a production line producing diesel engines for 10 years now and in that time, technology has changed massively. The next gen engines will be ridiculously clean, from what I'm led to believe.

The problem is, a short while ago the government were backing diesel over petrol, causing production problems for petrol engine plants. Now, they've changed their tune and the same is happening for diesel engine production.

Our figures used to be 2400 engines produced per 24 hours. It's now at 1800.

It will end up causing massive job losses for the industry.
 
What makes me laugh/cross is that the government promoted diesels with lower tax due to the low CO2, now they have gone and done a 180 realising it's not just CO2 but other more dangerous pollutants.

My last 3 cars were diesels but now with DPFs and their recharge cycle interrupting your driving I have gone wholeheartedly back to petrols.
 
And the regeneration only works at 2000 rpm when you drive for more than 20 minutes I think, meaning that I have to drive 88 mph to achieve that :lol:
 
The DPF failed on my 1st 1 Series and replaced under warranty, I think the filter unit was around 600 quid :o My second 1er was OK but it was something that played on my mind a fair bit to ensure I did runs to get the fiter to regenerate and burn the deposits off, the car ran rough when it did the cycle, all a PITA to be honest so went back to good old petrol.

Tim.
 
I opted for petrol when I ordered my new 420 last week, mainly due to that fact that my low annual mileage doesn't really make diesel cost effective for me and also these looming emissions taxes are likely.

My wife is thinking about changing her Audi TT diesel and it looks like petrol will be the obvious choice.
 
I had the swirl valves replaced on my last car thankfully under warranty, but DPF/DMF/swirl valves all can go on diesels and none are cheap. Petrols sound much better which is another good reason to ditch diesels.
 
My daily drive is a diesel it manages 50+ mpg with an auto box on the motorway. My 2 DDs before that with similar performace and power were petrol they both averaged 35mpg on the motorway. As much as I dislike the fuel, the narrow power band and the noise, while im commuting 20k a year (80% motorway) they'd have to tax it a lot more to make me swap back to petrol. I dont drive it in town at the weekend, when diesel makes no sense, we have a petrol Micra for that.
 
gov said:
As mentioned my new DD is a Diesel - first diesel I have owned in 50 years of driving ! Well impressed with the torque and how quiet the engine is compared with bygone days :D Annoying that just having bought it war seems to be being declared on all diesel drivers - scaremongering stories about doubling the RFL and hiking in duty for diesel at the pumps :( Ironic that this emanates from EU Directives relating to pollution issues - we are being constantly reminded that we are leaving the EU so why are we kowtowing to their tune when it is broadly accepted that modern diesel engines are so much cleaner - my new car has RFL at £110 which , if I am reading the new rules coming in to effect from April will remain unchanged but no guarantee that duty will remain as is- more the opposite :(
Click to expand...

I'm like you and have just bought my first diesel in 51 years of driving.I think it's the older ones who chuck out all sorts will be on the hit list to be taken off the road.
 
Well I run a 2005 Nissan 4x4 and it can be run on diesel or veg oil, not getting rid of it anytime soon. Fook EU directives :thumbsdown:
 
Kingfisher said:
I think all the hype and propaganda is simply leading up to an extra 10p a litre on diesel ... :x
Click to expand...
Agreed also wonder how long the ved on my 220d will £30 :x
 
The problem with diesel engines is that they're diesel engines. :rofl:
'Petrol head', sports cars should always be petrol. It smells nicer. :fuelfire:
 
original guvnor said:
The problem with diesels is that even the "clean"' ones that pass the EU tests are dirty, toxic, polluting things emittings massively more NOX in real world driving than the "official" figures, cheat device fitted or not. It's high time they were taxed appropriately.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on many levels, but where I struggle is that people make decision to buy based upon what's incentivised at the time, so it seems unfair to tax them to death based upon an historic decision. A few years ago diesels were the way forward
By all means skew future purchases by putting up new car taxes or levies. My thinking is really it's a revenue raising idea that can hide under being environmental

It's not far different from say making a U turn that electric has a massive negative impact on the environment as we have to build more power stations to charge them (and I of course make this up to illustrate) and so charge them £500 pa road fund
 
cj10jeeper said:
original guvnor said:
The problem with diesels is that even the "clean"' ones that pass the EU tests are dirty, toxic, polluting things emittings massively more NOX in real world driving than the "official" figures, cheat device fitted or not. It's high time they were taxed appropriately.
Click to expand...

I agree with you on many levels, but where I struggle is that people make decision to buy based upon what's incentivised at the time, so it seems unfair to tax them to death based upon an historic decision. A few years ago diesels were the way forward
By all means skew future purchases by putting up new car taxes or levies. My thinking is really it's a revenue raising idea that can hide under being environmental

It's not far different from say making a U turn that electric has a massive negative impact on the environment as we have to build more power stations to charge them (and I of course make this up to illustrate) and so charge them £500 pa road fund
Click to expand...

I sympathise with that view - the government (with the hand of the EU firmly in their back) did incentivise diesels but the case for them being highly polluting is now unquestionable (even the newest so-called "clean" diesels so it's high time they were properly taxed. I think some sort of transitional period should be devised - i.e. an increasing scale of tax is applied to owners of existing diesel vehicles over the next few financial years but high taxes applied to all new diesels at their first registration. I don't have too much sympathy though - owners of Z4MC's have seen their VED double in recent years!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom