Is the diesel backlash about to start?

[Nuclear Biscuit]

I currently own my first and last diesel due to a 500 mile weekly mileage. This ends later this year, so I've got plans for Operation V12, as I've never owned one.

[johnny fotze]

I do around 30,000 miles a year and I'm hoping they start taxing diesel drivers a finger or a bk or something equally ludicrous so I can justify getting my arse behind a petrol engine again. I don't care how many turbos, torques or mpg you get from diesel, it's still fit for nowt but bloody tractors.

[Bungleaio]

I hope there is a massive clamp down on all this DPF removal thats going on. The amount of visible crap that comes out of some cars is unbelievable. Yes petrol cars can be bad but it's rare to see massive clouds coming out the back of them.

[marmitemania]

I would not own a Diesel as long as I have a hole in my arse. Dirty overated stinking things that people think are fast but really just give you a huge dollop in one go and run out of puff. Yes a 6 cylinder tractor on full chat sounds nice and the V8 lorries can be tuneful but your average 4 pot VAG eurobox is rubbish. I also wonder why people buy diesel Range Rovers when you are spending a minimum of £72,000 on a car what does fuel consumption matter. The sooner Diesel dies out the better. Its just the same with people not being able to think for themselves when buying anything, Oh you must have Apple this and Apple that, got to have a VAG car, must get all your clothes from Next, all rubbish.

[heebeegeetee]

Guys, enough of the Daily Mail rubbish and nonsense from inexperienced drivers...

Have a more realistic view: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/11018725/...

[Stenn]

Ranger 6 said:

Backlash? Not from me (yet )

At the moment I'm happy with my wafting 500nm and 500 miles to a tank. For my next car I'd like to see a petrol car with; 500 mile range, 300+ bhp, 40+ mpg and a sub 6-sec to 60 and £180 VED - then I may be interested....

Ah yes, because driving is all about numbers of course.

[ORD]

heebeegeetee said:

Guys, enough of the Daily Mail rubbish and nonsense from inexperienced drivers...

Have a more realistic view: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/11018725/...

Typical in that it fails to make the point that for almost all private buyers going diesel is mental because you don't do the miles to make it pay (even ignoring the fact that it is a grossly selfish and polluting decision).

[Captainawesome]

ORD said:

Typical in that it fails to make the point that for almost all private buyers going diesel is mental because you don't do the miles to make it pay (even ignoring the fact that it is a grossly selfish and polluting decision).

I recently (successfully ) convinced a friend of mine who does less than 20 miles a day in short journeys that a diesel really wasn't the economical choice due to her lack of annual milage and that all she was really going to do was feck the engine up. This was done whilst a bit drunk but lo and behold a few days ago she turns up in a supercharged petrol mini and thanks me for the advice as she likes the 'blow backs' from the exhaust.

Also just managed to get my wife who has only ever driven diseaasels into a 2.0 turbo petrol.


Do I get some kind of PH gold card now????

Personally I find the whole u-turn hilarious due to amount of smug dheads I know who have given me a hard time for driving a large capacity petrol engine. Will this spell an end to 'it's got more torques than a ferrari' knob???? God I hope so.

[Goody13]

marmitemania said:

Its just the same with people not being able to think for themselves when buying anything, Oh you must have Apple this and Apple that, got to have a VAG car, must get all your clothes from Next, all rubbish.

You sound just like me! I dislike Apple other than their computers. the reason; most people who have i-Pods and i-Pads don't really understand them but just like the idea of the so-called 'status' they have by owning one.

[Captainawesome]

Goody13 said:

You sound just like me! I dislike Apple other than their computers. the reason; most people who have i-Pods and i-Pads don't really understand them but just like the idea of the so-called 'status' they have by owning one.

I just dislike them due to people's inability to not refer to them as their iPhone…….oooh I always say, I just have to go and take an important call from my fabulous cooler than a penguin's testicles friends on my Samsung.

No I call it my fking phone like the rest of the world you pretentious wkers.

Edited by Captainawesome on Monday 11th August 23:16

[Goody13]

Captainawesome said:

I just dislike them due to people's inability to not refer to them as their iPhone…….oooh I always say, I just have to go and take an important call from my fabulous cooler than a penguin's testicles friends on my Samsung.

No I call it my fking phone like the rest of the world you pretentious wkers.

Edited by Captainawesome on Monday 11th August 23:16

The thing that got me a few years ago is that I had a Sony MP3 player and people thought it was called an i-Pod! Oh how the branding merchants must be laughing having done a fantastic job of brainwashing the gullible and stupid.

I use a Samsung Galaxy Tablet, and people still feel the need to refer to it as an i-Pad. Why? An i-Pad is a tablet. A tablet is not an i-Pad. Likewise with MP3 players and i-Pods.

[heebeegeetee]

ORD said:

Typical in that it fails to make the point that for almost all private buyers going diesel is mental because you don't do the miles to make it pay (even ignoring the fact that it is a grossly selfish and polluting decision).

What a load of utter rubbish. You are making the classic mistake (petrolheads are supposed to be better informed) that it's all about money, and it emphatically isn't.

My 15 year old VW Bora tdi auto, 110bhp, a piece of four pot rubbish according to another poster, making me something of a sheep, has managed 154k miles of complete neglect, never been handwashed, never been polished, never had sufficient oil changes (which is really naughty of me), just suffered its second failure (the PAS packed up) but now returned to full health.

We paid £13k for it when it was one year old. Fully loaded with all the toys at the time for that type of car, and everything still working inc the (never regassed) AC. Done all we want, and even tows ok too.

Don't tell me a 2 litre NA auto petrol would have been better. It wouldn't tow (not with 110bhp and no torque) and I would need to refuel twice as much. It wouldn't be effortless to drive because small NA petrols don't move much before valve bounce. It wouldn't sound good either because very few four-pot petrols do. Has the car cost me more? I have absolutely no idea and couldn't care.

However, if you want to talk about grossly and selfishly polluting - well, that's all of us here on PH because we drive for pleasure.

I have a Boxster for weekends. Petrol engines are massively polluting when cold yet I fire it up and drive past peoples houses and the school up the road before the cats have warmed up and the mixture is still rich.

Tyres and brakes are also a significant source of pollution yet even a humble Boxster is massively over-tyred for a small country with a 70mph speed limit. I love nothing more than to zip along my local bypass at 150 and to stand on the brakes for the two small islands on that road, heel and toeing gratuitously down the box, taking the roundabout as fast as possible before accelerating as hard as possible out.

Now, is it possible to be more selfishly polluting than that?

But you keep up with that nature of ridiculous posture and think how the future lies for us car enthusiasts, eh?

Btw I also have a small petrol car, a smart. For reasons even I can't quite fathom, I really rather like it and it's my preference for commuting, but just like every petrol car I have experienced, it's economy is pretty rubbish for the size of engine. It just about matches the Bora.

[heebeegeetee]

Goody13 said:

You sound just like me! I dislike Apple other than their computers. the reason; most people who have i-Pods and i-Pads don't really understand them but just like the idea of the so-called 'status' they have by owning one.

Eh? Who, where, what or how is my phone going to confer status on me? What year are you in?

Jesus. The weekly anti-diesel threads just get ever better comedy gold .

[StescoG66]

Chaps I started this thread out of genuine curiosity. I do 16k per year so diesel does pay - but only just. However I would love another petrol car, and wondered if it was worth my while hopping out the diesel prior to the arse falling out the second hand values of medium size diesel hatchbacks.
I may however leave my petrol powered jollies until my wee Sprint 1.7 is completed........

[DervHead]

StescoG66 said:

Chaps I started this thread out of genuine curiosity. I do 16k per year so diesel does pay - but only just. However I would love another petrol car, and wondered if it was worth my while hopping out the diesel prior to the arse falling out the second hand values of medium size diesel hatchbacks.
I may however leave my petrol powered jollies until my wee Sprint 1.7 is completed........

I have driven diesels for the last ten years (most of my driving life), and last month placed an order for a mk3 Skoda Octavia 1.4TSI petrol since (1) my mileage has dropped, and (2) it was immensely nicer to drive than the 1.6 diesel.

Typical. Now demand for petrol will rise, the back end falls out of the diesel market, and diesel is once again cheap as chips while the smelly green pipe doubles in price.

Sake.

[neil1jnr]

Jimboka said:

A back last by whom?
When a petrol car performs as well as my 170 bhp diesel, and returns 45mpg over tankfuls, I'll buy one.
So not any time soon...
(lots also prefer how they drive and have never experienced the mythical internet frenzy diesel issues)

Fiesta ST performs better than your 170bhp diesel, better power and torque to weight ratio and will return 45mpg

[neil1jnr]

marmitemania said:

I would not own a Diesel as long as I have a hole in my arse. Dirty overated stinking things that people think are fast but really just give you a huge dollop in one go and run out of puff. Yes a 6 cylinder tractor on full chat sounds nice and the V8 lorries can be tuneful but your average 4 pot VAG eurobox is rubbish. I also wonder why people buy diesel Range Rovers when you are spending a minimum of £72,000 on a car what does fuel consumption matter. The sooner Diesel dies out the better. Its just the same with people not being able to think for themselves when buying anything, Oh you must have Apple this and Apple that, got to have a VAG car, must get all your clothes from Next, all rubbish.

Totally agree, I really don't understand diesel versions of Range Rovers and 6 series BMW's etc.

[TheBigUnit]

ORD said:

Autocar ran an article recently in which some guy (as specific as I can be bothered to be) said that the real problem with diesel cars is that they are massively more polluting after a few years than when they are first sold, such that the picture is going to get worse before it gets better. The rise in the number of diesel cars has been exponential in the last few years, and a lot of them will start to dirty up soon (if that mystery man is right).

They are already. Sit behind most diesel vans of more than three years old, or diesel cars of more than six, and I can guarantee that if they accelerate some soot will leave the exhaust. There is a guy who lives in the Stevenage area and drives an old green Nissan X-Trail. Every moment of acceleration is accompanied by genuinely huge clouds of dirty black smoke. I am informed that the police have the power to get vehicles like this off the road. But current police policy/cuts would suggest the local constabulary do not or cannot care as I regularly find myself keeping a forty yard gap behind him.

[Mercury00]

There was an article in the Daily Mail (I know, I know) complaining about how politicians have misled the public into buying diesels. It just goes to show that most people are sheep and can't think for themselves. The information about diesels has been widely available for years, do a bit of fking research for yourself before spending your money instead of blaming people for your own stupidity.

[zeppelin101]

neil1jnr said:

Totally agree, I really don't understand diesel versions of Range Rovers and 6 series BMW's etc.

Range. It's annoying having to fill up every 200 miles in a car you use regularly but double that and it's much better.

I was talking to a Range Rover dealer a year or so ago and they were telling me of a number of customers who have bought (cash) a new Range Rover every few years from that dealer since they were established. Always V8 petrols. Until the last car which was a V8 diesel and he raves about being able to drive from the Midlands to London in it and only having to fill up a couple of times a week rather than every day.

Those buyers don't care about fuel consumption. They do care about not wasting half their lives at a pump though.

A few people mentioned India / China etc as big polluters. I'd expect that to change, China in particular is starting down the war path on air quality and that is going to hit car OEMs sooner or later...