Diesel doom

[Poodle]

Now, although i do agree that media hype is shite, has no one realised that the biggest and most obvious thing which isn't under the control of the media is the change in technologies in the past 5 years. Small turbo petrol engines are becoming more and more popular and common. Very low emissions, shit loads of torque and power. May not be achieving the 80+mpg that modern diesels are but they are a lot cleaner and still meet the needs of most motorists who just expect a car to take off regardless of where you are in the rev range (e.g people just not knowing how to drive lol)
Diesel is never going to disappear but there is pros and cons to both. A petrol arctic lorry for example wouldn't be a great idea by far (depending how tech changes i suppose in the future) but what is the real need for a silly torquey diesel in your average saloon which spends all day on the motorway when you could fit a lower polluting petrol engine that does the job just as well!

Unfortunately when you drive one of these amazing, does-it-all, only-£99.99-for-your-very-own-tin-of-snake-oil, petrol turbo engines, you will never come close to the pollution and mpg figures posted by the manufacturer because the european driving cycle upon which the categorisation is based is complete horse shit. They're becoming more popular and common for exactly the same reason diesels did - because the government have jumped in and made them attractive to buy, it doesn't mean they're any better than diesels, they're just the latest fashion. A turbine is one of the most efficient fuel burning engines out there, but strap it to the back of your car and see how efficient it is then - it's just not suitable for the application. What use is a silly pathetic petrol in something bigger than a hedge trimmer when a decent diesel could do the job better and without running flat out (ie out of it's efficiency range)?