Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Diesel: the first 21st century fuel?
As I reluctantly ponder on a replacement for my 250,000km diesel BMW 525, today's issue of the German magazine Auto Motor und Sport does a petrol vs diesel test on six otherwise or near-identical models, including something I can't remember from Kia, the VW Polo, the Ford S-Max, BMW 525, Mercedes E class and Audi Q7.
Apart from the Kia, the diesels easily come out on top for price/performance. For the BM, from 5000km per year, for the Audi and Benz, from 0km. For the Kia, from 30k per year - which sounds like torture in a Kia, period.
What's most fascinating for me (here's the old motoring journalist coming through) is the in-gear acceleration times. AM&S has quoted from 80km to 120km/h. I'd have liked to also see 120-170km/h, since these are (German) real-world speeds, and a bracket in which my automatic BM simply flies (once the engine is warm) without kickdown. These are *the* numbers to look at. I'll have to grab the mag at this point, hold on:
Ok, I have to hurry as Jarim is busy learning by heart the new issue (he's the subscriber, not me):
VW Polo 1.4 16V petrol Vs 1.4 TDi / 80-120 in seconds in 4th/5th gears: 11.9/18.0 (petrol); 9.2/12.7 (diesel)
BMW 525 petrol/diesel: 11.4/11.2; 7.0/9.5
Ford S-Max 2-liter petrol/diesel: 13.4/18.7; 7.6/10.6
They didn't test the elasticity of the Mercedes or Audi since both were automatics, but the running costs over 30k per year were EUR1710/EUR1465 for the Mercedes and EUR1329/1144 for the Q7.
Casting my mind back to 1990, and the excited call from a Citroen press officer - they'd nudged the magic mark of 10 percent of UK sales being diesels. Peugeot-Citroen was an early leader in new diesel technology although it seems that VW caught up in the mid-90s, then BMW and Mercedes overtook.
As I'm considering a new car, petrol models haven't really come into the equation. I just love the torque, and since the performance figures are about equal to the petrol models, plus the better economy, plus the in-gear acceleration, diesel is the early leader in the 21st century fuel stakes. Today, alternative fuel technologies are where diesel was in around 1985 - bought by the hardcore, pre-early adopter. Let's hope that by by 2025, hydrogen technologies are putting diesel performance figures to shame in standard production cars.
It just makes me wonder: with no environmental "issues" around hydrogen-powered cars, will speed limits for "environmental reasons" be sustainable any longer?
Apart from the Kia, the diesels easily come out on top for price/performance. For the BM, from 5000km per year, for the Audi and Benz, from 0km. For the Kia, from 30k per year - which sounds like torture in a Kia, period.
What's most fascinating for me (here's the old motoring journalist coming through) is the in-gear acceleration times. AM&S has quoted from 80km to 120km/h. I'd have liked to also see 120-170km/h, since these are (German) real-world speeds, and a bracket in which my automatic BM simply flies (once the engine is warm) without kickdown. These are *the* numbers to look at. I'll have to grab the mag at this point, hold on:
Ok, I have to hurry as Jarim is busy learning by heart the new issue (he's the subscriber, not me):
They didn't test the elasticity of the Mercedes or Audi since both were automatics, but the running costs over 30k per year were EUR1710/EUR1465 for the Mercedes and EUR1329/1144 for the Q7.
Casting my mind back to 1990, and the excited call from a Citroen press officer - they'd nudged the magic mark of 10 percent of UK sales being diesels. Peugeot-Citroen was an early leader in new diesel technology although it seems that VW caught up in the mid-90s, then BMW and Mercedes overtook.
As I'm considering a new car, petrol models haven't really come into the equation. I just love the torque, and since the performance figures are about equal to the petrol models, plus the better economy, plus the in-gear acceleration, diesel is the early leader in the 21st century fuel stakes. Today, alternative fuel technologies are where diesel was in around 1985 - bought by the hardcore, pre-early adopter. Let's hope that by by 2025, hydrogen technologies are putting diesel performance figures to shame in standard production cars.
It just makes me wonder: with no environmental "issues" around hydrogen-powered cars, will speed limits for "environmental reasons" be sustainable any longer?
Labels: dieselhead, petrolhead
# posted by Nesjo : 21:42
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]