Why go Diesel…
One of the main advantages of diesel was one of its huge drawbacks back in the day. The sound and cleanliness of diesel engines have been something that have made many people flock to gasoline engines. Thanks to modern technology, diesel engines of now use ultra-low sulphur which allow them to run much quieter than their predecessors and do not spew soot and black smoke whenever you rev the engine.
An obvious factor known long ago is the fact that diesel running engines can produce a far greater torque when compared to gasoline run engines and hence is the reason it’s used by trucks and other heavy vehicles.
Diesel cars also tend to hold their prices better than their gasoline counterparts. One of the main reasons behind this is that diesel engines are more efficient than gasoline engines, which is a great plus point with the current gas prices. Diesel fuel is known to be about 25-30% more richer in energy than gasoline. In other words you could cover more road running on diesel than gasoline.
The words of Alec Gutierrez, a senior market analyst at KBB, have never been truer, which is, “Demand is outpacing supply.”
Unlike in some cases where the EPA overestimated the efficiency of some hybrid engines, the estimates for some diesel engines were quite the opposite. According to the estimates, they were undervalued and in some cases by up to 10mpg. There has been many cases of overstating efficiencies for other engines in the past.
I'd like finish the article with one more tidbit, in the form of a question.
What do all the winners (from 2006-14) of the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race have in common?
The answer is, all of them won it riding a diesel vehicle.