Diesel cars are very popular these days, ok so maybe you don’t see many new diesels where you drive but that’s because reading this you probably live in the United States. Diesel cars outsell gasoline powered cars in most other places in the world except in the US market. Diesel sales in the US are increasing; most analysts expect continued growth in the diesel market. Researchers at J.D. Power and Associates predict that diesel sales will approximately triple in the next 10 years, accounting for more than 10 percent of U.S. vehicle sales by 2015 – up from 3.6 percent in 2005.

Diesel Cars in The US Have a Gotten a Bad Rap.
In the early 1980’s General Motors came out with a new line of diesel powered cars. These cars were a disaster mostly because GM did a terrible job of designing the cars, to save money they were basically gasoline powered cars modified and converted to run on diesel fuel. Diesel engines and transmissions have significantly different requirements than gasoline engines and need to be designed from the ground up, ever since that time and failure the American public developed a mindset that diesel cars are noisy, dirty and unreliable. In fact Diesel cars are more economical, reliable, efficient, flexible and new technology diesel engines coupled with the low sulfur diesel fuels mandated by the US EPA since 2006, run cleaner than comparable gasoline cars.

Diesel Fuel is More Expensive Than Gasoline How Can They Be More Economical.
Diesel fuel currently costs over $4 a gallon, up 1.50 a gallon in just one year but don’t let the price confuse you. Diesel fuel costs 15% more than gasoline but diesel cars are 20-40% more efficient than gasoline cars. The diesel Volkswagen Polo gets 73 mpg and runs cleaner than a Toyota Prius and the VW is not even a hybrid. The only problem is that the Polo is not available in the US but that may change soon. As a perfect example; take for instance the Audi A8 4.2 liter TDI diesel engine car versus the Audi A8 4.2 liter gasoline engine car. The diesel makes 479 ft lbs of torque and the gasoline engine version makes 371 ft lbs of torque. The diesel version gets 30 mpg and the gasoline version gets 23 mpg. The diesel version goes from 0-100 in 5.9 seconds and the gas version covers the same distance in 6.2 seconds. The diesel version has a range of 594 miles and the gas version goes 469 on a full tank. The diesel version of the Audi also puts less emissions out of the tailpipe than the gas version. If that’s not enough to get you to go diesel also consider that diesels can run on biodiesel which can be made at home, alternatively you can also run it on pure vegetable oil used or new.

If Diesels Are So Much Better, Why Aren’t More Diesels Cars Available?
Car manufacturers tend to sell what they think buyers want to buy. US buyers have a traditional mindset against diesels but that is bound to change as the past is forgotten. Who even remembers the old 1980 V-8 diesel disaster? Imagine what might be possible with a diesel hybrid? Rumors are a car that can get over 100mpg plus you can run it on biodiesel that you can actually make in your home from used vegetable oil that is actually a waste product anyway. How about spending your Saturday afternoon turning old used vegetable oil into enough fuel to drive to work for an entire week for FREE...!