Diesels In England: Why ?

In Europe, fuel cost per kilometer is more important than it is in the states. The Europeans have are more open to small displacement lower horsepower engines. Diesel engines are also more durable and easier to maintain than gas engines but what it comes down to is that Americans don't care for diesel engine cars, Europeans have learned to live with them.

The reality is that you don't need all this complex hybrid technology to get great fuel mileage, a small diesel engined car can do as well without the complexity.

Have you priced gasoline and diesel fuel in England lately? It is High, compared to in America. I went to a Lowe's store today, on my way to the store I stopped at a Shell gas station.I bought gasoline for my van for $2.49.9 per gallon. Try that in England. cuhulin

Bob wrote in news:htukpg$rr1$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal- september.org:

Britain taxes cars based on their CO2 emissions, and diesel engines produce less CO2 per cc of volume than gasoline engines.

I'd also guess that they're piggybacking on what rolling-stock is commonly available on the Continent, where diesel often receives favorable tax treatment.

It was my understanding that propane (LPG) was popular in Britain because it was half the price of gasoline or diesel.

Diesel engines and low horsepower/low performance is a thing of the past.

European diesels are often more powerful than their gas counterparts.

Just look at audi whipping everyones ass in the Le Mans series with their diesels.

I had a 2001 180 bhp audi a6 2.5 tdi quattro which was a damn nice car. It was heavy, but very quick, despite being an automatic. Much quicker than the lighter 193 bhp 1996 a6 2.8E 30V (gas) I have now.

Road tax is 3x for diesels in sweden compared to gas cars, so I decided to get a gas powered car for the little driving I do now.

VW presented a Diesel hybrid Golf a while back, and that would be very interesting. If they decide to make it a plugin hybrid, it would probably be able to run mostly on the batteries for the little daily driving we do.

It's possible to make a fairly sophisticated, powerful diesel engine but my guess is that that most folks driving diesels will have a normally aspirated, 2 valve engine with pretty good torque ratings.

I don't know what most people are driving in Europe. I'm just guessing that it's not really fast diesels. This is not a big deal - most people in the US aren't driving DHOC, turbo, 4-valve engines either.

It isnt just England. Diesels are popular in Europe because of great economy, in places where diesel and gasoline may cost in the neighborhood of $8.00 per US gallon.

They are powerful enough for dependable highway transportation, but wont win many roadraces in their normal trim.

The somewhat simplified electrical system can be an advantage too.

There are not many diesel automobiles available to us here in America. If there were, more people might choose them. They are not prohibitively expensive in Europe, so the old argument that it takes a lot more money to build a diesel engine just isnt true in these cases.

A big part of the "why" is that historically there have been major differences in the pollution control laws. Not sure how it stands now but for a while you could sell diesels as well as gas engine vehicles in Europe that you would not get past the emissions regulations here. When I was in Europe many years ago, most of the large cities were choking on diesel fumes, not just smog.

European diesels are a lot cleaner now. They have made a lot of progress, while we diddle with huge V8s and SUVs/Pickup Trux.

In America, big engines with a lot of cubic inches is what counts, for some people anyway.Big engines are only loafing along at Interstate speeds. cuhulin

Loafing along at 12 miles per gallon, Cuhu? When fuel gets up to $8-10 per gallon, "loafing along" might be viewed in a different light.

Gasoline is that expensive in Europe due to the confiscatory tax policies of those governments. If politicians try to bring about the same policies here, and clearly the current regime would like to, they will be in for a rude awakening come election time. (Despite the best efforts of the government schools and mass media, Americans have not yet been completely reduced to a state of complacent servitude.)

When you hear someone say "confiscatory tax policies" you know you are listening to a brainwashed fool. How is a one tax any more or less confiscatory than any other tax? the nation has a choice what to tax to raise the money it needs and it is pretty obvious this country is making some screwy choices. The Europeans have a better tax policy than the US. In the US the taxes are placed mostly on labor and then when jobs go overseas because of the cheaper labor costs you wonder what the hell happened. But hey whatever you do don't tax oil!!! If you tax oil people might use less oil and then how are those poor Saudis going to make a living?

Don't tax oil just keep borrowing from the Chinese and the Saudis. Then we won't be slaves, but our children will be slaves. HA hA HA won't that be funny when the country goes bankrupt in 2030.

-jim

We have been fortunate that the price of combustible hydrocarbons has not increased as it has in Europe.

It WILL increase in the future. Bank on it. There is no way out. Oil company pricing, taxing, and fuel shortages will eventually push the prices up.

Now, when that happens, if you want to drive a Bushhog V8, with

If you are like the rest of us, and if this happens, you will look for refuge in different quarters.

I dont really give a shit if you have to pay $10 per gallon to drive your Bushhog. That is one of your constitutional freedoms.

When you hear someone stooping to ad hominem attacks right out of the starting gate you know you are dealing with someone who has no point to make.

Taxing would be the major component there, particularly with current set of thieving politicians in power. However, that can be addressed at the ballet box and probably will be since many people have woken up to the true nature of our recently elected "leaders."

The key to more stable oil pricing is to develop our own resources rather than dealing with unstable and potentially hostile foreign nations. Since so much is locked up in nontraditional sources (shale, etc.) the price would undoubtedly need to be higher than it is now, but once that domestic supply chain was established it would not be subject to the whims of foreign dicatators.

BDS noted. I will continue driving my vehicle of choice which gets about 14mpg on a good day. I really don't give a damn what anyone thinks or wants in that regard. (Want to drive some dumbass Prius or other pregnant roller skate? Fine by me, just don't try to force me into it.)

I can assure you that I will not. The price of gas going up to European levels would be an annoyance, of course, but not enough of one to get me to get into some little tin can toy car.

Some American vehicles, pickup trucks and larger heavy hauling vehicles, have to have big engines to get the job done.And pleasure vehicles such as motorhomes too. cuhulin

Roger Blake wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

That's utter nonsence. You erupted into a spitting orgy of anti-tax rant without anything to provoke it.

In attition you are clearly someone who doesn't understand why the Republicans lost so badly and why Scrub was and is such an utter failure. Two things: 1. Sitting stunned in a classroom while the family of the person responsible for September 11th skipped the country in the *only* flight out of the US that day. 2. Hurricane Katrina. And those are just the worst of his messups not including Iraq.

Sorry for your reading comprehension problem. My statement was an observation about why fuel is so expensive in Europe. Do you deny that it is due to taxation?

I really have to laugh. A year and a half into the 0bama administration and you're still carping about Bush. I can assure you that the current regime was elected not due to any love of the radical left-wing agenda, but because people were so pissed off (for good reason) at Bush that the Dims could have fielded Mickey Mouse and Goofey as their team and gotten them elected. (Some might argue that is exactly what they did.)

Now people see the Dims not only furthering Bush's worst policies but putting the country so far down the rathole of spiralling out-of-control debt, with the promise of matching out-of-control taxes, that we may never recover. There will very likely be a reckoning come November.

Of course real positive change will need to wait for the emergence of a viable alternative to the major parties, both of which stink to high heaven. In the meantime maintaining a balance between them is the only way to keep their respective crazies at bay.

Sure, Bush was lousy in a lot of ways, but if you think that the current resident of the White House is any better you are either a partisan hack or just fooling yourself.

Absolutely. But you have to remember that there are political forces at work that want Americans to lead much smaller, more restricted and regulated lives, without the access to large trucks and pleasure vehicles that they currently enjoy. Get your family out of that Suburban and into that Fiat 600!