Re: OT:Hey Europeans - which diesel car in Europe gets the best fuel mileage?

On Wed, 03 Dec 2003 10:30:42 -0600, "Frank...." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Dale "Friggin" Carnegie wrote:
>> On Fri, 28 Nov 2003 14:14:06 -0600, "Frank...." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>Spongecake Brainpan wrote:
>>>> On Mon, 24 Nov 2003 13:02:29 -0800, "Logan Spitznauer"
>>>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>>>>>The one piggy backing on a flat bed lorry.
>>>> 
>>>> Just what is it that's behind this particularly European perversion of
>>>> fitting filthy choking stuttering diesel motors to otherwise decent
>>>> automobiles?  ...And, while were at it; the singularly English
>>>> fetishism of "replica kit cars"?
>>>
>>>Don't know about the emissions but the diesel VW camper I drove to Le Mans
>>>was indistingushable from a gasoline engine, except at idle. Then it had
>>>the sound but never the smoke. Not once did I see any smoke and the smell
>>>was rarely evident, even when I ran it for a half hour or so to charge the
>>>battery.
>> 
>> I got stuck, and I mean stuck; behind a diesel Golf this morning...
>> 
>> Spewing soot like a 19th century locomotive, it turned the freshly
>> fallen snow on the hood of my car sooty-London-black in the 30sec it
>> took to get around it...  And diesel is more expensive than
>> high-octane in these parts.
>> 
>> ...What a bloody farce.
>
>I assume it was a new one we're talking about as the there is no question 
>that the older ones were awful to be behind.
>
>Admittedly I haven't paid much attention to them, but the fact that I 
>haven't _had_ to pay any attention to them tells me that they've come a 
>long way. I will be looking for them now though....You have piqued my 
>curiosity.

To be truthful; it was almost as old as I am...

But it doesn't seem to matter; Mercedes, Volvo or VW:  The diesel
versions are all obvious, notorious and, to a driving enthusiast,
dreadful.