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

"Dale \"Friggin\" Carnegie" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>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...

Jeez, Mark!  Have you sat behind many petrol-engined cars of the same
age?  Probably not as most of them don't last that long, but those
that do have a horrible tendency to be an environmental disaster
looking for somewhere to happen too..   :)

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

Not here, they're not..

--
Jeff.         Ironbridge,  Shrops,  U.K.
[EMAIL PROTECTED]  (remove the x..x round u-net for return address)
and don't bother with pogo50, it's a spamtrap and I never go there.. :)

... "There are few hours in life more agreeable
      than the hour dedicated to the ceremony
      known as afternoon tea.."

         Henry James,  (1843 - 1916).