1. Diesels cars are sluggish
No one can be right all the time – not even the inventor of the diesel engine.
This is one of the most common preconceptions and I must admit, I had the same thoughts myself not too long ago. You see, all the vehicles you associate with diesel – commercial trucks, lorries and such typically comes with an image of a loud automobile spewing lots of smoke and getting in your way.
I was enlightened when I saw diesel cars in Australia, Singapore and Europe performing much better than their gasoline counterparts. In fact, during my trip to Germany, I realized that a lot of people actually preferred diesel cars!
The torque generated from a modern diesel engine is quite impressive, due to the intrinsic nature of diesel. It accelerates faster than petrol cars – you can feel this when you start from a red light or step on the accelerator to overtake. The power is greater than normal petrol (gasoline) cars, as I found to my delight during a BMW diesel car drive. A diesel engine generates about 50% more torque than a comparable gasoline engine
2. Diesels vehicles are expensive to run
This is not really true, especially when you take in all the factors. It’s especially not true in Malaysia! 🙂
Diesel: RM 1.80 / liter
RON 95 gasoline: RM 1.90 / liter
The government subsidizes diesel here so it actually costs lower when you compare it to RON 95 gasoline. That’s even truer when you acknowledge the fact that diesel engines are much more efficient than gasoline engines.
A diesel engine requires 30% less fuel than a comparable gasoline engine!
Combined with the savings per litre, this will translate to *truly amazing mileage* when you drive a diesel car – just ask anyone driving one! You’ll get better fuel economy by a more efficient engine.
3. Diesel cars are slow
The winners of the oldest and most well known sports car endurance racing event will beg to differ. Clean Diesel cars (equipped with Bosch diesel injection technology) have been the winners of 24 Hours of Le Mans for several consecutive years. Another diesel car won the 2008 Dakar Rally for the first time. Clean Diesel excels under the high demands of motor sports.
Most German manufacturers have to voluntarily limit vehicles to 250 km/h though, which makes a lot of sense. You don’t want anyone to get carried away and drive in speeds in excess of that while feeling the powerful torque of a diesel engine.
4. Diesel cars are loud and smelly
This used to be true in old lorries and tug boats, which are a familiar scene in Malaysia. However, that has not been true for a long time. A modern diesel engines actually emit very little smoke. I was surprised to see how little when I drove a diesel BMW 3 series a couple of years ago.
It produces less smoke than a regular gasoline car!
In fact, the wind noise of the Audi R15 TDI is often louder than the diesel engine so it’s almost impossible to hear the change of gear by ear, like they used to.
The new environmental standards of Euro 4 and higher diesel has some surprising figures – a two-liter diesel engine would have to idle for 100 minutes before it generates as much fine particulates as one cigarette!
5. Diesel damages the environment
The new Euro 4 and even higher rated Euro 5 standards in diesel make this statement totally untrue. Of course, combustion engines of both the gasoline and diesel variety isn’t exactly compatible with the environment.
Bosch Clean Diesels emit about 25% less carbon dioxide (CO2) than a comparable gasoline engine.
Compared with a typical diesel engine from the 1990’s – Clean Diesel’s emissions are more than 96% lower! It can meet the most stringent emission legislation worldwide, including in European countries like Germany!
Bosch Clean Diesel has a really good chart that shows the total carbon footprint for a diesel car is actually on the same carbon footprint level as an electric vehicle. This is coz there’s a lot of factors to consider when calculating carbon footprint e.g. the production of electricity.
A lot of people have understandable misconceptions about the diesel engine due to the lorries and trucks still operating from 20 years ago. However, a lot has changed since then. Malaysia is planning to switch to Euro 4 diesel (it is currently Euro 2) and with the free trade agreement kicking into place in 2015, it would be to Malaysia’s best interest to do it before then.
Singapore will have Euro 5 by then and Thailand will have already adopted Euro 4 and with Malaysia sandwiched in the middle, changing to the more environmentally friendly Euro 4 for compliance by then would seem very likely.
Interesting fact: More than 50% of new cars sold in Europe are diesel cars!
For the end consumer, like you and me, getting a diesel vehicle is actually a pretty good choice due to the advantages it has over the gasoline engine. With electric vehicles realistically several decades away for all the infrastructure to make it possible to operate, the diesel engine is a pretty good bet. Find out more and get fun & interesting facts about Clean Diesel at the Bosch Malaysia Facebook page!
Didn’t know about all these! My dad actually thought of changing a diesal car! Thanks for all your information, especially comparing the prices of petrol and the draw back of them
Yeah, I didn’t know until relatively recently too! 🙂
It’s interesting, coz we all grew up thinking diesel is dirty and underpowered due to the trucks along the highways but that’s not the case with the modern diesel engine.
I would change to a diesel car if Malaysia goes to Euro 4.
No, but the road tax is EXPENSIVE!
Yup, you have a point there! 🙂
It’s more expensive than gasoline engines but you’ll make up for it in fuel savings from the greater efficiency.
Diesel is cheaper in our country anyway.
yup, i saw those Mercedes car in Uk is use diesel de~
Yup, actually a lot of cars in Europe uses diesel! 🙂
It’s very popular, over half of all cars sold there are diesel cars!
Oh didn’t know about this! Thought diesel is bad! Thanks for sharing! : )
Yup, I didn’t know all the facts until recently too! 🙂
It’s quite interesting eh?
many people already starting to realise that diesel is indeed a good choice but the diesel in malaysia is not up to the standards compared to europe.
Yup, diesel is the way forward! 🙂
Yeah, unfortunately Malaysia is still at Euro 2 which causes a lot of problems with modern diesel cars so we don’t get a lot of choices over here.
If the government moves to Euro 4, then it’ll be all good!
I think that’ll happen in 2015 with the trade agreement since Singapore and Thailand will be Euro 5 and Euro 4 by then and vehicles travelling through them will need to refuel so perhaps after all the delays, we’ll finally get Euro 4!
And it’s a fact that they always run out here – just last week, in Sabah…and the oil town of Miri and the gas town of Bintulu. How ironic!
Yeah, unfortunately that’s due to organized crime. 😡
You know how criminal groups control diesel in Sibu by forcing gas stations to sell to them at the subsidized price and reselling it again to industrial users.
It is ironic, those are the places where organized crime has a good foothold.
Oh well, it’s up for government enforcement to settle that. 🙂
This is really an interesting eye opener about diesel cars!
Yup, I didn’t know a lot until I went on a BMW diesel drive too! 🙂
It’s quite interesting how Europeans prefer diesel cars to gasoline ones.
Interesting! yes we do have a few diesel vehicles and man..they are not slow.
The only gripe (these few days) is that we can’t seem to find diesel for our vehicles!
Yeah, but unfortunately they have trouble coping with Euro 2. 😡
Especially the higher end vehicles, I read owners complaining about the state of diesel in Malaysia. Those cars are meant for Euro 4 standards and brought in but the government doesn’t seem to have a firm date on when that will be introduced.
I’m optimistic about 2015 though. 🙂
I drive diesel car.. haha~ But didn’t know so much until I read your post.. Interesting~
I just got my diesel car – BMW 320D M Sport. It is a fantastic driving experience. The pick up is superb. The noise from the tyre / road is loader than the sound of engine. Driving one now, my perception of diesel engine is totally different now as I used to perceive diesel car to noisy ones. Great choice.