Diesel Engines & the North American Way of Thinking

When North Americans think of diesel powered vehicles, the image of black smoke and pollution come to mind. Why people seem to think this is beyond me.

Granted, transport trucks don’t help with this image of disgust, nor do the country driven cowboys that decide disconnecting their catalytic converters somehow give them better fuel economy while kicking up black smoke. So, it’s no wonder that the general image that North American’s get when they think of diesels is one of Al Gore’s worst nightmares.

Does it really have to be like this though? Is there any hope for the image of diesels in a North American market? Well, for a good amount of years, and more recently, Volkswagen and Mercedes have tried to make things better, and they have. Somewhere down the line, the Germans thought that the diesel engine could become cleaner and better than the ones they already had. Considering Germany was the origin of the first diesel engine, making a new one wasn’t necessarily hard for them.

In the last decade, Volkswagen has prided itself on the diesel versions, of the Jetta, and Golf. Though engine sizes have changed over the years from 1.9 litres up to 2.0 litres, the fuel economy of both cars have stayed the same. If your not heavy on the peddle and don’t drive the cars like you’re in a movie scene being chased by thugs in a Range Rover, both cars will average 800 plus kilometers per tank. More importantly, Volkswagen has managed to make their diesel cars clean. It has come down to their newer cars having fewer emissions than their gas counterparts. Mercedes has done the same thing with their BluTec diesels. Essentially, the emissions from the engine go through the catalytic converter as well as a specially designed particle filter that reduces emissions even more.

The question is then; why are we still stuck in this image of filth? Why hasn’t the big three in Motor City thought about putting diesel engines in small cars? The truth is, they have. Over in Europe, most of the cars we have here have a diesel twin brother and sister over there. Take the Fiesta; small, sensible, and designed to look like a training shoe from Nike or Reebok. But, over here it only comes in a gas engine, and needless to say it isn’t the best one either. Even though it’s fitted with the CVT style transmission you find in a Nissan Versa, it’s almost like the Fiesta never knows what it wants to do. You put your foot down, it whines for a bit, then it stops jumping around, and finally levels out. Putting that aside, over in Europe, the Fiesta comes in diesel. So, if it has a diesel twin in Europe, why not in North America?

The issue is North Americans themselves. They been told there whole lives that diesels are filthy, dirty creatures that can be compared to waste lands like Stelco in Hamilton, Ontario. I find this to be just wrong. We have seen proof that diesel engines can run clean. And the big three don’t have an excuse when the diesel versions of their cars are puttering around in Europe. In conclusion, until the big three decide to step up and start putting diesels in small cars in North America, Volkswagen and Mercedes will remain untouched and the kings of fuel mileage.