Quote:
Originally Posted by Mark M
I guess we are all entitled to our own opinions....but to me, despite how complex the emissions system is on our cars, it is one of the things I love.
Most people hate diesels because of how dirty smokey and stinky they are especially the rednecks in their Fords or Dodge pickups with the ghey stacks that spew massive soot.
Personally, I love being able to boast to others that I get awesome mpg, ~300hp, and emissions cleaner than a gasser equivalent.
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I agree. When you look at well to wheel total emissions or even small particulates that are much more prone to getting into the lungs to cause diseases, our 335d does as well or better than an ULEV hybrid.
When compared to a full electric that still depends on coal fired power generation for part of their energy source, our beloved 335d also looks very good. No telling how much better those 60 mpg diesel VW Polo's would be if the US consumers and legislators allowed them!
But removing some of the problem-prone stuff shouldn't worry the environmentalists - pre DPF diesel small particulate emissions were still better than newer ULEV/LEV data in the few studies that were done. What was never done was to compare the cancer causing emissions of diesels to gasoline particulates in a real world scenario. Instead, gov't funding went to lab experiments that only looked at diesels and used the large particulates that normally don't reach the lungs but fall to the ground and are biodegraded in their data. There is some movement in the EPA to finally look at gasser small particulate emissions as most US cities are not getting better in respiratory illnesses, and much of the problem seems to be gasser emissions and non-automotive sources, not the usual suspects like "black smoke" diesels.