Diesel

Mention the word “diesel” and most of us instinctively reach for the recirculation control on our air conditioning. There's probably not a driver on the road who hasn't been stuck behind a battered Volkswagen Rabbit or antique Mercedes slowly chugging up a hill, its tailpipe emitting the sort of smokescreen that would make James Bond turn green with envy (or perhaps just green with nausea).

Diesels used to be smelly, smoky, clattery, and disinclined to start in cold weather. Most of them were also incredibly slow; not so much “accelerating” as “accumulating speed” (in the same way a coffee table accumulates dust).

However, diesel technology has progressed by leaps and bounds since those tortoise-like Rabbits first crawled onto the roads, and now the only way you can tell if you're following a modern diesel-powered car is by looking for the tell-tale traces of smugness in its driver. They're quiet, durable, very fuel-efficient, and surprisingly powerful, as best evidenced by the diesel-powered Audi R10 racecar's win at the prestigious Le Mans 24 hour race in June of last year.

Diesel fuel is more energy-dense than gasoline, and vehicles designed to run on it produce less carbon dioxide and hydrocarbon emissions than an equivalently-sized conventional gasoline-powered car. Add this efficiency to the fact that torquey turbo-diesel engines have the low- and mid-range punch of a much larger-displacement gasoline engine and you've got a seemingly winning combination.

Yet while diesel sales have rocketed in popularity overseas, here in North America they still command a relatively small share of the market. Recent figures suggest that diesel now powers the majority of vehicles in Europe, but only a little over one percent of passenger cars being sold in North America run on the smelly stuff.

There's also not a great deal of choice either: the only two manufacturers producing diesel vehicles for the North American Market (aside from heavy-duty trucks) are still Volkswagen and Mercedes. Where's the diesel version of the Honda Accord, the oil-burning Ford Explorer, that stump-pulling Toyota Corolla? Why is the diesel revolution taking as long to get started as one of those pioneering 'Benzes in a cold snap?

First, despite modern cleaner burning engines, diesel-powered vehicles still produce much more smog-creating particulate matter (soot) and nitrous oxides (NOx) than cars running on gasoline. While their greenhouse gas emissions are greatly reduced, it can be argued that they create essentially the same amount of pollution, just in different forms.

Second, diesels are more expensive to manufacture, and their heavy-duty construction results in a considerable amount of added weight, along with that desirable dependability. For all the performance benefits of the extra torque they produce, diesel engines produce a nose-heavy feel to a light car, and can cost a considerable premium over an equivalent gasoline model.

Last, and most importantly, diesel is only now overcoming the age-old stigma of the sluggish, smokescreen-producing Volkswagen.

Still, the revolution may be taking its time getting the glow-plugs warmed up, but once it's firing on all cylinders, there'll be no stopping it.

Matching North American fuel qualities to European ones has eliminated one of diesel's greatest stumbling blocks. The large-scale establishment of cleaner forms of fuel with ultra-low sulphur content (ULSD) combined with the introduction of new exhaust-scrubbing technologies has allowed for greatly reduced emissions. Additionally, modified diesel engines can be made to run on biodiesel, for those who don't mind smelling like McDonald's and developing a permanent greasy sheen from collecting waste vegetable oil.

With increasing gas prices and increasing environmental consciousness, the greater cost of diesel engines will also begin to be less of a stumbling block. It may even be that government will provide tax breaks on efficient diesels, as they do in European markets, in a similar fashion to the savings offered on Hybrid vehicles currently.

The Honda Accord diesel is coming. The incredibly powerful BMW 5-series diesel is coming. The Jeep Grand Cherokee diesel is already changing consumer's perceived desires for gasoline V8-powered SUVs.

In the next few years, expect to see the durable workhorse diesels outstripping their technocrat Hybrid-drivetrain cousins in the alternative fuel race, perhaps to the point that there'll be a diesel commuter in every driveway.

I'll take an Audi R10, please.