[euromodder]

I live in Belgium, and this is diesel-territory with the majority of new cars being diesels.


The MPG numbers of the current crop of efficient diesels may seem wildly attractive, there are also serious downsides.

One is cost - both purchase and maintenance.

Another is complexity, and it's directly related to cost.
These are no longer DIY engines once you get beyond swapping fluids and filters.
We're up to the point that the dealers themselves can't fix the issues with the cars' emission treatments systems anymore.

Next up, the emissions themselves.
NOx is a serious issue.
So far, diesels still score far worse on NOx than petrol engines.
Soot particles, the next serious issue.
We got diesel particulate filters (DPF) to cure that, right ?
Wrong.
Current research points out that the current soot filters are actually making things worse.
While you won't see any black smoke out the tailpipe, and the problem seems to have gone, it has actually become worse as the regeneration process doesn't obliterate the soot-particles stuck in the DPF. It makes them smaller, invisible to the human eye, and also invisible to the testing equipment used for the tests.
Using more sensitive equipment shows the problem isn't gone, only reduced in particulate size.
These small particles go even deeper into everyone's lungs .


Diesel, I'm afraid, is not the magical solution.