diesel dilemma I seem to have drawn too much flak for my comments against diesel engines. I am sorry if I have hurt the sentiments of diesel car owners but my comments are based on what I am told by several friends and mechs. I do not claim to be a techno wizard in things automotive but my opinions are based on part experience and part hearsay, however right or wrong. And yes, I have never owned a diesel car and I have been severely advised against it by 7 out of ten people including some diesel car owners themselves. May be all you diesel lovers are right but here is what I observed in countless drives in friends’ diesel cars.
The clutch is invariably hard in almost all diesel cars. Noise and vibration is another factor which tires you after a while on a long drive. And yes I have seen some Accent CRDi which shed much of their punch after 60,000 to 70,000 kms on the odo. Fuel pump is an issue too. Then there is the problem of black smoke. One day we couldn’t overtake a diesel Innova in our Baleno because it was belching thick black smoke. The smoke was so thick we couldn’t see the road ahead. It was like those Bond movie smoke screens to shake the pursuer off one’s tail. The minute Innova dropped a gear and stepped on throttle, it would belch smoke. This isn’t an isolated incident. I saw this in many diesels, CRD or non-CRD, and they generally emit smoke around 100-120 kph speed. Also tyre and suspension life is shorter in diesel cars. I am sure this cannot be disputed.
Regarding timing belt snap ups, some times it can snap just before due mileage of replacement. This mechanic swears that if timing belt snaps in a diesel car then it results in engine rebuild and the cost involved is astronomical. He scared me to the point of deciding against buying a diesel car that I had been contemplating for some time now. If all you diesel lovers are right then I was brainwashed by this guy.
One diesel lover commented that countless battered Sumos/ qualises/indicas are proof that diesels are superiors. I am sorry but I do not buy this theory. They may be falling apart and still running but we do not know how many countless trips they have made to the garage and how much money they have spent on these cars. We see many battered Premier Padminis, too, from 50s and 60s. That doesn’t mean Padmini is a superior car.
Yes, diesels have their advantages. Apart from the economy ( until something goes wrong, that is ), the biggest advantage is drivability in the city and up to 120 kph. Diesels generally have all the torque piled near idling rpm so they just take off from idling, leaving petrols way behind. Some diesels have their peak torque so near idling speed that you can ignore first gear altogether and drive straight away in second gear. Petrols on the other hand have peak torque near redline so at idling very little torque is available and hence one has to be careful while releasing clutch. Any quick release and the engine stalls. While in diesel you can lift your foot straight off the clutch and the car would pull without stalling. But on the highway, things change. Diesels generally run out of breath and beyond 120 kph the tacho needle shoots up but the speedo does not catch up. On the other hand since petrols have their peak torque near redline, the speedo overtakes tacho beyond 3000-4000 rpm and speed just keeps coming and there seems no stopping. So top end is far better in petrol cars while acceleration up to 100 kph is better in diesels.
]Which is better? I don’t know. Every thing has pros and cons. It’s what you want primarily that swings your vote in favour of one or the other. As for me, I may switch to diesel if things improve a little more and if manufacturers stop treating diesel car buyers like suckers--- I mean not providing ABS, airbags and alloys in diesels if they have a petrol version. And yes, if somebody successfully convinces me that if a timing belt snaps in a diesel car, nothing happens and the only thing to be replaced is a timing belt. And yes, if somebody also convinces me that the hard clutch that I feel in a diesel car is not a hard clutch but just a figment of my imagination. Until then, I’ll stick to petrol, thank you. BTW where are all the petrol heads? I have seen none come to my rescue, LOL. Are they also convinced that I’m wrong? Note from mod: Do not use FONT and SIZE tags
Last edited by tsk1979 : 12th November 2007 at 23:32.
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