Interesting comments in Honest John's column today in the Telegraph. He was asked how a diesel engine would be affected by irregular use i.e. left idle for several weeks with lots of short runs.

He answered "Diesel fuel has some lubricity, so cold starts are less damaging. That said, diesels take twice as long to reach operating temperature and so need to be run at least five to six miles from a cold start. As well as that, new emissions equipment, such as self-cleaning particulate filters, require vehicles to be run regularly at reasonable engine speeds to achieve the necessary temperatures. The more technology diesels receive, the more troublesome they are proving to be. Diesels tend to cost a lot more to repairs than their petrol counterparts, which negates any fuel economy benefit."

I thought the comment about more trouble with more technology particularly interesting. His comments were not limited to specific marques.

IMO he is absolutely right.
I think there is no future in diesel engines. The future is in small capacity turbo/super charged petrol engines with hybrid technology.

Couldn't agree more...not sure I'd ever have a diesel again

well I´m not sure about that. SAAB has managed to change/convert a dieselengine so it can run on E95.
The link is in swedish but still SAAB from diesel to E95

Want to think again Jamboo?

Ultimate Audi Diesel

Sorry Duplicated reply

don't get him going ,he's probably chilling with a glass of wine etc,etc,etc.

my $0,02

author mentioned that on half of the possible boost had the engine already lag. I am sure with full boost this lag will at least double....and the 4500rpm redline...
This is what I was talking about in the topic (535d vs 540i) - diesel will be always diesel, they can do whatever...they can minimize the negatives, but they will be still there.

Mind you, Audi have been winning Le Mans 24hours with diesels....so why is it a surprise???

I'm not sure my dicky ticker could take all that torque.