Editorial : November 24, 2008

I honestly think the Turbodiesel is the way of the future.

Countries with astronomic gas prices have been using them for years…why has it taken so long to catch on in the United States? The UK has diesel powered EVERYTHING and 40% of new cars sold are Diesel Powered. Sure, we have them in our Turbodiesel Powerstroke/Cummins powered trucks, but what about the economical reasoning behind it? There’s a common misconception about black smoke being emitted from Diesel powered vehicles. Most people seem to think that because there is black smoke, it is “dirty”. In fact, diesel burns MUCH cleaner than gasoline.

Let’s use the BMW 123d for our example. A Turbodiesel sportscar you say? Blasphemy! I think not. Here’s some numbers to boggle your mind for a moment. How about 201 horsepower and 295ft/lbs of torque. A top speed of 148mph? Perhaps a 0-60mph time of 7 seconds dead. Sure, they may not be blockbuster statistics, but how about this one: 54.3 Miles Per Gallon. While the BMW is one of many examples, I know that the US will see a surge of Turbodiesel powered vehicles in the future.

The Diesel Powered Audi R10 TDI racecar won LeMans in 2006 and surely that must be saying something. A race of that caliber has always been dominated by Gasoline powered vehicles. I don’t think the problem here is performance. Sure, you’ll miss a little bit, and perhaps wringing out a Turbodiesel to a 5k RPM redline isn’t quite the same as the 9k wail of an RX7, but you have to see what you’re gaining. Honestly, I could give up a little bit of performance for a ridiculous MPG number. Gas isn’t cheap, nor is it going to last forever.