Show of Hands

Heh, that's true if you have a French diesel.

The economics doesn't stack up the same. In many european countries diesel is much cheaper. In the UK it actually costs a fair bit more but we're talking fuel that costs twice as much as California, so the savings are magnified.

I think around 50% of cars sold in the UK are diesel, including almost all SUVs. BMW even stopped offering the petrol X1/3/5's completely, no one bought them. But as fuel is so cheap here it's harder to save enough to offset the extra purchase cost.

Agree with fredd on the economics. Also note maintenance is less often but can be higher on diesel cars. It's not just the fuel price.

Rebel there are some diesel cars. VW, BMW and Mercedes have some for sure. I think Chrysler may have too via Fiat or at least it's been discussed.

There's very little difference between diesel and gas cars nowadays, mostly thanks to California's incredibly strict regulations. And any new car today, regardless of which fuel it uses, will be significantly cleaner than one from ten years ago.

In general, yes, but I believe diesel still creates more smog, or when it's burned, it releases more harmful gas into the atmosphere.

I'm not sure that it does create more smog. I don't have my source, but from those I looked at a while a ago, it seems like diesel creates more smog per gallon, but really less smog per mile, which is what really matters.

Just don't mod it to make giant clouds of black smoke. I don't know why people do that!

Ugh, old diesels shouldn't be compared to new ones. Not many available here but there is a few.

Well they get lower emissions on most measures except for NOx, which is a big challenge for a diesel.

Link with press release:
www.autoblog.com/2013/06/30/new-us-survey-says-diesel-cost-of-ownership-lower-than-gas/

Consumer Reports on the same topic:
www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/01/hybrids-diesels-do-they-save-money/index.htm