Clean, fast and 1000 miles to a tank – so why is diesel a dirty word?

30 years ago, diesel cars were a bit rubbish. They were loud, clattery, vibrating, smelly and usually appallingly slow. But politicians thought they were the bee's knees, because they were marginally lower emitters of greenhouse gases than petrols. They were generating some genuine interest from the public too, because they had higher torque at lower revs, which made driving easier, and they could go much farther on a fill-up than was customary. So, somewhat against the odds (and with some short-lived governmental backing), oil-burners took off in popularity, and the technology was nurtured and improved over generations to the extent that some of the best-rounded cars in recent memory supped from the black pump. Nowadays diesels are fabulous things. Using fewer resources and carrying less weight, they can outperform the efficiency of the plug-in hybrids to which the taxman has switched his allegiance while bringing little in the way of compromise to refinement or performance all while costing less outright. Some of them even sound pretty good. For many drivers who cover long distances regularly, a diesel simply can't be beat. Yet the Dieselgate scandal turned buyers and governments against them, causing sales to slump. They're now an endangered species and that won't change, due to low-emissions zones, unfavourable taxes and higher fuel prices. That's despite modern diesels complying with the exact same emissions standards as petrols and hybrids. In fact, a few years ago, German motoring body ADAC found that a Mercedes-Benz C220d emitted no NOx whatsoever in real-world use, unlike any of the petrol cars it tested. Nonetheless, the tide is well beyond turning in the UK, where diesels now hold less than 5% of the new car market and few manufacturers even bother offering them any more and in my view, that's a great shame. Diesel just makes so much sense. On a recent 500-mile journey from Kent up to Glasgow, via an overnight stop in Market Harborough and a scenic detour over the Derbyshire Dales, my 2007 Alpina D3 cracked a whopping 55mpg without even really trying. Then we managed the way back down in just six hours, stopping for no more than a five-minute break halfway for us, not the car, which never needed a top-up. And that's nothing: last year, Skoda drove a Superb 2.0 TDI an astounding 1759 miles without stopping, achieving an average of 108.2mpg at an average speed of 50mph. Could any other energy source get you from Poland to Paris and back on just £92? It's clear to me that diesel should still have a place in modern motoring: despite its Dieselgate-damaged reputation, it is still a clean power source for a certain type of motorist who travels long distances regularly. But while the demand continues to be there (in its last year on sale, a quarter of 3 Series buyers still opted for a 'd'), the world has changed and there won't be another generation of oil-burners. All the more reason to pick up an old diesel from the classifieds and give it one last blast to the moon and back. There's a 2003 Peugeot 406 HDi with plenty of life left in it that I can't stop looking at. Get there before I do

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Clean, fast and 1000 miles to a tank – so why is diesel a dirty word?

By turning our backs on the black pump, we've abandoned one the most sensible solutions for the modern motorist

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Clean, fast and 1000 miles to a tank – so why is diesel a dirty word?

By turning our backs on the black pump, we've abandoned one the most sensible solutions for the modern motorist

More from Autocar

Top 10s

Latest car reviews

Top manufacturers

Quick search

We recommend

Legal bits

About Autocar