Shunned, blacklisted, forgotten, times are tough for diesel. After being extolled by our politicians in the 1980s and developed accordingly by our industrialists, diesel is more than ever on borrowed time. These same decision-makers who today consider it too polluting and who are therefore in the process of crucifying it, with a Euro7 standard currently under discussion and which could even be fatal to it sooner than expected. However, we must still remember that this fuel deserves, in some cases, your full attention. Here are the answers to your questions.
1. Is diesel more polluting than gasoline?
No, diesel is not more polluting than gasoline. To debunk this received idea, it suffices to remember that all internal combustion engines go through the same certification cycles. Thus, when a Euro standard comes into force, all engines must comply with it. Last obligation in this area, Euro6.d.full, which all “fuel oil” have complied with since 2021, like gasoline. In reality, diesel “naturally” emits more particles than unleaded. To make them as “clean” as gasoline, it is therefore necessary to deploy even more complex and expensive pollution control systems. It is also for this economic reason that manufacturers are abandoning it as tolerances are reduced.. Ironically, “diesel” emits less CO2 than gasoline. This is also why they were, ten years ago, subsidized by the State…
2. Is diesel efficient?
Yes, modern diesels are efficient. In fact, their performance has never been better. Less “dowsized” than petrol engines, “fuel oil” retain more space thanks to often higher displacements but above all thanks to an ever greater torque than petrol engines. At Peugeot and Citroën, the 130 hp 1.5 BlueHDi develops around 300 Nm of torque compared to 230 Nm for the PureTech 130, these two maximum values being obtained at 1,750 rpm. In fact, as soon as the car is loaded or the terrain becomes more complicated, diesel often proves to be a better ally. By playing a bit of bad faith, it should be remembered that some diesels even offer sports performance, especially from German manufacturers. As proof, our recent measurements of the BMW M340d Touring and Audi S6, respectively 1,956 and 2,100 kg on our scale and which, chrono in hand, bring down the 0 to 100 km/h in 5.2 and 5.8 seconds…
Only downside to diesel, a noise to which we are less and less accustomed due to the gradual disappearance of these motors, it is true that they were originally louder.
3. Is diesel more economical than gasoline?
Diesels always consume less
This is a fact that remains indisputable: engines running on diesel are almost all more sober than those running on unleaded. We affirm it all the more easily that we still note it on the occasion of the approximately 300 cars which pass each year on our base of Montlhéry for our independent measurements. Admittedly, in town, hybrid petrol/electric engines are breaking records, but all routes combined, diesels remain better, whether in city cars like the Clio (5.1 l/100 km), compacts like the Audi A3 (5 l/100 km), small road cars like a Skoda Octavia (5 l/100 km) or heavy SUVs like a Peugeot 3008 (6.2 l/100 km).
Diesels are now also expensive to drive
Given the gradual realignment of the taxation of diesel on that of gasoline in order to no longer give any advantage to the first, there is no longer any advantage at the pump, it is even the opposite! But the price variations being quite frequent lately and the diesel being always more sober, the cost per 100 km remains most often favorable to them..
4. Is it complicated to drive with a diesel in France?
Even if the time is not for the use of this fuel, it remains quite easy to use it. It all depends on where you live and where you travel. Today, it is only around the famous ZFEs that “oil” can be a problem. But not systematically, because each agglomeration defines its own rules. The latest example to date is Paris, which has decided to postpone the ban on Crit’Air 3 from July 1, 2022 to January 1, 2023. Until a potential new postponement for political or social reasons. Exited from the ZFE, currently 12 in number in France (a dozen more are under consideration), there are no restrictions on diesel cars, so you have nothing to worry about.
5. Is it complicated to resell a diesel?
It is difficult to give a clear answer to this question and you still have to rely on your place of residence.. At the speed at which political decisions are sometimes taken, nothing says that diesel is not blacklisted faster than expected. To be as serene as possible, the purchase of a new diesel must above all be done through a long-term rental system, with or without a purchase option.. The idea being above all to keep a way out with a recovery provided by the manufacturer. This therefore makes a second-hand cash purchase more uncertain because you will then be responsible for reselling your car when the time comes without any guarantee of the price you will be able to receive. Even if financing also exists for used vehicles.
6. The cases where you should not hesitate
The case where you still have to buy a diesel without hesitation: if you cover a high mileage all year round.
Given extremely low fuel consumption on the expressways, in other words the most used by “big” riders, this is where fuel oil proves to be most relevant. Electric can also save you a lot of money, but the difficulty of recharging remains a reality.
The case where it is absolutely not necessary to buy a diesel: you live in the city center and drive almost only in the city center.
Because for pollution control systems to be effective, a diesel must be hot. If you only travel short distances, you don’t give it time to be efficient. In addition, diesel remains a little more expensive to purchase than gasoline and this additional cost can only be made profitable from a certain mileage.
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