Dunno what guy above is on about with Europeans hating diesels. We have significantly more of them on the road than the Americans who still insist on putting gasoline engines in all their pickups which are near universally diesels over here. It's virtually the other way around with euro absolutely loving diesel and Americans despising them.
Heh, I know, right? Here in the US, there was a period a few years ago when gas was over $4 per US gallon (for comparison, 10 years ago it was under $1) and actually surpassed diesel prices, and a lot of people thought that diesels, especially Volkswagen's, would surge in popularity due to the price difference and incredible economy they get (over 60 mpg iirc). For whatever reason, they didn't, and gas is now consistently $0.50 less than diesel. Incidentally, we seem to have similar prejudices against viable electric cars. I would expect a company like Tesla to go through the roof, as with their Model S they offer better economy than a Prius, zero ecological footprint (for those who care about that), and performance on par with many modern supercars, for a decent price, similar to many other luxury sports sedans at $70,000. Yet Lexus, BMW, Mercedes Benz, and the like still have a death grip on that market.
Electric cars have a significant ecological impact from battery production. In a hybrid it can actually make them more harmful than a conventional car when combined with co2 while on the road. Its partly why I support the hydrogen fuel cell as an alternative. Once zero co2 hydrogen production is solved you basically have a quicker refuelable electric car with lesser ecological impact from fuel cell production than a battery.
It is here.. for premium at least. I've never seen gas prices go beyond diesel prices. Diesel in my state always runs 40-50c higher per gallon no matter what the gas prices are. Is someone forgetting that they have gigantic batteries? Batteries aren't exactly good for the environment to produce. You still are forgetting that Tesla is new to the game. BMW has been producing cars since 1928, Lexus 1989, Mercedes mid 1890's.
Horrendously bad even. The hydrogen fuel cell doesn't do even nearly as much harm to produce though we are yet to solve carbon free production infrastructure (same goes for charging the electric car though) and hydrogen storage is more dangerous than gasoline or diesel. To me, its a better solution until we get these graphene batteries scientists rave about anyway.
I wish I wish I wish We got the new Dodge Charger.... Especially if they put the Diesel that comes in the 300 in it 176kW/550nm Torque coupled with that brilliant 8 Speed ZF auto...
I'm in Europe and I really like American cars, probably more than any others. I'm a big fan of American muscle, I love the Camaro SS 1969
I wouldn't say I hate American cars. In the contrary: some of the coolest cars ever have been made (designed and build) in America: The Dodge Challenger, the Tesla and the Chevrolet Impala and the '69 Corvette. The only drawback I see with american cars is that you can't use them in Europe. They guzzle way too much gas, the suspension is crap and they rust away pretty in rainy climate. You simply can't go fast in them.
Wait, what? The diesel craze may be over now and sales are going into a slow decline, but they are still occupy a hefty ~50% of the market. I hope, however, that - due to ongoing evolution of petrol engines - it will continue to decline to a point that it will get back where it belongs to - commercial vehicles.
Mine's a turbodiesel with 130hp and 300N/m of torque. I gotta say I love the sound of the engine, it sounds much more robust and strong than any other gasoline car that I can hear in the streets.
That explains everything... The first word that jumped into my mind reading the above was 'oh phhhhhleeeez! have you ever heard a Maserati V8?' . And right after that I thought 'ofcourse it sounds more robust and strong, so do the tractors' . But then again, there is no accounting for tastes, right? You enjoy your turbo-clattering Seat while I'll listen to my turbo-hissing Fiat .
Yeah, let's compare a Renault Scenic with a Maserati. And yes I do enjoy the sound of the turbo kicking in above 2000rpm You don't hear maseratis in the streets around here unless you go to certain specific areas of Barcelona
Not on the straights... Ok, really: I have driven a few American cars and they didn't do well when trying to go fast through turns. The suspension is generally softer, the shifting was sluggish and they seem to emphasize stability over agility in the (set) caster and toe settings. I don't claim that European cars handle like race cars (they're far from it), but they seem to do better in turns. They still wipe out like batshit when you really push them, so never try to race any car built for regular (commuters) use without tweaking it.
OK, I gotta ask, what were these American cars you drove? Because if you're talking about a 5k lb full-size sedan, yeah it's gonna be sluggish and unsporty. That's how they were designed. Personally, I'd put any purpose-built American sports car against a similar Asian or European car and expect quite similar results with respect to handling.
