Michel wrote: ↑09 Nov 2017, 11:41 There was an article on bbc where they tested a 2009 Skoda diesel against a 1994 Mk3 Golf 1.8. In every measurement the diesel was far far cleaner than the old petrol car. I don't believe diesels are as bad as they are made out to be but I don't believe they're as clean as we were told either.
Both my cars are petrol. One is a 2.5 5-pot turbo. It is not quite as uneconomical as a V6 Xantia but it's not much better.
A V6 Xantia might produce more CO2 than a Diesel (inevitable, if it does less MPG, since CO2 is a "wanted" product of combustion) but I'll bet that the particulates and NOx are lower than a 194 horsepower Diesel... and probably HC and CO as well, in real world conditions not at the MOT test.
I've said it before, but too much importance is placed on CO2 - which is not a "pollutant", but a natural part of the carbon cycle, and not directly harmful to humans or other animals in moderate quantities. On the other hand particulates, NOx, HC and CO are all harmful pollutants and are all harmful to health in various ways. So Diesel engines optimised for the thing that didn't really matter (CO2) and produced more of the things that did matter.
Also Diesel vehicles still don't meet their emissions claims in real world driving and often exceed them by many times - as far as I've heard there has not been a similar scandal for Petrol engines, and you can be sure that after Dieselgate petrol engines would have been tested as well to see if the cheating issue went deeper than just Diesel.
Not that I'm saying driving a Petrol V6 is a good thing either - for 10 years I wanted a V6 Xantia and couldn't afford one, now that they are dirt cheap and I have a good one and also more recently have an EV as well I'm starting to feel guilty about driving the Xantia. I think it might well be my last petrol car, if both the Xantia and Ion hold out for enough years to tide me over for that mythical cheap, long range quick charging EV...