Why would I want a diesel instead of a hybrid?

i dont know. thats a tough question, lol!

ok i dont know that

Lucky he was not driving the 535d, Then you would have really been embarassed.

charged up at night in your garage with solar energy???? huh

The point is, YOU CANNOT CHARGE SOMETHING WITH SOLAR POWER AT NIGHT. Sun = solar. Sun = day. Day does not = night.

"I believe the answer is plug in hybrids that use no gas at all and can be charged up at night in your garage from solar energy. ZERO emissions and free."

actually, a plug-in car is false hope for environmentalists. very few people have solar power or live in a place that's sunny enough to generate solar power. the MAJORITY of electricity in the united states is produced by COAL-FIRED plants. since when is burning coal a zero emissions process?

if we as a nation were to get over our hang ups about nulear powerplants and generate our electricity that way, plug-ins would be a great solution.

GoObama - that's not true.
You would need a whole roof of Solar Panels in a very sunny area to have anything like the energy needed to charge a Tesla. And since 1 solar panel costs something like 7000 pounds, money saving is not really happening.

frustrated goobama?
why the name calling?

go:

so if such sophisticated solar power generation is accessible already why hasn't it been adopted? could it be that it's prohibitively expensive for people to install the systems in their individual homes?

again, not a realistic solution. talk to me in 20 years when the technology is affordable.

Sun energy is easy to store in the day time. I have solar powered lights in the front of my home and they (usually) work quite well. However, it's very hard to put that on a much larger scale (car). And, as Rupert pointed out, very expensive. You're basically buying another car by doing that.

If i ever buy a hybrid it would be a turbodiesel-solarcharged-plugin-hybrid-lean-mean-earth-saving-machine!

I just don't think the driver knows how to drive the M3...

Please be quiet.

Only Idiots think that so long as a vehicle Sticker claims 0-60 in 4 secs, that they {Idiots} will be able to actually achieve those figures.

I consistently beat guys in M3s and S4s with My Ex's 535d M-Sport, especially on Motorways

A roll-on is quite different than a 0-60 run. A diesel winning a roll-on with a v8 m3 is somewhat believable, but I too highly doubt a M3 could be beaten to 60 by a 530d with its 7.0 second 0-60 time.

V6 M3s (Prev Gen)

Oh Sugar! What am I doing today ?

I6 M3s (Prev Gen)

Not had a chance to race the new ones yet.

Wow. The new M3 really is a let-down then...

...if this were true.

Someone at the automobliemag.com must have exggerated or made up the story because it did not provide the detail of the "diesel station wagon". One other thing most people do not realize is that although diesel has a lot of torque than their gasoline counterpart, but when compare the acceleration numbers with the similar size engine the diesel still lags behind. For example compare the performance of the Mercedes E class with gasoline engine and diesel engine, or the M Class with gasoline and diesel. Although the diesel has much more torque but actually slower. However the fuel mileage of the diesel is much better then the gasoline engine. Is it a myth or fact that diesel have better performance number? You'll be the judge.

The Audi A5 3.0 TDI is quicker to 60 then the 3.2 FSI.

At that, when you'r launching the M3 at 2000rpm as he said, it doesn't have allot of power because most of that is up in the high range past 6000rpm.

A diesel produces monsters amount of torque at 2000rpm and allot more power, so it's easier to launch. So if you'r not very acustomed to launching an M3 i can see why he lost.

Thank You

hey the LS600 gets 14.9!! saving the world. one 5300 pound car at a time.

Ratco your an insult to everyone on this site.

Lexus is not the fastest growing luxury brand in Britain. I live here.
And do you know how fast the "V12 competitor" is in Britain? 0-60 in...6.6 seconds. Not really V12 competitive. And yet it costs over 80000 pounds.
And it still has higher emissions than the Germans' 3.0 diesels. Their 4 litre + diesels have slightly higher emissions, but are faster and more fuel efficient.

Shall we have a look at Lexus' British sales?
Let's see...2007 total year sales
Lexus - 15,119 - a 2.91% increase over last year.
BMW - 121,575 - a 5.15% increase over last year
Audi - 100,864 - a 17.98% increase over last year
Mercedes - 82,321 - a 1.54% increase over last year
Alfa Romeo - 7,355 - a 40% increase over last year
Land Rover - 46,552 - an 8.78% increase over last year.

So GoObama, you are in fact completely wrong.
And BMW outsold Toyota in Britain last year!

You want to argue with my figures? Argue with the SMMT, the society for motor manufacturers and traders.
My figures are dead on right, and don't you dare even suggest that I am lying.

http://www.smmt.co.uk/dataservices/index.cfm?sid=-2&catid=551&maincatid=551

Go to this site, download the file registration cars 2007, unzip it with winzip or winrar, and have a look.

And the advertised 25 mpg sucks, as the A8 4.2 tdi gets 30 mpg, and is faster.
The funny thing is that the UK is Lexus' 3rd largest market, so it's sales are quite pathetic. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexus#Global_ambitions

Ok, maybe in the whole of Europe Lexus sales are increasing the most - but only by 7%.
http://www.samar.pl/__/__la/en/__ac/sec,4/new/15188/__Toyota-achieves-11th-consecutive-record-year-of-sales-in-Europe.html

Alfa Romeo is (BY FAR) the fastest-growing luxo brand in Britain, followed by Audi? Surprising. I know Alfa isn't a high-volume brand there... but Audi? Really? They're the second-biggest, and the fastest growing? Interesting.

Yep - we do love our Audis here.
And that's with the A4 being about to be replaced.
Their UK headquaters are being built about a mile from my house - right next to a Mercedes dealership!

I think Diesel/hybrid will be the way to go.We just need more gas stations with diesel fuel,not available everwhere,in my area at least.

Just another opinion from some wannabe writer,who's on somebody's payroll.

25mpg is nothing to brag about! I am all about the diesel engines. I cant wait to get my 335d.

GoObama, what's the point of having that 440hp if it can't get even close to other cars with the same power?

Give me a V12 6.0 Liter TDI from 0-60 in less than 4.2 seconds with around 25 mpg and the diesel is my best friend forever! Oh yeah, just saw one at the Detriot show!

Oh ratco you can do that with your fudge packing friend enthusiassh*le.

I am not sure what the savings would be between a Diesel and hybrid. Diesel engines are not exactly cheap...AT ALL! The Diesel has been around forever and just recently is it considered a savior in these hard times.

Hybrids is a much newer tech as you all know and still has a lot of growing pains to go through to reach full potential. Diesels are already proven with emission issues being the main concern as well as Diesel fuel costs above Premium in numerous areas. So both techs have their ups and downs. I know Diesel hybrids where brought to the table. Issue with that is the Diesel needs to be primed before starting. Not easy to pull off with a hybrid due to constant on/off when idling in city driving.

Diesels are cheaper in Europe because the emissions requirements are less restrictive thus not as expensive to produce. Also Diesels are very popular in Europe so Auto Makes will keep costs lower to sell more vehicles.

The US will be much different. Diesel will cost more than in Europe due to added emissions needs to meet US EPA requirements. This is one reason hybrids exist and is popular in the States. I am hoping that after the initial resurgance of Diesels in 2009-2010 the cost will decrease as manufacturing cost level off when developement costs are recouped.

"Diesels use more oil. The RS8 uses 50% more barrels of oil (yes, 42 gallon BARRELS) than an LS600hL, which outweighs it by 1500lbs. The IS-F outperforms and is gas, yet it consumes 25% less oil."

Why the hell are you comparing the R8 V12 TDI (NOT THE RS8!!! LEARN TO READ PRESS RELEASES!!!) to the LS600hL? Is that supposed to be funny? The R8 is a SUPERCAR first and foremost, a diesel green machine second. And you're a fool to think that the IS-F outperforms the V12 TDI. It can't touch the standard R8, let alone that one.

<i>1. Diesels use more oil. The RS8 uses 50% more barrels of oil (yes, 42 gallon BARRELS) than an LS600hL, which outweighs it by 1500lbs. The IS-F outperforms and is gas, yet it consumes 25% less oil. Same ratios between the Prius and Jetta TDI.</i>

Ah. I think I see your error.

Let us look at that portion of a barrel of oil that can easily be used as fuel (i.e., the gasoline and diesel fractions). If diesel fuel requires 50% more crude oil to produce, that means that one can get 60 gallons of gasoline and 40 gallons of diesel fuel for every 100 gallons of useful fuel distillates in the crude oil feedstock. This is, I suspect, the basis of your claim that diesel fuel production requires more crude oil than gasoline production.

That being said, which is more efficient? Using that 40 gallons of diesel fuel without further processing, or expending further energy on techniques such as fluid-bed cat cracking to increase the available gasoline by breaking down the heavier diesel fraction?

As I see it, the demand for diesel fuel in the US, compared to the demand for gasoline, is well under the ratio of diesel fuel to gasoline in the average barrel of crude oil (again, before such techniques as fluid-bed cat cracking are used). If my reasoning is correct, I fail to see how an increase in Diesel-powered vehicles will result in increased fuel consumption.

WTF is an RS8 ?

I only know of A8, S8 and R8

The rest of your post is so illogical that i cannot be bothered to correct it.

"The R8 V12 TDI which has the same 0-60 as the RS8 but with apparently 23mpg."

I think you're talking about the NORMAL R8 4.2 petrol, but FYI, the R8 V12 TDI is a half-second quicker than the gas version.

And yes, the rest of your post is so stupid that there's no reason to address it.

Hey huumisguided, there is no RS8! Please get it right. All the non-Lexus people get deboosted because the Lexus-types keeping crying over their spilled milk. Boohoo! In defence of Rupert, Lexus sales in Europe are dismal compared to Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz. Hey Obamamybama, don't deny actual figures. This is just for you:

Per Automotive News Europe January 7th 2008 edition (for data available through 11/07 by JATO Dynamics) sales are as follows:

Audi: 612,959 units
BMW: 645,457 units
MB: 680,554 units
Lexus: 36,840 units (OOPS!)
Jaguar: 30,996 units

You are right Obama - Lexus is tearing it up in Europe alright!

I will not get diesel specially in a sports car because, it sounds disgusting when you press on the gas.

Obviously you haven't heard the R10 on a racetrack. How do you know how a diesel sports car sounds like when there isn't a production sports car available on the market anywhere. Audi just showed the concept at Detriot (R8 V12 TDI 6.0) and no one knows how it sounds like yet. Stop making things up!

The R10 racecar is actually significantly quieter and more refined than its gas-powered competitors.

And do you really think Audi would be stupid enough to produce a twelve-cylinder supercar (R8 V12 TDI) that sounds coarse???

"The IS-F outperforms the RS8 (speed and mileage) and comes damn close in mileage aginst the V12 (speed is debatable)."

R8 R8 R8 R8 R8 R8 R8 R8 R8 IT'S THE FUCKING AUDI R8!!!

Anyway.

NO, the IS-F does NOT outperform the R8. #1, what makes you think it's faster? It cannot touch the R8 in a straight line OR in the twisties. Think about it before blabbering: R8 = less weight than IS-F; R8 also = more power than IS-F.

#2, what makes you think the IS-F gets good mileage? Numbers please. Even if that is true, the R8 V12 TDI gets much better mileage AND it's faster still.

The rest of your post is not worth my time...

and diesel is not cheaper in the uk than gas....