Silvaire wrote:
I’ve seen no change over the years, despite the hype that has come along with every new generation of Diesel regulation. Black smoke under acceleration, blowing directly in my face, has not gone away.
Believe me, diesel cars in Europe do not emit black smoke under acceleration. Not even those with the cheating software.
Perhaps if you haven’t done many thousands of kilometers on Autobahnen and Autostrade on a motorcycle, you haven’t noticed it. If you had done that, like I have and do, you’d be very well aware that current Diesel cars blow black smoke in your face under full throttle acceleration.
I’ll be doing it again next month, probably 5000 km or so.
Are you able to say what a current diesel car is, certified under EU 6 (or EU 5 which should be sufficient in this regard)?
Note that most countries in the EU do not block cars of any age in most places. In Germany, diesel cars below EU 4 are blocked from entering the major cities but there are no restrictions elsewhere.
I hope your motorcycles are equipped with controlled three-way catalytic converters and you won’t unnecessarily pollute our beautiful continent with extensive trips that serve no higher purpose.
@Achimha, neither your 12 gallon per hour O-540 or my 5 gallon per day motorcycle make the slightest difference to anything in Europe, especially since my yearly consumption is about 60-70 gallons. Also, and rather more interestingly if you’re on the receiving end, neither of them blow smoke in anybody’s face – which for me is a real problem.
Current Diesel cars are the ones currently on the roads, as well as those that have been on the roads since let’s say 1988. I think the endless story that they’ll get dramatically better wears a bit thin after a while, and for that reason I think they’ll be vastly reduced in number soon. It’ll be a good thing.
Just like the thousands of other motorcyclists enjoying themselves in the Alps next month, I’ll be having fun. That’s the purpose, but the $5K spent in summer time ski resorts doesn’t hurt anybody, and neither do the taxes and tolls I’ll pay. 
Believe me, diesel cars in Europe do not emit black smoke under acceleration. Not even those with the cheating software.
Some do. And when they do, it is bad. Even seemingly recent cars.
Most of the diesel owners in Europe don’t even know how to drive their diesel. If you want to drive it like a GTI, then buy a GTI.
So yes, black smoke.
Aviathor wrote:
Some do. And when they do, it is bad. Even seemingly recent cars.
Considering that there are lots of diesels around nowadays, you should notice this regularly. And I don’t.
Airborne_Again wrote:
Considering that there are lots of diesels around nowadays, you should notice this regularly. And I don’t.
Maybe the biennial safety and smog inspection is more thorough in Sweden than it is on the continent?
Aviathor wrote:
Maybe the biennial safety and smog inspection is more thorough in Sweden than it is on the continent?
Possibly. Also, it is annual in Sweden unless the car is less than 5 years old.
For what it’s worth:
We are used to associate visible smoke with Diesel engines, because diesel-powered cars used to smoke like tankers still do. It has been reduced drastically thanks among others to DPFs, introduced by some as early as Euro3, and basically mandatory since Euro6.
We are not used to associate smoke with gasoline engine, but they do emit particles in quantities such that it can become visible. Mostly ultra-fines too, which can penetrate all the way to the finest alveolas in one’s lungs. Also gasoline engines emit a whole bunch of precursors in extremely large quantities. A recent study measured polyaromatic hydrocarbons from a Euro6 gasoline engine, in particular highly carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene, at 800x that of an equivalent Euro6 diesel engine. Even when adding a GPF (4 kinds were tested) to the exhaust pipe, those levels remained several times higher than the diesel.
The WHO declared diesel particles as “probably carcinogenic” some years ago. Most of the test results were coming from pre-Euro4 engines though, before any high-pressure electronic injection and filtering progress. There was a chapter about particles from gasoline engines. They could not conclude and change their ranking due to a then lack of sufficient data, but they could not eliminate it either.
The RDE cycle will bring some improvement to the certification process of both kinds of engine, but it still covers too little of the complete engine map to make a significant impact on real emissions.
Diesel engines have received a lot of bad press since Dieselgate, with a lot of buyers switching to gasoline engine, and cities regulating against diesels.
Make no mistake: you are choosing between pest and cholera.
