In article , Tim+
wrote:

Another John wrote:

...After a lifetime of avoiding diesel because I don't like the noise, and
I like even less the stink, of exhaust and fuel alike.

However I bought this one precisely because of the gist of this thread:
diesels are very hard indeed to avoid. "And anyway: they're much, much
better than they ever were," to quote owners, manufacturers, and dealers
for the last decade or so.

Ha! I bet you believe in the tooth fairy too. ;-)

Yes, in terms of power, smoothness, noise, economy etc. they are very good
now, especially the VW ones. If there is one lesson to be learned from
"Dieselgate" though it's that in real world terms (from the pollution POV),
they all still suck mightily.

Trouble is, who to believe over which is cleaner? Setting standard tests
does nothing to make engines cleaner in everyday driving, it just makes
manufacturers better at making engines that pass one-off tests.



But now Grayling wades in, with his size 14s. There has *never been a
mention* of making allowances for modern engines, with their particulate
filters, and their engine management, in contrast to the guy at the end
of our street who has been driving a clapped out transit since about
1992.

I believe that the "failing" VWs all had particulate filters. They help,
but how much in real world driving?


I would suggest that by far the vast bulk of diesel pollution in London
(which is where this all kicked off, of course) is caused by the
thousands of clapped out vehicles that are still driving around (or
sitting around, engines running).

If Chris Grayling wants to do something serious about car pollution, he
should *very forcefully* tighten up the MOT, *and all its testers*.

Probably wouldn't help much as the standards for MOT don't bear much
relationship to real world conditions.
Setting much higher standards would probably have every three year old
diesel failing.

Blimey Tim I was on the point of saying "I agree with all you say",
which would have been a first!, but happy to say on that last point ...

I meant to say that they should enforce the MOT as it stands, not
necessarily set higher standards: there are hundreds of thousands of
vehicles on the roads which cannot possibly have passed an ordinary MOT
in the last year -- bangers in other words.
Not to mention commercial and public service vehicles, many of which
seem to be *exempt* from emissions standards! It's *there* where the
urban pollution problem lies.

John