BMW is one of the least economy-minded car companies, mostly toying with hydrogen pipe dreams, so when they announce a new diesel engine you know it is going to be a performance option. Popular Mechanics practically swoons over the 2009 BMW 335d Diesel Sport Sedan

Diesel and high performance don’t normally sit in the same sentence, but take a look at the following figures: 155 mph, 0 to 62 mph in 6.0 seconds and 428 lb.-ft. of torque. Compare those numbers with these: 155 mph, 0 to 62 mph in 5.6 seconds and 295 lb.-ft. of torque. Okay, so which one is the performance car? The first set of figures apply to the 335d, the second to its gasoline alternative. Away from the test track the turbodiesel’s midrange torque and flexibility would absolutely smoke (but not really, this is a “clean diesel”) its gasoline counterpart. And the 335d is not only the faster point-to-point car, it also gives you a 10 mpg (U.S.) boost over the the gas one. The 335d returns an NEDC combined economy of 35.1 mpg against the 335i’s 25.6 mpg. In practice, the big diesel gives around 33 mpg in our mixed running, partly because the performance is just so intoxicating and almost impossible to resist.

Yes, yes…as expected. Thank you Popular Mechanics. I hope more and more see the potential benefits of diesel technology and invest properly so we can put the whole ethanol and hydrogen nonsense to bed. I’m not opposed to ethanol, in fact I think it is an interesting additive or ingredient for other fuels, but it and hydrogen have far too many issues to be a serious solution. Diesel is so much more than just a fuel.

Here is a really cheesy example (pun intended) of what I mean. Consumers often have a hard time accepting change. When they know hot dogs (the meat equivalent of gasoline vehicle engines) you have to make “not-dogs” to sell them on the idea of vegetables. This brings about comparisons of meat and vegetables on a very narrow plane of hotdog qualities, instead of opening up the possibilities. Ok, now here’s the cheesy part. Imagine instead if you tried to introduce them to sag paneer…in other words diesel could completely change the way we look at fuel production and distribution, let alone performance and efficiency, but consumers have to be able to learn to eat something that doesn’t look, feel, taste like a hotdog. Speaking of which, 35mpg? Shame on you BMW. That’s barely sufficient under the coming efficiency guidelines.