Never owned a diesel?

I’ve never had a Diesel engine in a normal car. Fourtrak and Defender don’t count.

I'm on my 5th diesel car now and the likelihood of me going back to petrol power is very slim unless I get a job closer to home or suddenly start getting paid Bob Geldof wages. I do nearly 20k a year and the only thing that makes sense for me is diesel power. No petrol engine will give me the torque and economy combination that I get from diesel: Once something with petrol power has 250 lb/ft of torque and a real-world-not-bullshit-lab-conditions 45 mpg average and is availble for less than 3 grand, I'm there.

I could get a small petrol engined car, but where's the fun in that? I have 2 growing kids and I like having an estate car for ferrying my bikes and tools around. I also like overtaking people with impunity.

Not a fan of four cylinder diesels, but my Benz 320 cdi does a passable impression of the 6,750 cc V8 in my Silver Shadow. Effortless waftability, which is exactly what I want from my daily driver.

Cavalier 1.7td - yuk, and to think I bought it because petrol broke 60ppl.....
Big Reggie (Espace 1.9td) - far more suitable than the 2.0 petrol turbo that replaced it in Bigger Reggie
XC60 2.4 5 cyl turbo diesel - really, really suited the car. Quite characterful for an oil burner
E220d - it's got plenty of torques??

2, one in a Grand Scenic and another in a Picasso, both were OK-ish with no point in revving beyond about 3.5k rpm. I imagine the evacuation from volume diesel sales will depend on Government policy on taxation and can see this being increased heavily at some point to encourage the transition. Larger engined, non volume diesels will trickle on for a while after that because the break even point in percentage of vehicle cost to profit margin is more acceptable and economy will still hold some interest.

I’ve had a few. They suit a type of driving and a type of car. As John says both Petrol and diesel have their strengths and weaknesses. I think both will be around a while.

My first experience of diesels was a Fiesta diesel (non turbo) pool car that the company I worked for in London in 1990 had on the fleet. By heck that was noisy and slow, but goodness was it economical. 

My and Mrs PG's first experiences of modern turbo-diesels were in pool cars - a Pug 306 D Turbo and a Citroen ZX (same PSA 1.6 TD engine in both) and they were a revelation - fast, economical, torquey. It was that experience that persuaded Mrs PG to get her A3 TDi 130 (the old PD lump), replacing an Audi A3 1.6 petrol. And I then took over that car and used it for a couple of years once she stopped full time work. I don't think I've driven a better small capacity diesel engine since, for it was effortlessly torquey from tickover, superb on the motorway and did 45-50 mpg however you drove it. You could pull away from rest with no throttle at all. When I tired that in a Volvo V40 D2 I nearly met a sticky end as I stalled it. 

I had an automatic diesel X Type estate (2.2 Ford lump) and that struggled to get over 40mpg unless you drove every where really gently. THe 2.5 and 3.0 V6 X Type petrols were way better engines in the X Type, but rather more thirsty. 

We've had four diesel engined "trucks". A RR Classic 300 Tdi - slow, noisy and was swapped for a V8 after a couple of years (way, way, better!). A 300 Tdi Defender that we had breathed on (bigger fuel pump) and that suited the car. And our Shogun is powered a 3.2 4 cylinder TD "ship engine". The red line is at 4000 and anything over 3000 and you're wasting your time. It's a good lugger but will do 75-80 on the motorway all day if you ask it. Usually gets between 25-28 mpg except when towing a laden livestock trailer when 15-18 mpg is more normal. 

Lastly our Peugeot horse lorry has a PSA 3.0 6 cylinder TD engine. It flies really and hits the 56 mph limiter way too quickly.  

I had a 306 1.9 D-turbo as my first car. 120bhp, a shit load of torque, and insurance group 5. (90bhp as standard, but the derv doctor tweaked it for about £150)

The engine was so old, it had no ECU map, instead he altered the fuel pump settings and slightly raised the boost pressure on the turbo.

It was deceptively quick but so unrefined it was laughable.

Those were the days, when you could just tweak the fuel pump and wind out the wastegate actuator for more power. Me and a couple of mates fiddled with a Merc Sprinter with the 2.9 5 pot diesel and had it spinning the wheels in 3rd gear....

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I've had a a Toyota Verso with a 2.2 140bhp IIRC, V70 2.4 D5 and now the Captur 1.5. The Verso was typically average, the Captur, whilst economical, is underwhelming in every way and the D5 was great - good sound, plenty of torques and great economy on a long run, although not so good at all on short trips. The biggest issue I have with diesels is the narrow power band and less than marvellous aural qualities, although I'm sure that a 6 cylinder lump would mitigate those concerns.

Ugh.