In that case, and linking more to topic, we need to limit any vehicle to a maximum of 3 occupants, limit fuel tanks to a maximum of 3 or 5 gallons diesel/gasoline, limit horsepower to 20 and have speed governors of 35mph max so that we solve the problem of vehicular slaughter which at least in the States is far greater than firearms.

Bottom line, you don't solve problems by legislating against inanimate objects, you solve them by legislating allowable human behavior and making the consequences for violations so extremely severe and certain nobody will chance them.

I don't think anyone would like their ProMaster to only hold 3/5 gallons with a 35mph speed limit though.

Actually I've often wondered what effect a limited tank size would have on people's attitudes towards fuel usage. An old car of mine had a 4 gallon fuel tank, it was plenty big enough. It would be like rationing, rather than force people to drive more economical cars, it would encourage them to drive efficiently. My car only has an 11 UK gallon tank, but will do almost 800 miles between fuel ups. If something is cheap, people will always waste it, as soon as you start hitting people in the wallet, they start taking notice.

The VW scandal has opened up a can of worms that will affect Europe as well as the US. and perhaps the world. The political advantages given to diesel in terms of taxes and encouragement in Europe is now being questioned, and rightfully so. Europe made a mistake in pushing diesel so hard. Any time politicians pick a winner instead of letting the merits prevail is a mistake. A few extra miles per gallon and low-rpm torque is a high price to pay for lung disease and perpetual fog.

The diesel V's gas benefit is far from "a few extra mpg" in some cases there can be a 250-300% increase in fuel economy, over the years combined you're talking thousands of dollars. You have to remember fuel is very expensive here, just 2 years ago in some parts of Europe, fuel was peaking at $12 a gallon.

It's a shame the US missed out on diesel, a country so vast and sparsley populated, where people do higher than average miles, diesels are perfect, and yet the average MPG for passenger cars in the US is something ridiculous like 27, maybe even lower. People are always overlooking the fact that petrol vehicles actually produce more nitrous oxide once they've reached a certain age than diesels anyway. We have so much more to learn yet.

Draigflag, so you're saying my Mazda3 with its 2.0L gasoline engine and six-speed automatic tranny would be averaging 275% better if it had a diesel. That means instead of the 42.5 mpg US that my Fuelly account is averaging, it would average 159 mpg US or so with a diesel.


Man, those diesels are magic carpets. Too bad they've got London and Paris so smoggy.

No I didn't say that, you did. I said "in some cases", you'd probably only see a 40 - 50% increase. It's not modern diesels that cause smog, for the last few years most cars have had dpf's fitted so 99.9% of particulate matter is filterered out. As I keep reminding people time and time again, modern diesels create very problems, it's the older ones and commercial oriented vehicles that contribute the majority of the pollution.

Draigflag, trying to resurrect the collapsed rep of VW diesels, tried to foist off the economy of diesels.

VW are one of the biggest richest auto makers going, they'll shrug this minor misdemeanor off very quickly. As I've said before, people only care about carbon dioxide emissions and fuel economy here, and we are taxed accordingly. I don't get why you guys are so concerned with this? Will it affect you in any way?

The VW diesels emitting 40x more figure is a headline, clickbait one. The study that caught them reported that the SCR model they tested exceeded the limits by 5 to 20 times. The LNT model did so by 10 to 35 times. On average over the test routes, the emissions exceeded by 6 to 7 times.

Not defending VW, but hyperbole isn't needed to convict them.

Toyota Prius vehicles emit as little as 1/10th the emissions set by the EPA. In other words, one VW could pollute as much as 400 Prius vehicles, while cheating & then lies about their actions. "draigflag" drags its flag in the mud.