Having driven a friends 530i and straight away driving my own 530d with the newer engine I was so pleased I chose the diesel over the petrol for me its the best thing about the car aside from its handling set-up. Im now approaching 6.5K miles and it seems to get better & better, a really fantastic engine.
In the US emission laws are different to Europe which restricts diesel sales, however these were set when diesel engines were very different from what they are today which means many now produce lower emissions than petrol engines. The US drivers are missing out on some great performers at a time when their gas sales are going up.
I read recently that both BMW & Merc were developing diesel versions of their M & AMG cars, to even consider this they must think diesels can cut it at the hight of motoring excellence & performance.

 

Some good points here, trouble is that no current BMW diesel can come close to passing the California emissions standards (crucial as a number of key states and other large BMW markets follow California so you've got to meet the requirements here or you'll lose half of your potential market). These are something all engines sold here have to meet or exceed. There have been reports and sightings of 535d's in California and (I think) New York and Michigan so there is certainly some testing going on and that's got to be a good sign. One other piece is the fuel as low sulfur fuel is needed to enable the diesels to have any chance of passing the CARB regulations - low sulfur diesel is shortly going to be a requirement (sometime later on this year) so maybe some time next year we'll start to see diesels available. Mercedes only sells one diesel here (E320 CDI, and only in certain states) and VW is about the only other one with a passenger car. Now if we're talking trucks, there are some diesel V10 pickups available here that would make you 535 guys CRY they have so much torque - but trucks are subject to different regulations......

 

Seems like the Californian regulators got it wrong, most of the rest of the world drove down the diesel road because of the better fuel economy and particulate filters cleaned up the "smoge" that diesels used to give out. In California you still have huge gas guslers particularly the pick-ups & SUVs and most of the luxury cars run bigger engines on average than Europe with the relevent drop in fuel economy. The laws must have been influanced by the petrochemical companies and the manufacturing facilities would need massive investment to produce more diesel. The same lobbyist did a great job on your president in convincing him global warming is not happening and Koyoto is not nessisary in the US whereas in Europe global warming and fuel economy is taken much more seriously.
California led the way in environmental laws, but that does not mean it got all of them right.

 

The way oil refining works is you'll always get a certain amount of petrol (gas) and diesel. I remember reading somewhere that from a global supply point of view the growing popularity of diesels in Europe means that on a macro scale Europe has become deficient in diesel and has a surplus of petrol and in the US it's the other way round.

--
Przemek

 

Yep, no new refineries producing diesel builts in Europe since the 70's despite a massive (think four fold) increase in diesel fuel vehicles.

 

i voted with my heart, not my head... so petrol

 

Doesn't your choice of e60 affect how you vote?

Unfortunately some markets haven't yet experienced the characteristics of the twin-turbo diesel...

Let's hope it happens soon...

ABC

PS I like the title of the poll "Gas or Oil". In France Diesel is called "Gasoil"...

 

I voted Petrol, but would like to try a diesel Bimmer. Maybe I would change my mind but until then is Petrol.

 

I voted for petrol although I'm getting a diesel!

Basically I would prefer to run a petrol but as a company car in the UK it makes so much more sense to run diesel (car tax, fuel consumption, lease rates etc).

All things being equal though I do prefer the feel of a petrol engine, especially when you are pushing on

 

Has your new baby arrived yet