Bill wrote something short I agree with? My head asplode.

Bill -

Why can't you be short and to the point like this all the time?

[www.pcmag.com]

Seriously, nice article.

It takes work to write short. Remember the old joke attributed to everyone from Abe Lincoln going forward: "You want I should give a speech? A 10-minute speech, I'm going to need days to prepare. A two-hour speech, I'm ready now."

You ought to see the mail from people who think diesel exhaust is going to topple the redwoods and poison our cities. Yes, diesels aren't yet 100% as clean as the best gasoline engines, but with low-sulfur fuel, better particulate filters, and urea injection, they're going to be pretty much equivalent. I still think half the (car) pollution problem is poor people driving crappy cars who should be buying new catalytic converters rather than, say, food for the baby.

I drove a BMW twin-turbo diesel in Germany last year, one turbo that spins up in a hurry, one that kicks in a second or two later. 0-to-60 in about 6 seconds. No diesel noise inside, just the slightest rumble outside at stoplights. Mileage in the high 30s on a 4,000-pound 5 Series. I'm also getting excited by hybrids, at least as long as the feds are giving you $2,000-$3,000 tax credits to offset the $3,000 premiuim you pay for some of them. One of the nice parts of the job is I have to drive these cars somewhere on weekends, and NJ-to-Ithaca for a lax or hockey game is a reasonable day trip. LGR!

billhoward
Maine, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont effectively outlaw diesels, and some automakers say they won't introduce diesel cars until they're allowed in every state.

Yeah, right. Anyone think they'd bother saying that if the states on the list were Alaska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Vermont? Or that they won't change their tune if Vermont is the lone holdout?

billhoward
New technologies, such as particulate filters (here now) and the injection of urea into the exhaust stream (coming), make diesels even cleaner.

Please, please, please tell me that there's a usage of the word "urea" that I'm not familiar with.

Robb

billhoward
the injection of urea into the exhaust stream (coming), make diesels even cleaner.

Please, please, please tell me that there's a usage of the word "urea" that I'm not familiar with.

I'm not comfortable with Bill's method of delivery either.

Think of your form or urea induction as limp-home mode.

This is actually a sticking point. Without urea injected into the downstream diesel exhaust, the car runs just as well but not as clean. The onboard urea tank is good for 12,000-plus miles -- more than an oil change worth, more like a year's worth. But the feds want it to be readily available, like at Pep Boys or Seven-Eleven. The automakers say it's enough to have a true limp home mode that limits you to 40 mph since most likely you'll never run out if replacement is part of an oil change service. And you'd have about a thousand miles of advance warning that the urea tank is running low.

Funny, I usually have to stop and empty my "urea tank" several times during a 1000-mile driving trip.

One can imagine the eureka moment when engineers figured out this method of making diesels cleaner:

"I don't f-ing know?! At this point, I'd try pissing in the thing if I thought that would work."

And science advances.

Scersk '97
"I don't f-ing know?! At this point, I'd try pissing in the thing if I thought that would work."

While I don't know who discovered this, there is probably a good chance they were German.

nyc94
While I don't know who discovered this, there is probably a good chance they were German.

Well, we all know there are two things the Germans love: David Hasselhoff and watersport videos. Computers in cars and urea are then the natural solutions to any problem.

Perhaps an engineer from a competitor was paid to sabotage the project, but unfortunately for him the plan backfired.

As a shady character, zipping up his pants, slips unseen out the back door:

"What the hell is that smell?"

"I don't know. Start it up and see if we can figure out where it is coming from."

"Wow, that engine is purring better than ever."

On a little more serious note, I assume the urea is in a liquid form, and not powdered. Urea is a common source of nitrogen in both fertilizers and animal feeds. It can be obtained in liquid or dry form.

Scersk '97
Well, we all know there are two things the Germans love: David Hasselhoff

And on a less serious note, if you haven't seen it. . .

Scersk '97
Well, we all know there are two things the Germans love: David Hasselhoff and watersport videos. Computers in cars and urea are then the natural solutions to any problem.

No, no, no. Germans: pooh. Austrians: pee.