A typical experience most people in the USA would have with a diesel car is one of the W123 or W126 Mercedes of the late 70s to early 80s, even into the W124 in 1987 and the early 90s.

All these engines have the injector return rubber hose that goes bad within two or three years and starts leaking.

Thus the car smells like diesel fuel when you walk by it and even when you are in it.

The typical American does no maintenance on their car until it stops running. So, it reeks of diesel. Plus they don't adjust the valves (who would know to do that?) or change the glow plugs, so the diesels appear to be hard starting.

Women seem to hate the smell of diesel the most.

In many families Momma has veto power on the car purchase.



I would not have been attracted to a diesel except I happened to need a compact tractor for grounds maintenance. The cheapest thing to get for that is a gray market Japanese diesel tractor. Yanmar is a great choice, and many people do not know that a lot of the John Deere compact tractors are either totally built under contract from Yanmar or their engines are Yanmar.

So, I was extremely impressed with how the Yanmar tractor ran. It can go full out all day for just a few gallons of diesel - less fuel consumption than my gasolene riding lawnmower!

This attracted me to the Mercedes diesel because of its reputation for longevity, and from the tractor I became aware of just how efficient are the diesels on fuel consumption.

Ken300D