11/10/2008 16:26. Some folks are writing off the diesel. The future, they say, lies in electric vehicles, with hybrids as the transition technology. Diesel fuel is expensive, they continue, and there is the further popular conception that diesels are not "clean.†In reality, a diesel typically shaves 30 percent off fuel consumption, and diesel fuel savings are even more substantial at high speeds. New technologies make burning diesel clean as—if not cleaner than—gasoline combustion.

It is true that the European market for diesels is still huge, but for most companies and consumers, diesel is a means to achieve fuel-efficiency, not fun. There is, however, one company where diesel enthusiasm still reigns: Audi . Allow us to offer as proof Audi's twin-turbocharged V-12 TDI, packaged into... // Car and Driver