BMW 535d. A headbanger of a diesel. PistonHeads review.

Nick Hall reckons the bi-turbo 535d, the 530i’s evil twin, is faster, stronger and has more torque than the high-revving M5

We all know that diesels have come a long way from the rattling tractors of days gone by, but somewhere along the line they have quietly usurped the petrol-powered alternatives. That was the shocking conclusion a few of us faced after testing the sublime BMW 535d on the highways and byways of Southern Spain.

Sneak review of the Audi R8 V12 TDI: By PistonHeads.

Audi is serious about making a diesel supercar. Kevin Hackett finds out what it would be like…

Speed, as we say at PistonHeads, matters. There’s simply nothing quite like it to make a driver feel alive; the sensation of dropping a gear, flooring the loud pedal and being pinned into your seat is what it’s all about for many of us. And what is the fuel we need for these thrills; the lead we need in our pencils; the blood we must have in our veins? Petrol.

Ford Mondeo TDCi Auto review. By CarPoint.

By: Ken Gratton.

Coupled to a six-speed automatic, the 2.0-litre turbodiesel from the Focus is horsepower of a different colour in the medium segment Mondeo

RRP: $37,990
Price as tested: $40,340 (includes Tango metallic paint $350 and Napoli leather $2000)
Crash rating: five-star EuroNCAP
Fuel: diesel
Claimed fuel economy (L/100km): 7.3
CO2 emissions (g/km): 193

Overall rating: 3.0/5.0
Engine/Drivetrain/Chassis: 3.0/5.0
Price, Packaging and Practicality: 4.0/5.0
Safety: 3.0/5.0
Behind the wheel: 3.5/5.0
X-factor: 3.5/5.0

There’s a magic number that appears to be ideal for peak torque in midsize diesel cars — 320. Ford’s Mondeo TDCi develops that output (in Nm) between 1750-2240rpm, according to Ford’s own stats.

And every other diesel that even comes close to competing with the Ford in the VFACTS medium car segment also develops 320Nm. Just to add fuel to this twisted conspiracy theory, all the diesel Mondeo’s competitors hail from Europe (at least until the latest Mazda6 gets a diesel under the hood) and they’re all five-star NCAP rated for safety. Suspicious, non?

But there the parallels end. Compared with its competitors, the Mondeo is up to almost $10,000 cheaper (and about $4500 cheaper than the competitor closest in price). It’s larger in every dimension than its competitors and tends to be better equipped, across the board. Where a competitor has a feature the Mondeo lacks, the Ford can be specified with that feature as an option and still undercut the competitor on price.

So right about now you’re thinking the Mondeo represents good value and offers known-quantity chassis dynamics. Must be a lay-down misère, qui?

Well, it’s not quite that cut-and-dried. One of our fraternity regards the Mondeo TDCi as the best variant in the Mondeo range. With all due respect to our comrade, we don’t necessarily subscribe to that view. The XR5 tested a few months ago is still the pick of the bunch for its sporting orientation, in the opinion of this reviewer.