We're now in an era where technology has evolved sufficiently that performance figures favour diesel engines of any displacement over their petrol equivalents. Take, for example, BMW's identically priced 330 diesel and petrol models, both driving through six-speed automatic transmissions. The petrol-powered 330i (190kW/300Nm) is capable of cutting out the 0-100km/h rumba in 6.98 seconds. Its diesel counterpart (170kW/500Nm) is clearly quicker to reach the metric ton, taking 6.69s. The disparity in favour of the turbodiesel is even greater when it comes to monstering slower traffic, the respective 330 models taking 4.65s and 4.12s to run from 80 to 120 clicks.
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