Sorry, but diesel ARE noisier and smell MUCH worse than petrol engines. And most important.. the fucking microparticles.. they should enforce the damn filters at least. A diesel car produces MANY (thousands times more I think) micro particles than petrol engines.. and those damn things can enter your blood through your lungs.. it is just scary.
But beside that, even if some top of the line diesel engines are pretty quiet (still noway near a good petrol one), their smell is always the same and when I am in a city like Milano or Paris where diesel cars are much more common, I really smell the difference
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