From Green to Black

Filed in archive News on February 25, 2008

We always hear about the clean and green list of top cars but how about the dirty and offensive.

The list of worst polluting vehicles includes high-performance sports cars, huge trucks and vehicles with diesel engines.






All of the light-duty diesel vehicles currently offered in the United States use new technology designed for the low-sulfur fuel that is now available. Diesels are generally not offered in California or other states that follow its emissions rules. Later this year, several automakers intend to offer clean diesels that will be legal in all states.

The Europeans dominated the yucky for the environment list. The worst vehicle was the Volkswagen Touareg with a 5-liter 10-cylinder diesel.

Mercedes had the most models on the bad list. There were four, including two that are diesel versions of S.U.V.'s: the ML320 CDI and the GL320 CDI. The other two are the diesel R320 CDI and the high-performance sport utility, the G55 AMG.

Other European vehicles on the naughty list were the Bugatti Veyron supercar, Lamborghini Murciélago, Bentley Azure and Bentley Arnage RL.

Domestic vehicles were not left out. The diesel version of the Jeep Grand Cherokee made the list along with the Hummer H2 and the GMC Yukon 2500, both with 6-liter V-8s.