While the '60s may have had Beetle-mania, the 2000s had diesel-mania. The world had come a long way since the concept of diesels being best suited to tractors and wagons that measured their zero to 60 ...

Back in the Malaise era during the 1970s and early '80s, before imports like the Toyota Camry really took over the market, diesel-powered engines seemed like the way forward for American vehicles.