Diesel engines why not more available in smaller vehicles ?

mtofell1 wrote:
Great points so far.... I'd add as a reason the crappy, rattling, smoking, soot stained diesels that Ford and Chevy/GMC rolled out in the mid-80s.

That sounds like the foreign diesels of the 80’s too. Plenty of stinky, soot stained Mercedes or VW diesels in those days. My uncle always called them smudgepots. Quality of domestic diesels was another matter.