I loved my VW diesels, of which I owned four over 35 years. I could drive from Ottawa to Halifax on a single tank of fuel and have enough left over to bop around town for a week. They completely spoiled me for petrol-fired cars, let alone electrics, which have barely the range to get me to Toronto and back to Stratford on a single charge.

I had to give up my last diesel Golf because its nasty cheating engine was banned in Canada and I’m driving the 2021 petrol version now. So far, it’s my last car, and likely to remain so unless something truly amazing happens to batteries. Since the last great break-through in automotive technology turned out to be such a bust — I’m talking about « clean diesel » — expect me to be a very late adopter of whatever comes next.