Diesels have not always been synonymous with the word "power." Back in the 1980s, diesels were explored by many automakers as an alternate powerplant for their production vehicles. In fact, in 1985 there were more than 70 different models you could buy with a diesel engine, almost half of them manufactured by GM. Sadly, the age of the performance diesel was a long way off, and many of these cars and trucks had trouble even getting up to freeway speeds. Very few were turbocharged, and those that were still didn't come close to equaling the power of their gas counterparts.
So diesel sales were slow for many models (especially passenger cars) and even the ones that did sell relatively well (such as the GM sedans) had reliability problems. That, combined with their painfully slow acceleration, led buyers away from diesels. The gas mileage was still great with these vehicles, and diesel trucks that were made by Chevy, Dodge, and Ford during this time were all used as reliable workhorses rather successfully. The success of the trucks led to the more powerful versions we have today, while the slow sedan sales effectively closed the diesel car market for many years to come.
The good news about diesels built during the 1980s is that they can now be had for a very reasonable price. Not only that, but there were some diesel car exceptions, such as the VW Rabbit and Mercedes-Benz sedans, that were sold in great numbers and were very reliable. Many are on the road with 200,000 miles or more, and parts are still plentiful. With ever-rising gas prices and the newfound popularity of biodiesel and SVO (straight vegetable oil), the price of some of these older cars is actually on the rise! There are still low-mileage trucks out there too, and most can be had for about one-tenth the price of a new diesel pickup, while still having plenty of service miles left. So without further ado, here are the top-10 best, most-influential, and most interesting diesels of the 1980s.