By Joel Chin

I begin the final segments of my Austrian adventure with a well-known automotive quote: 'Horsepower is how fast you hit the wall, torque is how far you take the wall with you.'

For most of us who do not know (and do not care) what the difference is, this line pretty much sums it up.

I am not entirely keen on hitting any walls though - the last thing I want to be responsible for is an avalanche.

See, an impromptu day trip to the lake district of Zell am See meant that we had to meander up an Alpine road covered with a carpet of snow - without tyre chains.

Not so good in a torquey diesel.

Not so good either, was the infernal racket my engine was making as the gruff diesel note reverberated and resonated off the sheer mountain walls. Even if I didn't hit a wall now, I was sure the sound would have sent a million tonnes of snow down to bury us anyway.

For a moment, I missed the sonorous rhapsody of a well-tuned petrol engine.

Only for a brief moment though.

Because oddly, while I was lamenting about the rugged image one seems to portray while behind the wheel of a diesel, I pulled up to a parking space filled with SUVs and realised that not one of them was a petrol.

And their drivers weren't exactly dowdy characters either. They were cool, good-looking European men and women, sporting wraparound shades and decked in the most fashionable ski attires.

Suddenly, the rugged image became the point - you don't buy a diesel because you are penny-pinching or because you run from resort to resort carrying garden fixtures or anything of that sort.

You buy a diesel because it is a lifestyle choice - you take your wife, kids (all five of them) up to have a jolly run down some of the best ski-slopes in the world, then pack them all in again - with your skis and other cargo - and scoot off home.

All this while getting good mileage and without compromising on the performance of your vehicle.

I looked back at my rental and internally, I was congratulating myself for being back in the 'cool' club.

Is the diesel leviathan a chore on the motorway then?

Absolutely not. I would even venture to say it is the laziest cruiser I have yet to come across.

The shortest way back to Austria's capitol is through a stretch of the German Autobahn - yes, that famous de-restricted highway where the only speed limit is how fast your car can go. Going slow is very uncool.

Even at 180km/h, the diesel engine, so ruffled and vocal while in the SUV's natural habitat earlier, now just hums along, unnoticed above the comparatively loud wind buffeting.

And I cannot begin to tell you how much fun it is to be hit by a wave of torque and acceleration each time you feel the need to pass someone.

Diesels? Yeah, they're cool.

More on Joel's winter Euro road trip:
» Part 1: 88 kilometres with zero petrol
» Part 2: Diesel athletes