I've got to agree petrol is still the way forward for outright performance, however there are some fairly smooth performing diesels out there - take the Golf GT TDI PD150 - a quick car, with strong midrange pull. Yes it would smoke some 2L petrols off the block, but you can't beat the satisfaction of petrol power - such as with the Subaru Impreza, Mitsubishi Evo, Toyota Supra, BMW M3 - can't imagine them being diesel powered. Both fuels have their qualities, but depending on what you have driven there will always be disagreements on this.