To be fair, Jez didn't say they "suck" ...he said they are rough compared to a good large petrol engine. I've driven them myself, I'm sure he has, and I think he is right. Some of them are good, very good, but only as a means of economy, they are not superior in terms of power, refinement or anything but torque really. Fact of the matter is, you buy diesel for one of 3 reasons;
1 - Because you want to save money, so you compromise, and diesel is a compromise really.
2 - Because you want to tow stuff and diesels are ideally suited to this, they have a lot of low down torque and are generally very strongly made and well suited to that end.
3 - Because of the demand for diesel, the car manufacturer has stopped putting decent petrol engines in the car you want and so your other choice is a diesel, because quite frankly the diesel is better than the petrol in this case, which is really only common in run of the mill cars with small engines, not something you really see otherwise.
Given a choice of any car, any engine, who would actually choose a diesel engine? ...money is not a factor, just want you want.