Hayes Elkins wrote: > Low sulfur diesel is available right now. What you are probably > thinking of is the blue-tec line of diesel engine cars coming out in > model year 08. Mercedes Benz 220 and VW Jetta, to name a few. What's > great about these engines is more horsepower and torque per liter yet > BETTER fuel economy - the new Jetta will be rated around 45mpg under > the new EPA measuring guidelines which are much more rigid and > realistic. Needless to say, Hybrid manufacturers are shitting > themselves over the new measurments. A 35mpg highway rating for a > Prius doesn't sound so attractive anymore.
My real world Prius mileage, even with some very short trips (my office is 2.5 miles from my house) has been in the 44MPG range over the last 36,000 miles. Our new Prius (2007) is getting around 40 MPG, but it's not quite broken in yet (3000 miles). The EPA ratings have been a joke for a very long time, but at that, find me a non-hybrid, non-diesel, that can fit 4 people for a long trip, and can deal with a family of 3 nicely (we are now a family of 3, http://hh.zqc.com). Everyone that pushes the EPA rating issue really does not understand the car. Would I consider a clean diesel, of course, would I love a toyota hybrid diesel minivan in about 3 years, of course. Heck I would probably be willing to pay north of $40K for it. Harry > > As far as why diesels for consumers are so rare, you can thank the > antiquated hippy laws in states like California that perhaps at one > point were noble due to diesel fuel being more polluting back in the > 1970s. Newsflash moonbeams, it's now 2007 and standard diesel has come > a LONG way as far as emissions, easily negating the need for these > consumer bans. Biodiesel in fact is more clean burning than gas for > every type of emission save for smog, it is nearly a carbon neutral fuel.
