[Vwdiesel] Was-It's peak oil, duh.-now- milage comparison

[Tony and Lillie]

So, this brings up a good point, as well as a question for me. Does anyone 
have real-world milage figures or experiences for an A1 gasser with a 
5-speed? I'm curious if I actually get 1/3 better milage than a gas VW from 
that era. I was thinking of also making a comparison of maintenance, as the 
diesels seem to require less. However, when they do require it, it's more 
expensive.

And, that's only for the older ones. From what I see at the shop, the TDI's 
are higher maintenance and seem to have higher instances of problems than 
their gas counterparts. But, I haven't actually logged all the data that it 
would take to ensure this is accurate.

Tony Hoffman

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Greg Johnson" <gregsj2 at gmail.com>
To: <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 16, 2008 10:42 PM
Subject: [Vwdiesel] It's peak oil, duh.


> I've been lurking here for awhile.   I currently drive a MB diesel but am
> very interested in the upcoming Jetta Sportwagen TDI.
>
> On the one hand, the oil situation is more complex than we believe.  Yes, 
> it
> easier to process than gas; getting rid of the sulfur probably raised the
> bar a bit.  Supply and demand is worse than we think because unlike gas
> drivers, who only compete against other cars, we also compete against 
> ships,
> tug boats, locomotives, trucks, construction equipment and so forth.
>
> On a more simplistic level, the EPA claims that if, as it is in Europe, 
> 1/3
> of the light vehicles in the U.S. were diesels, we would save 1.4 million
> barrels of oil *per day.*   With oil trading at $100 per barrel, Big Oil 
> is
> not going to let that happen, so they simply raised the price of diesel
> above that of gas and by an amount that's similar to the diesel vs. gas 
> mpg
> advantage and that simply and easily takes away the financial reason for
> folks to buy the diesels that will soon be coming to the U.S.   In other
> words, if a diesel gets 30% better fuel mileage than a similar gas car, 
> you
> just raise the price of diesel by 30% and there is no advantage.
>
> Greg J
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