Checking the Car and Driver article again, I got it wrong. The diesel
topped at 42mpg and the hybrids were much better. As for batteries I
saw a statement that some of the early Prius models have over 250,000
miles and the batteries were still functioning just fine. 130k miles
is about as long as I have ever kept a car before I wanted something
new.
http://www.caranddriver.com/comparisons/8427/the-frugalympics.html
Winsor
Long Beach, California, USA
On May 14, 2006, at 11:39 AM, Mike wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> There must be diesels and diesels. I have read a couple of comparison
>> tests between high fuel efficiency gasoline models, VW TDs and
>> hybrids. The VW diesels seem to be the worst of the lot, slower than
>> the other two options and worse fuel efficiency. In this country with
>> diesel fuel out pricing gasoline and a Toyota Echo getting more miles
>> per gallon(only in the high thirties) there seems to be no argument
>> for diesel cars at all even assuming I could buy one in California
>> where the diesel is not clean enough to be sold.
>>
> Not my personal experience at all. My daughter's TDI beetle gets
> over 50
> mpg and accelerates fine. B99 biodiesel sells locally for 30 cents a
> gallon cheaper than regular unleaded. ($3.25 and $3.55) B20 is 5-10
> cents a gallon cheaper than unleaded. There is a large number of
> hybrids
> here, per capita perhaps higher than most places. I think it is a
> status
> thing as mileage isn't that great. Typical driving here doesn't
> favor a
> hybrid while a diesel shines. Besides up front premium price hybrids
> also have lots of costs loaded towards later in their lifespan when
> the
> batteries wear out. Actually the latest hot seller here is full
> electric
> vehicles. <http://www.gemcar.com/>
>
> Mike
>
>
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