At what MPG does diesel become more affordable?

[aphex]

trying to do the math in my head and without excel my brain is crapping out

Let's say my gas car right now gets 30 highway.

With gas at $3.50/ga and diesel at $4.20, what MPG does the diesel have to surpass to be the more economical option?

 

[aphex]

36 mpg?

 

[Fenixgoon]

4.2 / 3.5 = 6/5 = 1.2

therefore the diesel would need to get 36mpg (1.2* 30) in order to offset the difference in cost.

edit: i can't do math

 

[Corporate Thug]

yup.

30/3.5 = 8.5 cents a mile
36/4.20 = 8.5 cents a mile

 

[LTC8K6]

Don't forget to factor in the cost of the diesel engine if it's a new car you are thinking about.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

good question OP. timely, too.

 

[Pliablemoose]

Don't forget to factor in the near $100 oil changes by the dealer if you have a VW.

 

[Billb2]

And compare the diesel's mileage to the gas car you would buy, not the car you have now.

Compare:
Cost of car:
Projected use years:
Projected miles driven:
* Cost of fuel:
Maintenance/depreciation/insurance, etc.:
To get total costs over life of car:

* All the people that did this calculation two years ago, and bought diesel cars, are now screwed by the unanticipated present cost of diesel fuel.

So the answer is that there is no answer.

The solution is to buy the car you need (not want!) keep it maintained and drive it appropriately. Then, at the end of it's life, you'll have only happy memories.

 

[aphex]

well right now its either keep my car for a few more years, or switch to a diesel so I think my comparison is ok.

 

[desy]

How much travel do you do
Diesels are better on HW drives , hybrids city, only VW and maybe a Jeep liberty are diesel in smaller vehicles.
How much do you want to spend?
In 3-4 yrs all electric might be an option
If you have a car that gets OK mileage I'd run the wheels off over the next few years until things shake out with all these fuel choices, technology and peak oil

 

[aphex]

Originally posted by: desy
How much travel do you do
Diesels are better on HW drives , hybrids city, only VW and maybe a Jeep liberty are diesel in smaller vehicles.
How much do you want to spend?
In 3-4 yrs all electric might be an option
If you have a car that gets OK mileage I'd run the wheels off over the next few years until things shake out with all these fuel choices, technology and peak oil

trying to stay around 20k, been waiting for more details on the new 09 Jetta TDI.

Commute is ~ 100 miles round trip a day, all highway.

Current car is an 05 Mazda 3s with 85k miles and starting to have issues, dunno how much more it can make it before major work.

 

[desy]

I pretty much keep my cars til they hit 200K miles but sounds like you want a new one.
If I did as many miles as you I'd consider a deisel too. My daily commute is only 35 miles.

 

[Pliablemoose]

I've owned 2 VW diesels, and have learned to hate the way VW markets diesels in the US, they treat us like stepchildren, and quite honesty, the product isn't good enough for it to even make my radar any longer.

When/if VW sells the 09' TDI's in the US, the dealers will be raping customers, and they'll be resold used for a premium for several years.

The other issue to consider is that modern diesels have much more sophisticated engine control systems than the diesels of old, and thus they're going to have about the same reliability/longevity as gasoline engines.

Now, if Honda or Toyota get around to selling a US market diesel, they'd have my attention.

If GM had a brain, they'd cut a deal with Isuzu to build a 4 cylinder diesel, but they're too damn busy pretending they can deliver the Volt.

Sounds like you're going to end up with a Corolla or a Civic

 

[alfa147x]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Don't forget to factor in the near $100 oil changes by the dealer if you have a VW.

are diesel engines harder to change oil ?

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: alfa147x

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Don't forget to factor in the near $100 oil changes by the dealer if you have a VW.

are diesel engines harder to change oil ?

The last generation of VW diesels called for synthetic diesel oil, the cars had an upper engine shroud, a belly pan & cartridge type oil filter.

The local oil change places refused to change the oil.

 

[alpineranger]

Diesels cost more to buy too.

 

[Colt45]

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose

Originally posted by: alfa147x

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Don't forget to factor in the near $100 oil changes by the dealer if you have a VW.

are diesel engines harder to change oil ?

The last generation of VW diesels called for synthetic diesel oil, the cars had an upper engine shroud, a belly pan & cartridge type oil filter.

The local oil change places refused to change the oil.

That's because the local oil change joint is incompetent as fuck. It's not a difficult thing to do...

 

[Pliablemoose]

Originally posted by: Colt45

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose

Originally posted by: alfa147x

Originally posted by: Pliablemoose
Don't forget to factor in the near $100 oil changes by the dealer if you have a VW.

are diesel engines harder to change oil ?

The last generation of VW diesels called for synthetic diesel oil, the cars had an upper engine shroud, a belly pan & cartridge type oil filter.

The local oil change places refused to change the oil.

That's because the local oil change joint is incompetent as fuck. It's not a difficult thing to do...

I had it down to 45 minutes, but it was a pain in the ass.

 

[dug777]

Do you get the Hyundai i30 in yankland?

Just curious is all, that comes with a dinky little diesel.

 

[drnickriviera]

Originally posted by: dug777
Do you get the Hyundai i30 in yankland?

Just curious is all, that comes with a dinky little diesel.

Ha, the only diesel sedan available over here is the Mercedes E320.

Every other freaking country in the world probably has a dozen models to choose from. All we get is an expensive POS.

 

[PingSpike]

With the price premium on diesel these days, and the small number of models available in the states(none of which I would consider economically priced) I don't think it really makes sense to buy a diesel anymore...if it ever did. Maybe if you're planning on burning french fry oil, or illegally running farm fuel in the thing.