Quit your bitchin'!

[IrishGolfer]

I just worked something out.

I fill my tank every week with 60 litres of diesel. That gets me ~600 miles so that is 10 miles per litre. It costs me £1.27 per litre, so that is £76 or in your money about $150. I am averaging ~45mpg (imperial gallons) or 38mpg (US gallons). I drive a VW Passat TDi.

Now if I lived in the US, and commuted 600 miles per week, I would need 15.85 gallons (US), which averaging $4 pg that would cost me $63.4.

So I am paying 2.4 times what you guys are paying!! So quit crying about how expensive "gas" is. Puleeessseeee!

[Eracer]

You poor sots haven't been bitching loud enough!

[BigJim13]

Originally Posted by IrishGolfer

I just worked something out.

I fill my tank every week with 60 litres of diesel. That gets me ~600 miles so that is 10 miles per litre. It costs me £1.27 per litre, so that is £76 or in your money about $150. I am averaging ~45mpg (imperial gallons) or 38mpg (US gallons). I drive a VW Passat TDi.

Now if I lived in the US, and commuted 600 miles per week, I would need 15.85 gallons (US), which averaging $4 pg that would cost me $63.4.

So I am paying 2.4 times what you guys are paying!! So quit crying about how expensive "gas" is. Puleeessseeee!

This may seem like a stupid question, and forgive me for not knowing more about this situation "across the pond" but why a diesel engine?

[mont86]

Maybe the people bitching make less money then you?

It all depends on a individuals situation.No matter what
I think everyone can agree the price of fuel is too high.

[Adam Pettman]

Originally Posted by BigJim13

This may seem like a stupid question, and forgive me for not knowing more about this situation "across the pond" but why a diesel engine?

More economical, better mpg.

[IrishGolfer]

Europeans are ahead of the US in terms of diesel acceptance. About 12 years ago diesel technology changed from being dirty, clunky, slow drivetrains to being higher performance, less pollution, noise etc. The turbo diesel injection technology has become the norm in Europe and there is as many cars driving with diesel as petrol (gas). One can now get a lot more MPG using a diesel than petrol, which makes sense for longer commuters like myself. Initially diesel was cheaper than petrol, but that has swapped over the past few years.

I know that diesel is slowly being adopted in US, but will probably never be as popular as it is in Europe.

A stated before though my view is that HEV and PHEV will grow in stature over the next 10 years. The car of the future will be an EV with a small 1L diesel motor which will act to charge the batteries. So the drivetrain will be driven by battery technology alone. I can also see the adoption of other forms of energy such as Supercapicitors and Hydrogen as complimentary sources to the battery and fossil fuel.

[Eracer]

Have you seen this? More cowbells!

Blind advocates lobby for noisier hybrid cars | Tech news blog - CNET News.com

[SiberianDVM]

Diesel here in Augusta is selling for $4.68 per gallon. Ouch.

Diesels stink, I don't care how you try to disguise it.

Diesels belong in over the road trucks, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. Not in automobiles.

Just think how healthy you would be if you rode a bicycle those 600 miles a week.

[Eracer]

Originally Posted by SiberianDVM

Diesels stink, I don't care how you try to disguise it.

Diesels belong in over the road trucks, tanks, and armored personnel carriers. Not in automobiles.

I disagree. I rented a Land Rover LR3 in Scotland that was powered by a diesel. It had decent power, wasn't noisy, didn't stink, started right up, even on the coldest (40-deg F) days, and got 25 mpg packed with people and luggage. I thought it was a great engine.

[eclark53520]

Diesel powerplants have come a long way from the old days!

Plus, the power those engines deliver is fantastic while still acheiving great fuel mileage

I use my neighbors 2008 F350 Superduty truck with the turbo diesel V8 whenever i need to haul something or pull the boat, the power of that truck never ceases to amaze me. And rock, before you shun him for being an engergy glutton, he owns tree cutting business on the side of his dayjob and actually needs a truck like this to get his work done. He drives a late 80's Toyota something or other his day job.

[SiberianDVM]

The diesels I get stuck behind in traffic do stink. The only thing worse is a smelly cigar,

Where's the barf smiley?

[warbirdlover]

Europeans are ahead of the US in terms of diesel acceptance. About 12 years ago diesel technology changed from being dirty, clunky, slow drivetrains to being higher performance, less pollution, noise etc. The turbo diesel injection technology has become the norm in Europe and there is as many cars driving with diesel as petrol (gas). One can now get a lot more MPG using a diesel than petrol, which makes sense for longer commuters like myself. Initially diesel was cheaper than petrol, but that has swapped over the past few years.

I know that diesel is slowly being adopted in US, but will probably never be as popular as it is in Europe.

A stated before though my view is that HEV and PHEV will grow in stature over the next 10 years. The car of the future will be an EV with a small 1L diesel motor which will act to charge the batteries. So the drivetrain will be driven by battery technology alone. I can also see the adoption of other forms of energy such as Supercapicitors and Hydrogen as complimentary sources to the battery and fossil fuel.

IrishGolfer

One of the things Europe has done is change the diesel engine oil standards also. This was part of the total "package" necessary to get the technology to where it is.

Not many stations in the US sell diesel currently and the auto makers here haven't really pursued it for autos. I think they're gonna try to make that saltwater burn... 50 years from now.

[Rockford35]

I haven't bitched once.

In fact, I believe gas should be twice as expensive as it is now. That would make reality hit people faster that it is now.

R35

[blackxpress]

Originally Posted by SiberianDVM

The diesels I get stuck behind in traffic do stink. The only thing worse is a smelly cigar,

Where's the barf smiley?

I'll bet the ones you get stuck behind in traffic are not TDI diesels. I had a 99 VW Jetta TDI (wish I had it back). It got 50 mpg, ran really strong and the only time it ever smelled was when you first started it up on a cold winter morning. Once it got warmed up it didn't smell any worse than a gasoline powered car. But we digress.

No one disagrees that fuel prices are a lot higher in Europe than they are in the US. It's been that way for years. I would bet if IrishGolfer is commuting 600 miles per week, IrishGolfer is driving a whole lot more than the average Irish driver. The point is, on average, Americans drive a lot more miles than Europeans by necessity. This is a huge country and most of us are not served by adequate public transportation. We can't walk to the store or ride a bicycle to work. The distances are too great. Unless we live in a major city like NYC we can't take the subway or ride the bus. Even our relatively low fuel costs compared to European prices are still a major burden to us at $4.00 per gallon. We have to drive.

I was in Korea 12 years ago and their fuel costs were high even then. The difference was that their country is small and they have an excellent public transportation system. If I lived there I wouldn't even own a car. You can go from city to city on the bullet train and, once there, the bus will take you anywhere you need to go. If gas gets too expensive for the Koreans to afford it, they have a simple solution. DON'T DRIVE! We Americans, on the other hand, do not have that option.

[Rockford35]

Originally Posted by blackxpress

I'll bet the ones you get stuck behind in traffic are not TDI diesels. I had a 99 VW Jetta TDI (wish I had it back). It got 50 mpg, ran really strong and the only time it ever smelled was when you first started it up on a cold winter morning. Once it got warmed up it didn't smell any worse than a gasoline powered car. But we digress.

No one disagrees that fuel prices are a lot higher in Europe than they are in the US. It's been that way for years. I would bet if IrishGolfer is commuting 600 miles per week, IrishGolfer is driving a whole lot more than the average Irish driver. The point is, on average, Americans drive a lot more miles than Europeans by necessity. This is a huge country and most of us are not served by adequate public transportation. We can't walk to the store or ride a bicycle to work. The distances are too great. Unless we live in a major city like NYC we can't take the subway or ride the bus. Even our relatively low fuel costs compared to European prices are still a major burden to us at $4.00 per gallon. We have to drive.

I was in Korea 12 years ago and their fuel costs were high even then. The difference was that their country is small and they have an excellent public transportation system. If I lived there I wouldn't even own a car. You can go from city to city on the bullet train and, once there, the bus will take you anywhere you need to go. If gas gets too expensive for the Koreans to afford it, they have a simple solution. DON'T DRIVE! We Americans, on the other hand, do not have that option.

While I agree with 100% of your points, the fact that we (yes, Canada too) have spoiled ourselves by not paying attention to such rises in costs when it comes to the distances that are needed to cover to get from point A to point B. It's nice to live in a suburb with a nice big lawn and a huge yard, but it's not necessary.

If it's a huge aspect of your life that you can't live without, then you have no right to complain about your need for fuel, no matter what the costs are.

It's tough to have your cake and eat it too, because we've been gorging ourselves on vast quantities of cake for years without thinking of the repercussions.

Again, all we can do is point a finger in the mirror.

R35