Written by an environmental blogging enthusiast (reprinted with permission):
Regarding a discussion about advanced diesel as an immediate migration step for the US to reduce emissions, reduce petroleum consumption and to help boost the U.S. Economy…
In 2003 my bride and I spent a couple of weeks in Tuscany and Umbria exploring all the small towns by car. We reserved a diesel subcompact but when we arrived in Rome all they had available in diesel was a Citroen Picasso, a 7 person European style minivan with a turbo D and 5 speed manual tranny. Other than to and from Fiumicino all of our driving was on Italy’s fabulous 2 lane mountain roads and we averaged about 51 mpg equivalent driving a small bus. That was 10 years ago.
The Europeans are way ahead of us on diesel use. A bit of good news is that VW’s new plant in Chatanooga is building diesels for the US market. My older TDI gets about 54 mpg driving at 70, tank range is not quite 700 miles. Present fuel cost is about 7 cents a mile. My fuel cost to communte to and from work 25 miles RT from the farm to the shop and back is about $55 a month at the moment, less than $2 a day. I love diesel.