Diesel vs. Hybrid

[jerry33]

You might have a been quite unlucky with your VW. I had 2 Audi TDI (A3 and A4), and the first had no problem at all and I sold it at 75000 Miles because I wanted a bigger car. The second one, the A4, had only minor electrical issues and it has reached 70000 miles and counting.
In average, I get 60 MPG out of the A4 and was getting 65 MPG out of the A3. So I don't think it is that far from the numbers you give.
And here in Europe Diesel is 30 Euro cent cheaper per liter than petrol.

I never drove a Prius, so won't comment on the fun factor.

1. I'm talking U.S. gallons, not Imperial gallons which are quite a bit larger. Check that your 65 mpg isn't in Imperial gallons.

2. I might have been unlucky, but then so were my three co-workers who also bought VWs. I kept mine a couple of years longer than they did. VW fooled me once but never again--not ever.

3. And yes, diesel is cheaper in Europe. They pay for it with a higher rate of lung cancer. And clean diesel won't help here because it's the very small particles that do the damage. Clean diesel just removes the larger particles.

[sp4rk]

So if what I am reading is correct, in the UK, people should be falling like flies with lung cancer?

I drive my Diesel car when there ... a 2012 Mitsubishi. But park it outside.

When taking routine morning walk I can smell damp diesel in the air.

So that is a carcinogen? Pun intended.

Brilliant.

So in the USA, just as well that Diesel never caught on?

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

3. And yes, diesel is cheaper in Europe. They pay for it with a higher rate of lung cancer. And clean diesel won't help here because it's the very small particles that do the damage. Clean diesel just removes the larger particles.

No. DPFs remove the larger particles and some of the smaller particles. Small particulates are produced by gasoline and diesel ICEs. If CARB had guts they'd be insisting all vehicles have filters to remove the finer particulates. Not going to happen.

We'll find out on the lung cancer when virtually all of the pre-Euro V vehicles have been removed from the fleet since that would dramatically clean up the average emissions.