Like many of you, both the long-term rise in gasoline prices and the recent spike supposedly caused by supply shortages have got me thinking about fuel economy.
I've been driving a Dodge Caravan for the last year. Not by choice, but because it gets better mileage than our Toyota Tundra, and I drive about 15 miles each way to work. It's not that much driving, as things go, particularly for California.
We bought the van when we were working farmer's markets and needed a second vehicle that could hold tables, a canopy, boxes of veggies, and buckets of cut flowers.
It's a big, gas-guzzling, lousy handling beast. I don't particularly like American cars, at least anything built since 1970, and driving the Caravan every day reminds me why: it doesn't feel like it was designed to last.
Before we had the Caravan, my car was a 1994 Honda Civic sedan. I drove that car for 10 years. It never had any major problems. 7 years in, I had to replace the CV joints and the clutch. That's not bad for a car with over 100,000 miles at the time. It got pretty decent gas mileage - in the mid to high 30s on long road trips, low 30s around town.
My wife hated it. The car was very low to the ground, and she always said "it's like riding with your butt on the ground." But even for a sedan, it cornered like a demon, you could turn around on a dime, and the dinky little 4-cylinder had some guts to it when it really needed to.
Now I'm seriously thinking about selling the Caravan and buying a more fuel-efficient car. I'd like a sedan again, maybe a wagon, if it drives decently. But aside from nice handling and fuel economy, I want to feel good about what I'm buying. For me, that means no American vehicles, and it gives me few options.
Unfortunately, since the state of California wussed out on mandating zero-emission vehicles, the electric car market has disappeared. For a few years, you could lease (but never buy) a few kinds of electric cars from major manufacturers: Toyota, Ford and others. Those cars are all discontinued now and good luck finding a used one.
Option 1: Hybrid gas-electric vehicles
Given that I want a sedan or wagon, am point-blank refusing to look at American models, and am concerned about fuel economy, this boils down to two options:
- Toyota Prius
- Honda Civic
Both of these purport to get mileage of at least 50MPG. Their electric-gas hybrid engines are of different designs. Both of them are insanely complicated to me, but you can't argue with all the happy people who own them. Prius owners in particular are very happy with their cars.
One point is that the Prius is only available with automatic or continuously variable transmissions. The Honda can come with manual or automatic gears.
Obviously both of these vehicles burn regular gasoline.
Option 2: Diesel vehicles
Unlike Europe and Australia, where almost all of the cars sold come in diesel or gasoline engine options, we here in the US are screwed. Most diesel engines sold in the US are low-MPG, high torque, truck engines.
The only real option for diesel passenger cars in the US is Volkswagen. You can get their Golf, Jetta, Jetta Wagon and Passat all with turbocharged diesel engines.
The engine in the Golf and Jetta, paired with a manual transmission, gets somewheere in Mere between 42 and 49 miles per gallon.
I'm still trying to determine if you can actually buy a new diesel from Volkswagen in California. The nearest dealer to me is 2 hours away in Santa Rosa. There are certainly used models available, which I'm not opposed to.
The interesting thing for me with a diesel engine is that it gives me the option of burning biodiesel. I've found a local producer of 100% biodiesel here in Mendocino County. The cost right now is higher than petrochemical diesel, but it's made entirely from renewable bio feedstock, and supposedly burns much cleaner than petro diesel.
I'm very attracted by the ability to basically flip a giant finger at the oil industry and drive a car that's powered by american agriculture. If that isn't patriotic, what is?
I haven't yet test driven any of these cars. Again, the dealers are all 2 hours away so we'll have to schedule a weekend trip to the auto dealers in Santa Rosa.
Anyone who owns these vehicles, or has an opinion on them, please drop me some comments.
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Someone has mentioned biodiesel from algae? That sounds a bit interesting, perhaps all our cars will be swimming with the ooze from algae soon...just kidding
I found a site that actually is devoted to the topic of biodiesel from algae - oilgae.com it calls itself
Ec
As you pointed out, biodiesel is right now costlier than petro-diesel and is likely to remain so for quite a while, unless of course the doomsday scenarios for oil turn out to be true...but biodiesel is certainly exciting, even if only in a niche sense, because of the assistance it provides local farmers and at least raises the hopes of lesser dependence on middle east oil
The prices on biodiesel are however likely to come down if some of the scientific explorations actually bear fruit. For instance, there are experiments being done on using oil from algae as biodiesel, and from plants such as jatropha...if experiments such as these are successful on a large-scale, biodiesel could well compete successfully with petro-diesel, and in significant volumes too, since yields of algae biodiesel are likely to be over 200 times as those for conventional crops such as palm oil, soybean, corn etc...
One good site for biodiesel info is the Biodiesel WWW Encyclopedia from Castor Oil Online
Vic, BPO
Jetta Fan:
You can buy VW diesel passenger cars in California. You just can't buy them new. They have to be used, with over 7500 miles. Don't ask me why, it makes no sense - you can purchase a brand new Ford, Chevy or Dodge diesel-powered truck that gets 10mpg here, but you can't buy a new Golf, Jetta or Passat.
In regard to other posts here, I've driven a non-hybrid Civic for years. Yes, they get good gas mileage. No, they don't have enough space for a family.
I've driven a Prius now and I think I could really like that car. It's got more space than the hybrid (or regular) Civic, and certainly more trunk space.
I have yet to drive a TDI Jetta or Passat, but looking at the inside of a Jetta here in my work parking lot, I'm inclined to believe that it has about as much room as a Civic. I'd probably look at a Passat TDI instead.
All of this is academic anyway, as currently I don't have the $25-30k available to purchase any of these cars.
sorry for the double post, but it is in response to the first comment. particultes have been way cut down and are now much cleaner as apposed to normal gasoline. almost equal to a hybrid now. the diesel is a better choice due to price and the small wieght because they dont have a huge electric motor to lug around.
You cannot get a diesel powered car (unless it is a commericial truck) in californa, vermont, and new york due to some stupid laws. They will change soon when they find that they are missing out on some good clean burning cars.
hybrids
I've looked at it, but I have a wife, a dog and frequently pack more than 2 people into the car on weekends. If it was just my commuter car I would seriously consider th Insight.
Roger
hybrids
If you are travelling alone, consider the Honda enlight, only two seats but a lot more fuel efficient because its so light.
Jetta
I believe it is a 2002. One of the nice looking ones, V6, not TDI. The new 2006 Jetta's are pretty horrendous from the outside, lost all sense of what made them "cool" in the first place. Substantially larger, too.
Thanks for the neat trivia on Diesel, amazing! Like so many other things that got squashed by big oil.
BTW, a thread about diesel in north america started on a bike board I frequent. Has some interesting info and links:
http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=11264
local
One thing that people don't really understand about the diesel engine is that Rudolph Diesel intended the engine to be run on vegetable oil. All of his engines were designed to run on peanut oil. All diesel engines until the 1920s ran on some sort of vegetatively produced oil.
It wasn't until the 1920s and the rise of the original oil cartels that diesel engines were altered to run on petrochemical diesel fuel.
Thanks for the info on VW reliability. What year Jetta does your sister have?
Unfortunately due to my remote location pretty much any dealer service is 1.5-2 hours away no matter what car I buy.
Driving on the roads I commute on is pretty safe. But on much of Highway 1, and all of the backroads I drive, there are NO shoulders. I think you have to be a seriously crazy bicyclist to ride on roads with blind curves and no shoulders...
Roger
Just some thoughts
I am compelled by the ability upgrade your Prius so you can plug it in and charge it overnight. In this way you use very very little gas. I don't know the details, but check out http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/05/commercial_retr.html and http://www.gizmag.com/go/3945/
Euro vs. American Diesel
According to the VW website, they sell Golf, Jetta and Passat models in the US with their TDI diesel engines. I've found them for sale on used car sites like autotrader.com and ebaymotors.com.
Roger
local
I was leaning to the VW TDIs myself recently after getting more of the facts on them and hybrids.
I really like the local aspect of your biodiesel provider. That is huge in itself as transport of any product is energetically costly (not to mention the valid sociological and political reasons you mention). I also like that is is generated from waste which means that less energy (and land) likely goes into its production. Look up problems with current ethanol fuel schemes to see how wrong things can go when you balance the energy equation of alternative fuels. In a nutshell, you can end up putting in more fossil fuel energy to grow, harvest and refine ethanol than you get back.
Good luck with your search. And sorry to hear you commute on such dangerous roads. Please take care and stay alert while driving.
PS don't mean to throw a monkey wrench in your decision, but I ended up not going with VW after much googling and interrogation of family with VWs uncovered excessively poor reliability and terrible dealer servicing. VWs appear prone to electrical system gremlins. My sister has brought her Jetta in 3 times for a failed engine coil and 3 times for a faulty airbag reset switch in addition to several other smaller annoyances. Bottom line is expect to be brining it in regularly if you are unlucky and be sure to get the extended warranty.
Euro vs. American Diesel
The main difference between availability of diesel cars in Europe and in the US is the fuel itself. "Common Rail" diesel engines found in Europe require a much lower level of sulphur in the fuel than the old-fashioned ones in the US. US refiners are supposed to transition to this low-sulphur fuel over the next N years (7? 10?). Until that happens, not much chance of getting that spiffy Volkswagen. Of course, the other thing is that European fuel taxes are MUCH higher on gasoline than they are on diesel, hence driving demand for the diesel vehicles.
Just some thoughts
I didn't really go into the details, but the car will be my commute car. I live in Coastal California, four hours north of San Francisco, and the drive from my house is about 4 miles of twisty two-lane road and then 10 miles straight down Highway 1 to Mendocino from Fort Bragg.
Even if I was inclined to ride a bike to work - these would be two of the most dangerous bicycle roads I could think of. So that's pretty much out of the question.
Public transit in rural california is a joke. There is a thrice-a-day bus that will take you from Fort Bragg to Santa Rosa in about 5 hours. It doesn't go down Highway 1.
The more I think about hybrids, the less I am inclined to get one, simply because of the cost, the complicated engine, and the batteries.
I am leaning more towards a diesel, and running it entirely on 100% biodiesel. Some talking points on biodiesel:
• It can simply be put into the fuel tank of a diesel engine as-is. It can also be mixed with regular petrodiesel.
• The use of biodiesel significantly reduces the amount of emissions that contribute to ozone and smog. These emissions also cause acid rain, cancer, and respiratory diseases. It is ten times less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as fast as sugar.
• Biodiesel has 80% less carbon dioxide emissions than petrodiesel.
• Carbon monoxide emissions are an average 44% lower than petrodiesel.
• When using pure biodiesel (B100), the cancer risk of diesel exhaust is reduced by 94%, and by 27% when using a biodiesel blend (B20-20% biodiesel, 80% petroleum-based diesel).
• The smog-forming potential is nearly 50% less than petroleum-based diesel.
• For every one unit needed to produce biodiesel, 3.24 units of energy are gained-the highest energy balance of any fuel.
Aside from all that, the biggest factor for me here is that the biodiesel I'm looking at is produced locally in Mendocino County, and it's made by using agricultural waste that is generated locally.
To me, that's a huge deal - no imported oil, local labor means the money stays local, and I'm using the products of local farmers.
Roger
Just some thoughts
What kind of driving will it be used for? Mostly single occupant commuting? Will it need to haul on occasion? Kids? Frequency of those events?
The answers to these questions may point to solutions not on your list. If you drive less, and use a bike or public transit, you could maybe scale back on your aggressive mileage criteria. Maybe a conventional gas wagon or small van could be purchased and used sparingly for family outings and such. I don't know about where you live, but here 80% of people live less than 5 km from their place of work. Over 90% of their car trips are used to get them to work and back, with no other occupants or cargo. Insanely inefficient and seriously less fun than a bike!
Regarding your listed choices, consider that a non-hybrid Civic gets GREAT mileage and that in actual driving conditions the hybrids fall well short of the EPA tests specs. The upshot of the Prius is how relatively clean its emissions are. But keep in mind that these are new technology cars, the batteries will likely need replacing at significant expense to you and the environment and that the amount of money you save in gas will likely never be recouped from the higher initial purchase cost of the vehicle.
Diesel is a hard one. They produce more "local" pollution such as NOx and particulates, contributing to smog and all its evils, but dramatically less greenhouse gasses. Also, from the perspective of energy conservation, much less energy goes into refining diesel so it is somewhat less wasteful even before it reaches your tank.