If the price of diesel was lower than gasoline's would you still buy a Prius?

Here is the 'short' version of why I bought a Prius.
http://priuschat.com/forums/gen-iii...rs-most-when-comes-your-prius.html#post986000

Mileage is 5th on that list. Diesel fails the first item, I can't buy a diesel hybrid smaller than this, that I know of, and it is not legal on public roads.

Komatsu America Corp. - Equipment - 730E

While this technically qualifies on 1, 2, and 3, it was not on my list of hybrids to consider.

 

We have a VW diesel New Beetle that has given us no problems. It is an automatic by choice (my wife's car) so its mileage isn't as great as it could be but it still gives consistently about 48mpg on the road. Our overall average driving is more like 30 - 32mpg with most miles at city speeds. During the first part of this year diesel fuel prices were lower than gasoline for the first time in quite awhile but that has now turned around and they are higher. It is easy to find fueling stations for the car in our area so we don't have to go to truck stops.

We just bought a new Gen III Prius rather than a second VW TDI. I have been very interested in getting an electric vehicle but at this point there are none that are affordable and will do what we want, so the Prius is sort of a compromise. It pretty much does what I want a car to do and also is fun to drive. And its mileage in town is a lot better than that of the VW.

I guess I'll go cast a "yes" vote.

 

Right now diesel is about 14 cents/gallon higher here, about 6% more than gasoline. That's been fairly normal in recent years although rarely diesel is a little less expensive and at times it has been WAY more expensive.

If/when the economy recovers the long haul truckers and other commercial/industrial transportation needs will soon drive up the relative cost of diesel again. It is more sensitive to economic conditions than gasoline consumption.

If the U.S. were to convert any significant portion of the personal vehicle fleet to diesel, then the relative pricing of diesel would move even higher over the long haul. Such a switch in demand would also depress gasoline prices further moving the ratio in gasoline's favor. That sort of imbalance could be expected to last a decade. Refining projects of that scale take time and tend to lag, awaiting market confirmation before getting underway. The pace can be glacial.

On the other hand, I suspect we will be seeing continued reduction in gasoline demand with or without growth of diesel demand. So from a refining perspective, gasoline appears to be a better longterm bet for the consumer.

 

Ford have just started promoting themselves in Australia as the green car maker because they just released the Ford Fiesta ECOnetic Diesel. This is a tiny car which uses 3.7 L/100km of diesel fuel against the roomy Prius at 3.9 L/100km.
Diesel isn't quite there yet.
http://www.ford.com.au/servlet/Cont...e=FOA/DFYPage/Ford-Default&site=FOA&c=DFYPage

 

My friend at work has a Volkswagen Beetle, which only gets 44mpg diesel. My 2012 Prius III during break in period 3 tank full is avg. between 49.6 and 54 mpg combined driving, enough said.

 

My vote would have been YES a couple of days ago but with the rattle issues I'm getting in my Prius, now, I would say, NO.

I considered a Jetta TDI instead of the Prius because my commute is long and mostly HWY. I test drove both cars many times and I found that Prius gets better MPG in the city or hwy but the gap is very narrow in the hwy. Depending on cruising speed, the Jetta TDI can deliver better hwy mileage than the Prius (the Prius tend to get disproportionably strong MPG hits after 70 MPH). I would likely not be frustrated right now with rattle noises if I got the TDI instead but since I intend to drive this car 40K/year up to 4 years, the Jetta would potentially give me a lot more maintenance problems down in the road.

So, if a TDI from a more reliable source other than VW was available… No.

 

Actually no, not enough said. Differences in driving style can easily exceed that spread.

I'm not disagreeing with your conclusion, only with the reasoning behind it.

 

Tough call... I love the diesel engine and it's longevity. The old Mercedes diesels are well known for hitting a million miles. How about a diesel hybrid? THAT would definitely be one that I would ponder.

 

This is a personal opinion poll. He was giving his very own opinion. It was enough said to explain HIS opinion on it.

Not every posting here should have to say YMMV - we all know that.

 

Hi Shawn, it probably depends on where the consumer is located. For me, it's kind of the inverse of your situation. On rare occasions, diesel is a little more expensive but it's generally less expensive and sometimes way less expensive. Diesel has been more expensive for only about 5 months out of the 5 years that I have owned my car. That was winter 2006 IIRC, which was the first winter with ULSD. I'm not sure if that was the cause, however. Gasoline is probably the better longterm bet for most consumers, however I would place my bets on diesel if I'm the consumer.

 

Oh, now you done it! It is really going to throw things off. Suggest you have a friend or spouse come on and vote "yes". That will wash out your "no" vote. Then have another friend come on and vote "yes". That should set things straight in your mind that the right amount of "yes" votes were cast. You'll be all right with the world then----and the survey.:cheer2:

 

With my current situation (mostly city/ slow commute highway driving) the Prius was the right choice. Please continue to tell me all the bad things about diesel though...I still lust after the Audi A3 TDI and they are not even here yet!

 

Even though a Prius would be "my car", I expect that my daughter/son might have to drive it sometime - emergency. I can't imagine forcing anyone to use diesel if they are not already familiar with it.

There are a lot more 24 hour gas stations than diesel stations.

There is just all these explaining to do. Don't use the regular pump, make sure they sell diesel. If you can't find it go to a more truck stop kind of place.

I want a car I can hand off to anybody in a jiffy. And if I were to get a personal car for myself, just for fun, I would get something preppier than a diesel.

With a gas car, I can just say, "here son/daughter, I know your car broke down, why don't you go camping with my car." Instead of "be sure you fill up before you reach the campground, ask the camp people, before the office closes, where the nearest diesel station is. Make sure they know the difference between a gas station and a gas station that sells diesel."

 

Now that you mentioned it... I was really excited about the new A3 TDI but I needed a FE car quickly back in June, so I got the Prius. As much as I like driving my Prius, all the rattles I'm hearing on it everyday and the cheap interior feeling caused by it has caused me to wonder if I should have waited for the A3 TDI. Now it's too late. The basic Audi A3 is not that much more expensive than what I paid for my Prius, which aggravates my frustration a little bit. Actually the base A3 TDI is just a tad more expensive than a Prius V with NAV but without AT package, believe or not. The A3 TDI is rated 42 MPG for hwy, but EPA hwy estimates for TDI engines are typically underestimate. I drive 98% hwy and I bet I could do better than EPA.

I have driven many luxury cars before, not mine per se, but let's just say a very close friend of mine can afford changing luxury cars frequently... and nothing feels like an Audi in my opinion...

Beautiful...

 

My other car(truck) is a Diesel. Love it for what I need it for. It gets over 20mpg on the highway, when not pulling my trailer. Not too bad for 8000+ lbs.

 

Let's put it this way:

If Toyota made a diesel, I might consider one...

Since, at this time, the only non-truck diesel's being offered in the U.S are VW and the newly introduced Audi (which in my estimation is just an upscale VW), I'd have to say no...

Moreover, in Florida hybrids can get stickers to travel with one person in the HOV lanes. Diesel drivers do not get this option.

 

In many vehicles Diesels make more sense. For Instance My C3500 Duramax will get 18 MPG. Same truck with a gas motor get's about 10 or so. The Diesel option was $5,000 more in 01. When Diesel was cheaper than gas, you could drive a Diesel truck for about half of the fuel cost of a gas truck.
How many gas 18 wheelers, trains and big boats etc. have you seen?
The bigger the vehicle, the more sense Diesel makes

 

I won't argue with that. My next truck will definately be a diesel. If they every get the small cube (4.5L) diesels into 1/2 ton trucks I'm so there. For my work I simply do not need a 7,000lb 3/4 or 1 ton truck.