Intellichoice: Hybrids Save Money After All

almost the same around here. diesel is sometimes cheaper than premium, at times nearly as low as midgrade, but i cant remember the last time it was even close to regular unleaded.

around here, the gas never got over $3.05, but diesel did get to $3.79 briefly. right now (i admit i dont comparison shop diesel but do pass two stations every day) its $2.79 (unleaded regular is $2.43) and dropping nearly daily so to say it doesnt change as fast as gas is not really true either

in fact, i fully expect both to be lower again today. i read on the national news that the price of unleaded regular is near $2 a gallon... well, THAT is what i am waiting for. last time it made a run at $2, i think the lowest it got here was about $2.25 or so.

 

Jim, I happen to be thinking about moving to NJ so I already had these numbers from the DOE for the Central Atlantic Region (NY, PA, NJ, MD, DE). This is the average price per gallon for the last 10 years.

Regular Conventional ------- $1.629
Regular Reformulated ------ $1.639
Midgrade Conventional ---- $1.701
Diesel #2 ----------------------$1.713
Midgrade Reformulated-----$1.744
Premium Conventional -----$1.802
Premium Reformulated -----$1.821

It seems that for your region, diesel sells for the price of Midgrade. I’m not saying that your city isn’t higher, after all these numbers are averages so some are higher, some are lower. Also, the MidAtlantic and Northeast regions have some of the highest prices for diesel because so many people rely on fuel oil for the winter heating season. Fuel oil, kerosene, Jet A, and diesel #2 all come the same heavier elements of crude oil, so the prices are tied together and they all go up in the winter. While diesel may be more than gas for you, it’s not the case for a lot of the country.

Dave has a good point too. Until I purchased our VW, I though that diesel was more that regular gas too. When I started to do some research and look at the DOE numbers I found out that in my area diesel is a little less on average than regular.

Diesel can vary quite a bit from station to station. The gas stations that I usually go to routinely sell diesel for 10 to 15% more than the truck stops on the highway. I also found that the local Wal-Mart sells diesel for within a couple cents of the truck stops so I fuel up there because it much more convenient. So it pays to shop around a bit.

 

Prius vs Jetta TDI

The right car for one situation is the wrong car for another situation. Som figures from a danish point of view (EU mileage standards):

------------- Prius Jetta TDI aut. Jetta TDI man.
Price(dkk).. 389000 ...... 366000 ....... 326000
Mpg,highway..... 56 .......... 46 ........... 53
Mpg,city ....... 47 .......... 30 ........... 35
Tax(dkk)/year . 520 ........ 4500 ......... 3220

With a gasoline price of 10 kr/l (7,5$/gallon) and a diesel price of 9 kr/l (6,8$/gallon), a manual Jetta TDI is slightly cheaper to drive on the highway than a Prius, while a Prius is 17% cheaper in the city.

I chose the Prius although I admit that I would have saved quite a lot if I chose a gasoline Jetta or a manual TDI version. But I wanted an automatic and a gasoline Jetta with a traditional aut. rules itself out by having a city mileage figure of 21 mpg, less than half of what the Prius is measured to do.

The Jetta TDI with a manual transmission could have been a good choice if I did mostly highway driving, but most days I barely get out of the city, which is why a want an automatic.

The Jetta TDI aut. is slightly cheaper to buy but it will end up being more expensive to own and it would produce significantly more CO2 than a Prius.

I guess when I (and my Prius) retire in about 15 years time, VW will have a Hybrid TDI aut. which will beat todays Prius on fuel economy, but by then I probably cannot afford it.