Diesels Account For Nearly A Quarter Of Volkswagen USA Sales In Q1 2012

+1 This is true. Just like, the more you drive, the more you benefit per MPG, the more gas costs, the more you benefit per MPG. For instance, I could trade in my 4 cylinder accord for a Challenger SRT-8 right now, and my yearly fuel costs would nearly double... But my commute is less than 20 miles daily, so I wouldn't feel it all that much. Now if gas shot up to 5,6, or 7 bucks a gallon, then we're talking real pain, even for the guy only drives his dually to and from the honky-tonk 2 miles away 3 time a week.

Sorry, I've seen all this before . . . in 1973 and again in 1980. In fact, in 1980, I even bought a diesel, based on predictions like the ones you recite . . . which turned out to be totally wrong. And the Audi diesel I bought was a disaster, although it did achieve a solid 30-35 mpg. Assuming equal reliability (a big if, considering the big promoters of diesels are German manufacturers with spotty reliability records), a person has to look very carefully at the kind of driving he does and purchase accordingly, and also note the price difference between diesel fuel and gasoline. Diesels are unbeatable on the highway, and, if that's what most of your driving is, diesel is the way to go. Otherwise, hybrids seem to be the better choice. But its important to remember that the type of vehicle has at least as big an impact on fuel economy, with large SUVs and CUVs being the worse and small Ford Focus/Chevy Cruze sized cars being the best. And as an aside, assume that the government eliminates the tax credits, percentage depletion allowance, etc. that oil companies get, what makes you think that the companies are going to make their shareholders take the hit, as opposed to simply doing what businesses do with any other tax -- pass it through to the customer? The reality is that the "end tax breaks for big oil" is just another way for the government to suck more tax dollars out of your pocket and mine, albeit indirectly, using "big oil" as the tax collector.

@DC Bruce I'm not touching the political argument here, because it could go on forever and it's a polarizing distraction from our common love: cars. If this thread is still around in five years, one of us can tell the other I told you so. Ha! Just remember, my point was more that many of the people buying diesels aren't simply too stupid to have done the math as many commenters seem to conclude. They just believe gas will continue to become more expensive, which is, at the very least, a real possibility. If they're right, they'll have made a great decision by buying a diesel. If they're wrong, it's pretty much a financial draw.

@DC Bruce "Just remember, my point was more that many of the people buying diesels aren’t simply too stupid to have done the math as many commenters seem to conclude." This isn't true at least from my experience. You wouldn't believe the mental gymnastics people will go through in order to justify a new toy purchase. A co-worker bought a brand new Jetta TDI to "save money on gas" instead of driving his paid for Honda Pilot. He still has the Pilot but it sits in his driveway most days. $23K buys a LOT of gas for that Pilot.

@DC Bruce Ubermensch I'll agree with that. One guy I worked with bought a brand new Cobalt to drive to work so he wouldn't spend so much money on his gas guzzling Expedition. He did not, however, sell the expedition.