This is old news.

Only the germans have been putting time and money into diesel to make it work.

The Japanese have given up on trying to produce / bring over the CTDi Civic and or Accord to the US..

And the Americans, who ONLY follow in the majority of fuel economy advances.. WONT even TOUCH deisel in the U.S until the Japanese make it mainstream.

Meanwhile..
Everyone has a diesel in the U.K (and the rest of the world), and everyone is getting by on mostly sub-2ltr motors, while the U.S just screws around by throwing buckets of money into the hybrid pit..

What a bunch of crap.

You make a nice point about fuel consumption numbers. But, having a smaller number for better fuel economy and a bigger for worse is not so bad, is it?

Sandals and going Vegan still has no fashion appeal to me much like the Prius. And i’ve never considered those emotionally dysfunctional basket cases (Hollywood actors) a blueprint for guidance on life.

Presumably if the Prius makes Toyota trendy, also making the Landcruiser and upcoming LF-A sports coupe makes them untrendy… or looking like hypocrites peddling spin!

I consider myself fortunate to have been a teenager during the transition, since I became comfortable working in both systems. Most of the time I think and work in metric, with one exception. When using Imperial measure, like Americans, we speak in miles per gallon–i.e. how far you can travel on a given amount of fuel–whereas in metric, we use litres per one hundred kilometres–i.e. how much fuel is required to travel a given distance. The first produces numbers like 32 and 36, the second numbers like 8.8 and 7.8. Maybe it’s a deficiency in my thought process, but I find it much easier to visualize being able to go four miles further with the very real gallon I have left in my tank (and that higher numbers are better), than to ponder that I’d need another four-fifths of a litre to reach an imaginary hundred kilometre mark (and that higher is worse).

It’s not “the SAME OLD THING” really. I own that, a 96 tdi, and can’t really say much for the powertrain asides from good early torque and fuel efficiency, everything else sucks. It is truly a weenie’s choice. The new tdi’s, especially the Golf, are sick. I’d say they’re actually smooth enough to give the 2.0T a run for it’s money. And I can’t say enough how much that interior impressed me, better than recent Audi’s IMO.

Preach it. It’s f#$kin’ retarded to hang onto imperial measure.

VW diesels are kinda cool I guess, save for the timing belts, but they ARE STILL VOLKSWAGENS.

And yes its a shame small diesels end up getting painted with that brush.

Gallons? Imperial gallons? Heres a thought. Why not convert to the Fing METRIC SYSTEM once and for all. Does anybody have any idea how much time and space is wasted by this stupidity? If I was Obama I would outlaw inch-only tape measures TOMORROW. Next time youre in your hardware store, try and find one with millimeters. We aint going to get smarter kids or more scientists and engineers until we do.

Why even bother over here?

PS. I like diesels, and I think new VW products feel nice on the road, but I’ll never try to depend on a VW.

Your co-worker needs to discover the wonderful world of VAG-COM.

And 10 meters from us, sits our president: ‘05 Prius: 0 problems so far.

At 42 now, if it was My Money, I’d shoot myself in the head with a Prius. Now, if it was Someone Else’s Money, I’d shoot myself in the foot with yet another VW product.

PS: owned ‘84 Fox, ‘88 Quantum wagon, ‘91 Golf, ‘97 Golf.

First diesel I’ve ever been in that really makes a case for compression ignition as a technology of choice. The manual transmission might have something to do with it, much better than the DSG equipped Jetta.

Your life is not in immediate danger either from the Golf, or the Prius …unless you go about licking battery terminals of course.

Chances are, something that you never would have gotten old enough to have to worry about in a previous generation.