Diesel Soars, Resale Plummets

My Jeep Liberty CRD seems to be still holding its value ok here on the left coast. Thank you CARB for suppressing supply. Compared to 87-O Gas it is still slightly cheaper to run right now than the gas version of the Liberty. With both the CRD and the TDI you will get royally hosed on trade-in. The pricing methodology that dealers use really gives short shift to diesels when they share a platform with a gas variant the depreicates. I would not want to own a post 2007 emissions diesel with its higher under hood temps, increased complexity and lower fuel economy. Using the early 80s adaption of emissions control technology on gas engines as a benchmark it will be 3-5+ years until they the engine OEMs figure out how to meet emissions with the same economy. Larger construction & Utility fleets also have real class 5-8 trucks and other equipment for when they have to move some serious stuff.

It's funny to see all my fellow TDI'ers jumping to the defense of their favorites; after all, the sole reference for this story is PICKUPTRUCKS.com. That said, I'll talk about TDI prices, because I have no idea about, or interest in, pickup prices. I've been astonished lately to see what's happened to the resale large gas-powered cars. Recently I saw an '03 Passat Wagon stickered at $8,900, just about what I paid for my used '02 Beetle TDI. When new, the Passat sold for about $10K more than my car. Checking random listings tells me I might have paid up to $12K for my Beetle TDI if I hadn't shopped so carefully (picking a lime-green, anti-macho car that was languishing on a lot in rural Texas). Yesterday I saw an '01 Audi Allroad, begging for $12k in the rear window. Those were Audi's flagships, selling new for over $40k, meaning you could have bought two Beetle TDIs for their price, back in the day. My, how the mighty have fallen!

P.S.- In the interest of clarity and truthiness, let's establish a new measure of fuel economy in practice. Instead of quoting us your fuel price and, separately, your mpg, let's all do the math before posting. Here's the simple formula: Price per gallon of your recommended fuel (gas or diesel), divided by average mpg= the fuel cost to drive one mile For my car, today, that computes to $4.60 divided by 42 mpg= 11 cents per mile... if anybody's interested. I bought the TDI to replace a Forester (hardly a gas hog). It got 25 mpg on mid-grade, which now sells for about $4.10 here in Colorado. That comes out to 16 cents per mile. When I hitch up the trailer (rarely), that drops to 18 mpg, which equals 28 cents per mile. Do the math for yourself, and it cuts through a lot of clutter and confusion about fuel prices, etc.

Let's see.. By your theory, and today's prices: My TDI cost 14.4c mile, the Mazda5 which replaced it costs 15.8c mile. This doesn't include the cost for the cetane booster added to every tank of diesel fuel, which probably pushes it closer to 15c/mile. On top of it, I've got vastly more room in a car that I didn't have to pay a premium to purchase a diesel engine in (which figure in 2006 when I bought it was about 2K more than an equivilent gasser). That's another 500 gallons of gasoline, or 12,820 miles at today's rate. Considering the same car is being sold at a $5K premium over a similar gasser, which is utter stupidity. Springing to the defence of my old TDI? Hardly. Matter of fact, I'll be the first in line to point out the incredible "smugness" combined with the utter hypocrasy of the TDI crowd. Maybe in a few years when the oil prices settle back into normalcy diesel will make sense. At this stage, unless you do an inorderinate amount of highway mileage, its a mistake.