A very simplified comparison:

        SUV:  $30000, MPG:  15.
        New Daewoo:  $14000, MPG: 30.
        VW 1L:  $20000, MPG: 200.

at 12000 miles a year:

        SUV:  $1200 in gas.
        Daewoo:  $600 in gas.
        VW 1L:  $87 in diesel.

5 year gas cost + cost of car:

        SUV:  $36000
        Daewoo: $17000
        VW 1L: $20435

I would venture to say that VW 1L us much cheaper to maintain because of its
simple construction, saving even more over SUV and Daewoo.

VW 1L does not have leather seats, A/C or cruise, but if we transplanted 10%
of our fat-assed spoiled luxo-barge-driving Segway-buying
3000-calorie-a-day-eating left-lane-hogging mine-is-bigger-wanting American
behinds from SUVs and other gas-guzzlers, which usually transport only 1
person anyway, we'd reduce our foreign oil dependency by a significant
margin while striking a nice balance between all-out comfort and substandard
construction.

By the way, the above is not a run-on sentence.

Chris.

'85 Westy
hot tub
power pop-top
purple skylight
Hugh Hefner bath robe and pipe
HMG 50 Cal mounted in the doorway
Arnold Schwarzennegger as the personal driver/bodyguard