Donald Baxter / Iowa City, Iowa said:
>I also can't help but
> find it a bit humourous that consumers will spend up to $2000 more for a
> diesel model VW so they can save a couple of hundred dollars a year at the
> pump.  This with the full knowledge that we're not totally sure what the
> negative environmental effects of diesel's particulate matter spewing into
> the atmosphere.

Considering the bottom line, of course, I drive about 30K miles in a year.
 My Vanagon gets roughly 17 MPG while my NB TDI gets 45 MPG.  Neglecting
the obvious variations in size and capacity, I save rougly $1700 per year
in fuel alone just by driving my NB, not to mention reducing my
"dependence on foreign oil" by a factor of 2.5.  $1700 > $200 by long
shot, eh?

The fact you cannot ignore is that most of us TDI drivers buy these cars
only because we cover many times the miles per year than the average, to
be politcally correct, "soccer parent."  I'd love to put a TDI engine in
my Westy, but I just can't justify the expense.  It is about the bottom
line after all.

As for particulate matter, how can we ignore all the rubber getting ground
off of millions of tires every day?

Chris S.