How Do You Guys Afford A Diesel?
 

Engatwork got me interested in diesel MBs a couple of years ago. I have toyed with the idea of getting one for the value of longevity and cost of operation. Right now my premium gasoline burning 300E is not very attractive, but I really can't see buying a high mileage diesel, doing whatever work it takes to make it dependable and then paying $2.25 a gallon to operate it. I heard an ad for Hummers where they justified purchase cost through the use of regular gasoline as opposed to high test or diesel. Have diesels reached the point of impracticality or is there light at the end of the tunnel?

Diesel would have to cost ovly $3 per gallon today to cost more to operate than the equivalent gasser.

Mine is just an excuse to play with tools anyway, and is not a daily driver. My daily driver is a hybrid car, and you'll be hard pressed to beat it with a diesel on cost per mile to fuel.

As for justifying an H2 on cost of fuel? These people are just grasping for straws. My truck is STILL cheaper to drive than what an H2 would cost. :rolleyes:

Oh definitely. My 2 average only 30mpg and the extra $.25 per gallon is absolutely killing me. I've never had a car payment before and I have really been wanting to get a couple. I also love paying for other people's kids to go to school (and in my state less than half even graduate high school), drainage improvements, and whatever else a bunch of people with the right last names decide I have to pay. Hell, almost a third of what I make goes to someone else in some from or another, tax, fee, - whatever, but the extra quarter for diesel fuel is where I'm drawing the line...

You probably get 25-28 mpg with the 300e.

Switching to a 124 diesel might get you up to 35 or so.

But, the difference in fuel prices would offset most of that saving.

Consideration of an older W123 with fuel economy that is identical to the 300e is out of the question.

I bet my Jetta beats you overall :argue: 50 - 52 with summer blend Hwy, 45-46 Hwy winter blend. I loose about 5 -6 off of those when mainly driving city. Those are consistent numbers.

What do you average?

for me is is a lot more practical than a gasser. even at only 22-25 mpg for my 50 mile round trip commute it beats out my 77 C-10 by double the milage. of course there is the $ to get it up to par and make it road worthy. Ironically my alt crapped out today (or maybe my voltage regulator) - but even still it is worth it for me. I just don't like new cars - they don't appeal to me and are not worth the money. I also don't like being strapped for car payments every month either.

just the thought of paying 30K for something that prolly won't last 10 years makes me shudder.

my car maybe 26 years old, but with great sites like fastlane and mercedes source and this board right here i feel driving diesel is a better value - and most importantly fun.

I only get about 22-24. But my average is probably 23mpg. Pretty bad frankly most V6 powered cars will do much better on the cheap stuff. Compared to a 420/560SEL I am doing good, compared to a 3.8 V6 or 4cy not so.

But this really is a small cost of car ownership, for us under 20 drivers insurance is a much higher cost.

I take the train to work and don't put a lot of miles on my car. So I buy a 300td in 99 for $50,000+ to date I have 34,000 miles on it. with inflation and all, at this rate it may be worth more than I paid for it when I finally get around to selling it (G) + this summer fuel will look quite reasonable compared to gas.
not to mention 33MPG I feel like I got cheap transportation.

Most who buy the older MB diesels also don't have car payments on them, so that can justify the higher fuel costs...

It ain't about the cost so much as the ride;) cap'n.

I got my '81 300D in exchange for some labor and after the initial outlay of around $1k I have not put any more $$ into except for routine oil changes and such. It has been a long time since I drove a gasser.

Oh yea - Phillip finally quoted me a price for the SD. Right now I am toying between it and a 1965 four cylinder diesel (manual 4 spd on the column:)) that is available for a little less.

I'll be burning wvo real soon:).

Nope, not quite. :D My lifetime average is currently 51 mpg, factoring in both summer and winter fuel mileage. I am currently sitting at about 53 mpg with my mixed driving commute with over 400 miles on the tank. My best tank has been 57.9 mpg, with my absolute worst, bucking a 35 mph sustained head wind, being 37.1 mpg on a road trip to Colorado. I have just under 46k miles on the car now.

All I do is obey the speed limits, and cap my top speed to 65 mph.

I would hazard a guess that if you averaged every fillup on your Jetta since new, we'd probably be within one or two mpg of each other, and this narrow of a gap is where the higher cost of diesel fuel cannot be offset if your numbers are the ones that hedge higher.

OK, maybe you got me for now. But....you have an expensive battery to replace in a couple more years, I just have an expensive timing belt to replace at 100K:D

I am a leadfoot (hwy 75-80 mph depending on the state), how would that affect the Prius' mileage?

I get around 27 highway, and about 24 city with my 300TD. My speed on the highway goes between 70-80, I still get around 27, my highest is 29.

Here's my situation. I drive an average of 1600 miles per week. Mostly highway. My current work car, 89 Honda Accord, uses average 55 gallons of regular per week. Now, to pay .25 cent more per gallon will cost about $55 a month more, if I can get equal MPG with a diesel. So, would $660 a year in added fuel cost be justifiable? Wait, I'll answer that myself, yes, driving an MB over a Honda would be worth it.
But let's look at it from another angle. Is diesel price gonna rise, drop or stay the same? The nation's economy is fueled by diesel. Every commodity we use is delivered by trucks and trains. All 18 wheelers run on it and I don't expect to see any hybrid Kenworths on the road anytime soon. Can the trucking industry keep the price controlled? If they can then you guys (and possibly me) would benefit from that.

Driving 75 to 80 will pull mileage down to the low to mid 40's.

As for the battery, we are already logging in excess of 200,000 miles without battery replacements on the model that I own. I've heard of only one battery replacement thus far at 207,000 miles. As far as the price, they are already dropping substantially. Last I heard was that they were in the $3k range, and they were still over $5,500 when I bought my car.

Other offsets are no alternator, clutch, torque convertor, transmission, (Prius uses a planetary gearset like a differential to put power to the wheels & the electric motors act on them to mimick a CVT), power steering pump, or starter. Regenerative braking takes stress off of the brakes, not that I'm hard on brakes with my driving style to begin with as I have over 106K on my Dodge truck, and am still on the original tires and brakes.

My goal for this car is to see 300,000 miles before I buy something new, unless something major hits the market in battery technology that will allow the car to become an electric car with an occasional engine assist. There has been some recent advances announced with Li Ion technology, using nanotechnology, that is allowing for 80% recharges in less than one minute, with zero degredation of the battery. Storage density is reportedly increased massively as well.