Clean Diesel and Hybrid-Electric Cars Very Close in Eco-Footprint
I just pulled back into the driveway with the first car purchase I’ve made in 15 years. My 1995 BMW 540-i died last week after 248,000 loyal miles; it was a true friend, and I’ll miss it.
Needless to say, I wasn’t looking to replace it with another eight-cylinder monster. Accelerating a 4000-pound mass of steel from 0 – 60 in 5.9 seconds used to impress me; it no longer does. And the bigger BMWs now weigh closer to 6000 pounds, and get about 20 MPG.
I bought a 2009 VW Jetta (I never buy new cars on general principles of frugality) 6-speed diesel, noting that most drivers get close to 50 MPG. I considered the Prius, of course, which gets about the same mileage, but I think I like this a bit better. I’m hoping that my next car will be an EV, which I’ll charge with PV on my roof, but this just wouldn’t work in my current station in life, with fairly frequent trips from my home near Santa Barbara, California to San Francisco, about 250 miles north, and San Diego about the same distance south.