Originally Posted by bitkahuna

of course diesel gas in many places is 20% more expensive than regular though

Originally Posted by nabbun

I actually bought my CT200h to be different. There aren't many modded CTs as there are IS and even the GS. Secondary reason was fuel economy. It's nice not having to spend $60 to fill up every few days to spending $28 every week or week and a half

Originally Posted by SteVTEC

Hybrids are already a tough sell as it is.

Originally Posted by nabbun

I actually bought my CT200h to be different. There aren't many modded CTs as there are IS and even the GS. Secondary reason was fuel economy. It's nice not having to spend $60 to fill up every few days to spending $28 every week or week and a half

Originally Posted by SteVTEC

LULZ! (oh boy here we go! )

Our X5 35d was CHEAPER than a comparably equipped 35i.

So it paid for itself as soon as I drove it out of the dealership, on top of the fact that my wife and I both liked how it drove better than the 35i. It's tough to argue against 420 ft-lbs of torque AND better fuel economy, AND a lower price!

Okay that was enabled by BMW marketing/sales support via incentives. How bout a different example.

Compare a BMW 328i to a 328d.

The 328d costs $1300 more than the 328i (same levels of equipment) but has annual fuel savings of $500 vs the 328i, and thus the break even is less than 3 years and under 50,000 miles. Not many many many years, and many hundreds of thousands of miles. THREE years.

This is why I've been a huge fan of diesels for so long, and am so enthusiastic about seeing a lot more of them here in the U.S. Their cost delta over a naturally aspirated or turbo petrol powertrain is typically less than half of what a hybrid costs, yet there's still a huge jump in fuel economy, and the break even is far sooner. On top of all that, the torque is awesome and they drive wonderfully. The figures above are off of fueleconomy.gov (run by the U.S. EPA) and doesn't even take into account the fact that EPA methodology tends to overestimate petrol engine economy while underestimating diesel engine economy.



If Toyota offered a turbodiesel 4-cylinder in the Camry for $2k more than the regular model that would get their highway mileage well into the 40 mpg range as the 328d does with a break even at 3 years, I guarantee you that they'd have bought it. They do mostly highway driving, where diesels especially shine. They skipped the Hybrid as it would never have paid off.

Originally Posted by bagwell

2012 Prius sales 200,114
2012 BMW 3 series sales 78,081
2012 Nissan Sentra sales 91,464
2012 Kia Optima sales 127,676