DEBRIS.COMgood for a laugh, or possibly an aneurysm

(In which I attempt to justify to a skeptical world how I managed to buy yet-another internal-combustion-engine vehicle, thereby following the endless stream of lemmings off the cliff into a rapidly diminishing pool of oil… Except for you, I mean.)

I wanted to buy a Prius. I’d test-driven one and loved it. The car is an engineering masterpiece. But it’s a bit too small. It happens often enough that we need to buy or move things that don’t comfortably fit in a regular car that we decided the Prius wouldn’t work for us. (True story: my sole criteria for selecting our current car, an old VW Golf, was that my bass drum case fit into the hatchback. I actually brought the case with me to the dealership.)

We thought we’d found a great solution: we planned to buy a diesel VW station wagon. Diesel engines get great mileage (EPA estimates: 36/47!). The emissions profile for diesel is not great — it’s high in sulfur, for example — but we planned to put a tank of biodiesel in the back yard. Biodiesel an extremely “green” solution; diesel engines will burn pure biodiesel without modification, dramatically improving the engine’s emissions profile.

(Biodiesel is a refined fuel made from agricultural products. It is not a petroleum product. Nor is it cooking oil, which diesel engines can also burn (after minor modifications). More on this later, probably.)

Two problems became immediately apparent.

1. VW isn’t selling any diesel passenger cars in California this year. As a result, year-old diesel VWs sell for more than new (gas) models.
2. Biodiesel is expensive! We priced it at $3.65/gallon, delivered. The price has gone up 77¢/gallon since March.

Just to do the math, we found a 2003 Jetta Wagon TDI (diesel). The car had 30,000 miles on it. The seller wanted $21,000. That’s about the invoice price on a relatively loaded 2004 gas model. Figure in VW’s 0% APR loan and the $1000 cash back to current VW owners, and the used car — with 30k miles — would have cost us several thousand dollars more over five years. I was tempted anyway, but I just couldn’t do it.

The usage cost is similar, due to the TDI’s ~50% better mileage:

*The turbocharged 1.8-liter gas engine requires 91-octane premium fuel, which really does cost $2.45/gallon in California.

The new car is amazing in just about every respect, and I like it a lot. But I’m still bothered that I wasn’t able to find a greener solution.

I think, and I hope, that we’ll see big changes in this industry in the next few years. Hybrids are getting better. Low-sulfur diesel fuel will be available statewide in 2006. Biodiesel is getting more popular (tx, Aaron). I’m consoled by the fact that I will be able to exchange this car for something more environmentally friendly in a few years.