Math for dummies
$2.77/$3.29= 16%
$3.29/$2.77= 19%
figured both ways (depends on how soulcats cook their numbers)
Passat diesel 4 cylinder Think those are flipped, used the combined MPG
22mpg/27mpg= 19%
27mpg/22mpg= 23%
Your specific example sort of works out. That's why I asked what cars you were comparing. What if I generalized and plugged the VW Lupo into your formula? It gets over 80mpg on a turbocharged, electronically controlled diesel.
In your first post you generalized diesel:
Trucks may be different but, in cars, in the USA, diesel doesn't make sense economically (bottom line).
Any 'dummy' can take apples and compare them to oranges and come up with the desired "math for dummies".
My 2001 Jetta gets 45 -55 mpg all the time, averaging around 50. That's no skewed apples to oranges argument. It has cost me no more than a regular Jetta to own.
To make it fair pick another mid sized sedan, and compare it with the numbers above. If you're talking strictly monetary bottom line, then it's not a huge amount better. I bought my car to run strictly on biodiesel and straight veg oil, which is about an 85% reduction in hydrocarbon emissions. My personal bottom line. And I try to support the troops by not funding terrorists. Plug those variables into your formula.
