Here's one for the conspiracy theorists out there. During the last great (also fake) oil shortage in the mid 80's, I heard a story about a guy who "invented" this diesel powered little Ford car. I think he took a small marine diesel out of a sailboat, turbo-charged it, swapped it into some small Ford car (Pinto maybe?) and it got...get this...60 MPG!

Now for the "Conspiracy". The word was EXXON bought the patent rights from the guy and buried it, deep in some vault, never to be seen again.

The last thing Exxon wants is some Ford getting 60mpg.

You guys in Europe have some very nice, small, diesel powered cars, I've seen them on layovers and was amazed how quiet they are sitting at a stop light. What kind of gas mileage do they get?

Back in the mid 70's oil embargo my Mom bought a VW Diesel Rabbit that got 50 mpg. It couldn't get out of it's own way, took about 10 minutes to get up to 60mph, but it would go 500 miles on a 10 gallon fill up.

I don't know if it would pull a light cat, maybe an A cat! I do know you could put it in 1st gear, engine off, let out the clutch and turn the key. From a dead stop it would lurch foreward and then drive off at 5mph, motor running and in 1st gear.

Don't ask me how I know, and don't tell my Mom. ;^)