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| 50 MPG Chevy Cruze Diesel! | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 12 2011, 05:08 PM (3,321 Views) | |
| nerys | Jul 13 2011, 05:42 PM Post #16 |
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Grr
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well do the math. where you were diesel is $1.25 per gallon more. but cost per gallon is not the metric to use. its cost per MILE. compare to a decent 30mpg sedan (most people a geo is not an option) the 30mpg car is 12.5 cents per mile while the 51mpg diesel is 9.8 cents per mile. ie 2.7 cents CHEAPER per mile over the 30mpg sedan. and you are an exception living in the people's republic of kalifornia. the difference in price between diesel and gasoline is many times a lot lower than that. ALSO mind what I said about alternatives. if you put just 5 gallons of "alternative" fuel you scored for free on craigslist in the tank so you only have to "purchase" 15 gallons of diesel your effective cost per gallon is now the same as gasoline at $3.75 a gallon equivalent ie your paying the same now but your cost per mile is even lower at 7.35 cents per mile almost HALF the cost of driving the gasoline car at 30mpg. there is no possible alternatives you can "add in" with a gasoline car and no ethanol to screw you either. $6k is about right not a bad price for that car in that condition. |
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| c140flyer | Jul 13 2011, 07:53 PM Post #17 |
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Wow, If Diesel cost $1.25/gal more here... It would be bye bye VW! As it is with a difference of 20 cents or so, the diesel still costs more than the Geo for fuel. People tend to rationalize purchases to make themselves feel better. I feel that the car rides better, has AC (my Geo didn't), has more comfortable seats and is safer. That was my reasoning for purchasing this car. The parts could kill me but every now and then you have to take a chance. YMMV.
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| nerys | Jul 13 2011, 10:37 PM Post #18 |
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Grr
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replace one gallon per tank with an "alternative" and its suddenly CHEAPER to buy diesel. remember the trick is cost per mile not cost per gallon. |
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| Coche Blanco | Jul 14 2011, 12:56 AM Post #19 |
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Troll Certified
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c140, is the turbo the stock one? If so...sorry to hear that. |
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| lafter | Jul 14 2011, 09:54 AM Post #20 |
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I like the looks of them when I see em on the road. I hope its a nice car for you. |
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| c140flyer | Jul 16 2011, 04:35 PM Post #21 |
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Hey Coche, AFAIK it's the original turbo. What is your dirt on the stock one. I'm all ears... Larry |
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| Coche Blanco | Jul 16 2011, 08:13 PM Post #22 |
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Troll Certified
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I just know turbos don't like being high mileage. |
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| mjspiess | Jul 17 2011, 07:53 PM Post #23 |
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The Chevy Cruze Eco can already get 50+ mpg. http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2011/02/20/chevy-cruze-eco-58-mpg-no-hybrid-magic.aspx It's just like any car's EPA...if driven with fuel economy on your mind, you're going to surpass those ratings. FYI on the turbo talk... I just took the original OEM turbo charger off my '89 Ford Probe GT with 155k miles and it had zero shaft play. I was honestly in disbelief. I had already bought a rebuild kit because I figured it was def. gonna need to be rebuilt since I've been boosting 14-16 psi for the last 5 years on it (stock is 8-9 psi). All I did was replace the oil seal on the turbine shaft since it came off while cleaning it, swapped the compressor wheel for a larger one & used the housing from an '88 Thunderbird, bolted it all together & boosting 14-16 psi with zero problems. Pulls hard as hell and all the way to redline now. |
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| Cobb | Jul 17 2011, 10:21 PM Post #24 |
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BANNED
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Yup, got to do the math to see the break even point vs what you already have or another car. Sure it may get great fuel economy, but if its high maintenance or the price of fuel is more, then you got to break it down to cost vs mile. My parents use to be vw fans and the diesels are more service needy than the gassers. When I had my dads old diesel mercedes I could not find diesel in the city, I had to drive to the county to buy some. |
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| nerys | Jul 18 2011, 09:25 AM Post #25 |
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Grr
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the VW diesels ARE nice though. they will almost always be cheaper than a gas car (except a metro) while the PER REPAIR cost of a diesel is almost always much higher than a gasser the "TTR" or time to repair is also MUCH MUCH larger. so your "cost per mile" for repairs will be lower. you will just have sticker shock when you finally DO need to repair it :-) it will LAST much longer (again lowering your cost per mile) and the fuel cost is irrelevant. its gets more than TWICE the average fuel economy of a normal gasser (not a metro) so until DIESEL is twice as expensive as gasoline it will save you money. and you can offset the cost with alternative fuels mixed with the diesel. Every time you do an oil change? dump the old oil into a full gas tank. it will be thinned by the diesel in the car (filter it well of course!! last thing you want is metal particles in your injector pump !!!) and run just fine. You can actually get a diesel pretty cheap (as far as car prices go) $5 grand and you can have a nice good running decent mile diesel. alas $5 grand might as well be $50 grand to me :-) My first car my 88 cherokee cost me $4500 but I was also making $30k back then. Today on paper I make $24k but in reality if I take home $9k I am lucky (family business) and 90+% of that goes to bills and fuel. which is why I still have not replaced the tranny that is going. Don't have the $200 I need to get it. I also had a Mercedes diesel. two actually. a 75 and a 76 300D I got the 76 for $1200 and the 75 for a song at $400 (needed work but the drivetrain was in good shape) when I buy old cars I tend to buy TWO so I have a second car of parts if I need it. LOVED those cars. REALLY loved them. wonderful right good looks nice cars. slow as balls but I drive slow anyway so I did not care. alas the best I could get was 35mpg and that was just not enough for me so I sold/traded the 300D's and got the metro. I traded the 76 300D for an 82 Goldwing. had it on CL for $1200 (same as I paid it I knew I would get it) guy called up said he wanted the car but did not have $1200 would I be interested in a running clean 82 Goldwing? I said the goldwing motorcycle? (82 Aspencade) top of the line even if old. I said ahhh YES I WILL TAKE THE GOLDWING :-) hehe he wanted the other mercedes too and all the shop books I had ($400 in books) I said give me $800 and its yours. 6 months go buy I turn away a few people getting a little mad since he keeps saying he wants it. then calls up says still don't have the cash. but I have a boat and trailer are you interested in another trade? now I don't immediately say yes to this one. boats have a HUGE amount of issues and risk involved I say ahh will have to see it but I won't say no right away. I do want a boat. he has titles (though later I found out not title for trailer grr but the boat title is the important one) it needs a TON of work but the engine is good I hear it start from cold etc.. I decide to take it. love it. so now me a poor SOB who can't afford squat has a GOLDWING and a power boat with trailer. NICE!! Sad to see those 300D's go but 35mpg just was not enough. they were an "oddball" like the metro. 5cyl engines :-) Edited by nerys, Jul 18 2011, 09:32 AM.
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| Cobrajet25 | Jul 22 2011, 04:39 AM Post #26 |
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Lol... Let's see, a "new GM diesel engine". No thanks. My parents bought a brand new 1982 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme coupe with a "new GM diesel engine". It was an absolute dog, and after it had chewed up 3-4 torque converters in less than a year, my dad traded it in on a '83-ish Mercury Colony Park "woodie" station wagon. Even though it was only a year old, the dealership my dad traded it to didn't want it. They knew all about those engines by '84... But I guess the GM diesel truck engines from back in the day (6.2, 6.5) aren't too bad. I am actually a recovering VW diesel guy. I sold a nice 1991 Jetta diesel that I had basically restored to buy my '91 XFi (may it rest in peace). It got 46 MPG pretty consistently. I played with all old European diesels, really. In fact, I still have a few I am trying to sell, so if you want a really nice '80 Audi 5000 diesel, '82 VW Rabbit diesel, or an '85 BMW 524td turbodiesel, let me know. I loved the old VW diesel engines...I just hated the VWs they came in. Nothing but electrical problems, especially when the windshield gaskets leaked water all over the fuse boxes. But the little diesel engines themselves were okay. Well, they were okay once you solved all the age-related issues with them...leaky injector pumps, mostly. And god help you if you ever had to replace a passenger side motor mount. Back in the early '80s, diesel fuel was significantly cheaper than gas, so it made sense to buy one. A lot of sense. I read somewhere that fully 75% of all vehicles VW sold in the US from 1979-1983 were diesels. While it is true that when diesels need repair it is more expensive, the trade-off is that they need MUCH less maintenance than their gas counterparts, and they get 1.5x the mileage. Other than changing the oil and fuel filter (and maybe a timing belt to be safe), there is really no maintenance needed on the old VW 1.5 and 1.6 diesels for 100,000 miles. Still, hard to argue with a new 50 MPG diesel that the Greenies will let us have. But since it is coming from Government Motors, I am sure it will be a turd. Of course, people used to think the last 50 MPG car GM sold was a turd....it was called the Metro.
Edited by Cobrajet25, Jul 22 2011, 04:40 AM.
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| dayle1960 | Jul 22 2011, 06:13 AM Post #27 |
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Fastest Hampster EVER
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I especially love the last paragraph.
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| mjspiess | Aug 29 2011, 10:52 AM Post #28 |
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Chevrolet Cruze Eco sets 64.42 average MPG record http://www.torquenews.com/119/chevrolet-cruze-eco-sets-6442-average-mpg-record |
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| carmech97 | Aug 29 2011, 11:04 AM Post #29 |
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Backyard Mechanic
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They hate diesels because they know that once the diesels become more popular, their buddies at Big Oil won't be able to hose us at the pumps the way they have become so accustomed to. I, for one, am tired of being held hostage at the pumps. All of my drivers have been 4 cylinder and manual. So Big Oil can go hang for all I care. Perhaps this has been posted here before (I don't recall) but in case it hasn't, this is an interesting alternative as well: http://envirokarma.org/ev/index.htm |
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| Woodie | Aug 30 2011, 05:10 AM Post #30 |
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Diesel gets about 10% better mileage and costs about 5% more at the pump, it's hardly going to put "Big Oil" out of business. The reason it isn't big here is because, at our prices, it's just not such a big deal. Same reason small cars like our Metros aren't more popular, the price of fuel doesn't support them. In Europe, where gas is $8 - $10 a gallon, our cars are average sized. Pretty nice electric conversion in that link, nice work by the author. A bit pointless though, his $2000 battery pack lasted 7,000 miles. That's over 25 cents per mile just for that one component. |
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Welcome to the all new Geo Metro Forum. We hope you enjoy your visit.




As it is with a difference of 20 cents or so, the diesel still costs more than the Geo for fuel. People tend to rationalize purchases to make themselves feel better. I feel that the car rides better, has AC (my Geo didn't), has more comfortable seats and is safer. That was my reasoning for purchasing this car. The parts could kill me
but every now and then you have to take a chance. YMMV.

I especially love the last paragraph.


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3:32 AM Jul 11