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Recently I wrote a little “aggressive” comment about Prius, not being Eco friendly and expensive and ugly etc (link). I think that I had a bad day and the post didn’t sound as it should have:) I wasn’t against Toyota in this one. Well… excluding it’s ugliness… The topic was about Prius, but You can compare it to all this class Hybrid solutions that are branded as Eco. Ofc not including luxury cars like Lexus “h” models, which use electric engines to deliver extra power You don’t talk about ecology when You have 3 liter gasoline powered engine In this case: electric means fun.

But in this post I would like to think about the big picture: Diesel vs Hybrid. To find that “Vs” word, doesn’t actually fit here. These two are not actually against each other. I believe that soon enough we will see a diesel powered hybrid cars, which will make the best of these two.

Hybrid

Generally the concept here is that hybrids use battery-powered electric motors to lower the energy needed from their combustion engine. And this saves fuel. Additionally most of them can operate on electric motors only for short distances, and that gives the greatest benefit in the city. Therefore unlike regular cars, the mileage in the city and highway is pretty similar, sometimes even better in the city. Example Prius gives about 48 highway, and 50 mpg in the city.

The downside would be the handling. Producers are counting that fashionable ecology will draw customers, and tend to forget that driving wheel should be directly connected to the wheels Also due to batteries, and all the energy restoring, charging and saving systems: hybrids are heavy, what impacts dynamics.

But the biggest downside is their price. You can loosely assume that buying the hybrid means spending 50% more than You would spend buying “regular” car. Hybrid technology still is expensive. And any buyer should consider if the fuel saving against the up front cost. I don’t write about ecology, because I don’t fully agree with this aspect of hybrids.

Diesel

We are long way from heavy, weak and dreadful diesel engines from 80s. Today, diesel engines are reliable and provide good dynamics. And all this with very good fuel economy (always better than comparable power and size gasoline engines). Seat TDI won some races in WTCC series. Audi TDI won 24 hour Le Mans. Diesel seems to be the future of motor sports (if they could only fix the sound ), being also good for everyday use.

But for this post the best choice will be to choose an example recognizable car, from the middle-lower class. I would suggest new VW Jetta as this car is common for America and Europe. And BTW was voted Green Car of the Year in the US.

With it’s 2.0 liter TDI engine Jetta generates the same amount of torque as large V6 gasoline engine. And provides fuel economy of 30 mpg city, 41 highway. That is good news. Plus it gives You some driving pleasure, as the torque is the main fun factor that pins You back in Your seat in modern diesel engines.The sound may be annoying, but overall it’s not that bad.

And the only (besides the sound) downside of this type of engine is it’s higher up front cost when buying one. But the differences are not major (around $1000 -3000$ in this middle class segment, between comparable diesel and gasoline). This is something that can be accepted. US media also mention the fuel prices, as diesel is more expensive there. Well in Europe it’s opposite… Diesel is about 20% cheaper than Gasoline. So the saving is double.

Who wins?

From these two would choose diesel, because I enjoy driving. And hybrid cant give You any fun here. But not everybody has this attitude, and even hybrids have their fans.

Therefore the answer should be: Either one and none of them.

Toyota and Honda, chose to sell hybrids in US. They are watching the market, probably waiting for diesel engines to become more popular. They sell diesels with good reputation in Europe already. Recently even Subaru presented their boxer diesel, which is a real success on the market. Even among the fans, that recognize the brand to be pure sport . The last stand falls there:)

Only Porsche doesn’t have a diesel… and this is going to change soon.

Conclusion? There is no winner now. Let’s wait few more years. We still have other players to come out from the shadow: Ethanol, all electric cars, sun powered cars, Compressed air city cars.

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