Diesels and hybrids

[kevm14]

I believe it's a false dichotomy to choose between a turbo diesel car and a hybrid. However, given that choice, it seems evident that the turbo diesel is the enthusiast preference while the hybrid is actually the normal person's choice. The turbo diesel, aside from being interesting, has considerably more low rpm torque (and horsepower) than typical gas engines of similar displacement (duh - turbocharged gas engines typically have considerably more low rpm torque than N/A gas engines of similar displacement so this ultimately is meaningless). Again, that's different enough to be interesting, though it helps if your benchmark is a gutless N/A 4 cylinder, not a large displacement V8.

But I think the hybrid makes more sense for regular people. Most of them drive boring, and they get great fuel economy on 87, diesel being around 5.4% more than premium, and a whopping 16% more than 87 in New England. So your 40 mpg in a diesel is the same as 34.5 mpg on 87 octane. The purchase price difference obliterates, in my view, the remaining delta between 34.5 mpg and whatever mileage your gas car gets (unless it's a B-body - but then it's a VERY used car and has another gaping chasm of procurement delta to enjoy).

Of course plug-in hybrids like the Volt change the equation a little bit and, imo, become interesting again (and you pay a premium for that).

Overall, it's a false dichotomy because there are a million ways to buy and operate a vehicle cheaper than buying a turbo diesel OR a hybrid. I guess it would be interesting to compare that.