Posted: 4/24/04

Regarding "It's a Hummer World: Is Energy Efficiency A Lost Cause?"

Don't Write Off Diesels

Your "Most Fuel Efficient Cars" list excludes VW's diesel offerings because they "get very poor marks for smog pollutants"... what about the Insight and Prius battery issues? Their heavy load of toxic batteries goes dead after 8 years and must be thrown out/replaced. Surely this negative externality is as considerable as the VW smog; why not cross the hybrids off the list too then?

Also, greenhouse gas reduction is at least as important as smog reduction -- what logical reasoning led you to completely eliminate VW's diesel cars from consideration? My 2003 Jetta happens to get 72 MPG...

Incidentally, a 44 MPG Honda Civic driving 100 miles exhales 43.8 pounds of CO2, vs. my 72 MPG Jetta's 31.4 pounds (19.29 lbs/gallon gas, 22.65 lbs/gallon diesel). So if greenhouse gas reduction is something you care about, the diesel Jetta beats the gas Honda Civic hands down.

Alexander Passmoore
Durham, North Carolina

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