Diesel Gas Mileage - Does It Save You Money?

If you're thinking about trading your car for a new motor car, there are many factors to take into account. However, there is one key choice that most people never even think about. Should you buy a gas-powered vehicle or a diesel-powered one?

If you think a diesel car or truck is the same as some smoke-belching heap you sneered at ages ago, then you haven't leaned that diesel cars today are pretty much indistinguishable from their gasoline-driven counterparts. Your diesel gas mileage is virtually always better when powered by a diesel engine. There no detectable smoke nowadays, and modern engine improvements have lead to greater engine power and a more comfortable ride than before.

Today's diesel engine has been given an extreme makeover and, when it gets the recommended checks and services over the years, it will render years of faultless service and give you higher mpg as well.

It's interesting to note that European countries are, on the whole, more fuel-wise than the USA. And most European cars are diesel-driven, not gas-driven. In fuel mileage mpg comparisons, diesel almost always does better than gasoline.

Diesel engines have not been as popular in the USA because the majority of EU-made cars do not meet with US emissions specifications. But it now looks like we're also throwing away the chance to get more mpg from those diesel cars.

And that's at a time when we're hurting from fuel shortages and higher prices at the gas pump.

Advances in alternative fuels have caused the creation of bio diesel, which effectively solves many of our environmental and fuel supply problems immediately. Rather than using crude oil to make this fuel, the process makes use of organic material, such as corn crops, sugar cane and sugar beet, to create the fuel.

Diesel bio fuel is produced by changing these plant foodstuffs to short chain methyl or ethyl alcohol and combining the liquid with ordinary diesel fuel in varying mix ratios or grades. You can even use this biological alcohol fuel on its own without dramatic changes to your car or truck's engine. Trucks and buses have been successfully running on bio diesel fuel for years, and have had no reported problems.

Diesel engines get you 40% more miles per gallon than gasoline engines. And though diesel may cost more at the petrol station, those gallons drive you further than gasoline. There are some very real savings in fuel costs when you use diesel engines.

While gasoline engined cars can rarely manage 40 mpg or more, some diesel engine cars, such as the tiny Smart ForFour, do nearly 70 mpg. The ForFour has a turbocharged 3-cylinder engine and has passed all the stringent US smoke emissions laws. It is being marketed in the United States by Daimler Chrysler.

But believe it or not the ForFour is not the all time champ for diesel fuel efficiency. The European-made Lupo could eke out a mind-blowing 78 miles per gallon. Unfortunately it went out of production in 2005.

The figures prove it, diesel gas mileage gives more mpg than gasoline mileage.