brian's blog

I won't have a rental car as of Saturday and I'm still on the fence as to what kind to buy for my own. Anyone's who's been forced to hear me ramble knows that I've been insufferably gung-ho about getting a diesel car so I can fuel it with biodiesel. But, after doing excessive research over the past week, I'm not quite so sure what to do anymore.

My biggest goal, by far, is to reduce my overall environmental impact along a car's entire lifecycle (manufacturing to recycling), and that includes the entire lifecycle of the fuel it uses. If I get biodiesel, I'm essentially forced to buy a 2001-2003 Volkswagen Jetta or Golf, since not much else has a diesel engine. If I go hybrid, it'll be either a Toyota Prius or a Honda Civic. So! The tradeoffs:

Jetta pros:

• Looks sexy, and is most fun to drive (apparently)
• Biodiesel appears to have about 1 ton fewer greenhouse gases a year compared to the Prius
• Eliminates dependence on oil, a non-renewable resource

Jetta cons:

• Notoriously unreliable. When I posted on a VW forum asking whether the rumours of unreliability I heard were true, and whether I should buy one, the answer was essentially "Are you good with tools? Do you have a garage? Then you'll be fine!", which didn't exactly fill me with lots of confidence. I could find a reliable mechanic around here who knows VW TDIs, though.
• Somewhat hard to find used; my searches find the most in Portland, 2-3 hours away, and even fewer still are manual transmissions
• Must buy used; I read of some problems when 2004-2005 TDI engines are fueled with 100% biodiesel
• The best greenhouse gas reductions on the Jetta come from having manual transmissions; otherwise it comes close to the Prius, which only has automatic
• Nitrious oxide, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide are higher in the Jetta, even with biodiesel
• Biodiesel is very expensive
• Driving stick-shift in Seattle would be awful, what with all the hills and the stop-and-go commuting across the 520 bridge and the drivers who tailgate you on inclines, and things of that nature
• Might need to mix in some dirty diesel during the winter to keep the biodiesel from gelling at lower temperatures

Prius / Civic pros:

• Engineered to give its best mileage in stop and go traffic
• Newest Prius generation readily available new or used
• Environmental impact is about the same as biodiesel after all?
• I can actually choose between two different car manufacturers!

Prius / Civic cons:

• No manual transmission option on the Prius; I'll be mocked by the Wolski brothers
• Still sustains the oil companies (less gas, but the dependency certainly isn't eliminated)
• Prius looks a little weird, but isn't unbearable
• Needs to be driven reasonably and unaggressively to get close to the advertised miles per gallon (but I should probably do that anyway)

Since it looks like the environmental tradeoffs between biodiesel and hybrids just about cancel each other out, and everything else seems to weigh in the hybrids' favour (except the "sustains the oil companies" factor), I think I'll be going with a hybrid. I so would like to stick it to Exxon in my own small way, but the barrier just seems much too high right now.