As you tell by my name, I am a Benz fanatic. My sole Benz is sort of an old and tired model, but fuel efficient one (1977 240D), but at 250,000 miles it keeps on ticking and sips fuel at the rate of 35 mpg.


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BUT ... had the opportunity to get a ride in a friend's car yesterday. He had come in from Mississippi to visit his father, who lives an hour southeast of me (Des Moines), and the wife and I met them for lunch.

He drives a 2005 320 CDI Mercedes -- the most recent diesel allowed into the states. OH MY GAWD. It does 0-60 in well under six seconds, top speed is regulated by the computer a 130 mph (he's been there and can attest to the fact that it stops accelerating at 130), BlueTooth cell phone and wireless Internet integrated into the GPS on a touch screen, etc. I was in lust -- not love, but pure lust. ... Speedometer hits the 6:00 position at 80 mph.

He paid $27K for a 2005. Original list price was $57K.

Best or all? It is green. He set his cruise on 85 mph running from Mississippi to Iowa and his computer gave him an average mpg of 35. He experimented a bit while driving and saw 45 mpg several times on the computer.

Who says green can't be fast and plush? (Now, if I just had a spare $27K laying around!)

Best of all, he is only 23 years old (computer engineer). The car will last him well over a decade and he will get a good return on investment.

dieselbenz wrote:Speedometer hits the 6:00 position at 80 mph.

Obvious correction -- the speedometer hits"high noon" at 80 mph.

Don

I just bought a Smart fortwo for my wife. We paid $10g(cad) even which seems to be a real good deal. We bought it used from a couple about a two hour drive. It had about three quarters of a tank of diesel in it when we started home. After about two days of use and the drive home I had to fill it up, it cost me $20, I couldn't believe it. They claim 65mpg on the hiway so the wife will be good to go.

For comparison, my truck I use for my business is a Ford with a 7.3l diesel and it cost me about $125-150 every two days to keep rolling. Thank you Bush and associates.

I feel so conflicted on this issue. I hate paying the high fuel prices, but they are doing what was always said they would do: getting people onto mass transit of one kind or another, which is much better in the long run for everybody.

Probably the biggest problem: disproportionate problems for the poor, especially rural.

Jerry wrote:I hate paying the high fuel prices, but they are doing what was always said they would do: getting people onto mass transit of one kind or another, which is much better in the long run for everybody.

That works IF there is mass transit available. Where I live, there is not so much as a bus service. I am lucky enough to live only 11 blocks from my office, so I could park the car and take my bicycle or even walk (did that some this winter when it was too cold for my diesel). However, I have friends and neighbors who commute as much as an hour each way to their jobs in Des Moines (Iowa) and there is no alternative to jumping into the car (ride-sharing) and driving.

Like you said, this is going to hurt rural areas such as here the hardest.

Like you Diesel, there is no public transit where I live. I haven't been on a bus in about 25 years. To get one I would have to drive a minimum of a half an hour and pass through several towns and by that time I'm usually almost there.