>>>>As the owner of a VW Jetta, 23K miles, this is music to my ears.
>>>
>>>But... is it Diesel? Diesel engines last a lot longer than gas engines, plus they are a lot more efficient in terms of gas mileage.
>>>However, there are disadvantages... Yesterday I had the misfortune to stop for fuel before work at a full service station, and the attendant put gasoline instead of diesel! Luckily he realized the mistake in time, and I did not start the engine. He attempted to siphon the fuel out, but because it is a 2005 Jetta he could not do it, so I had to tow it to a VW service, and it turned out to be a ~200 job! VW road assistance program covered the towing cost, but not the service, so I paid that and the attendant reimbursed me today. I feel sorry for him, hopefully the gas station will give him a refound. For the price of 5 hours of work missed and some stress I think my lesson is to not trust the attendants anymore.
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>>No, not diesel. This came up here a couple of weeks ago and some folks said my impression of diesel engines is outdated. I'm still not interested.
>
>In that case the music wasn't for your ears - Allan was singing about a diesel.

Truth is, I was singing about VW. But yes, diesel engines do last longer - especially if the car is a stick shift. Both of the cars I mentioned were diesel, and both were sticks. The new diesel engines are nice. They are as quiet as gas engines, and they burn cleaner than gas. Plus, you can run biodiesel in them too if you want to give the environment a real gift (and your wallet a beating).

Finally, we have the drive-clean program here, and while gas cars have to go through a lot of crap to get certified, the diesel test is a visual.