Thanks for the info. What I heard was probably out of date.

>Depends on how old the diesel engine is. The newer ones (since probably about 2000 or 2001) are quiet and don't smell. Lynn's is hard to tell from a gas car just by being around it. Yeah, I had an old VW Golf diesel that made sure everyone in the neighbourhood woke up when I was leaving for work. The newer ones aren't anything like that. The other thing that has changed dramatically is the pickup. The old ones, when you wanted to accelerate would sigh and grumble and give you the finger and then slowly start to pick up speed (grudgingly). Lynn's car has excellent pickup. Next time, test drive one. You'll be surprised.
>
>>It was the diesel I was initially interested in. I heard some things I didn't like about diesels (noise, smell, poor acceleration) and decided on the regular model instead, with "only" 35 mpg instead of 49. Not sure if that was all true about diesels but I have been happy with what I got. Although 49 mpg sounds pretty good right now, doesn't it?
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>>Total segue -- this has nothing to do with this thread, I just don't feel like starting another new one. An old friend and fellow Bruce-head just sent me a link to the eulogy Bruce Springsteen delivered at Danny Federici's funeral the other day. (For those who don't know, "Little Danny" was the longtime organist in Bruce's E Street Band). Great stuff IMO. The material isn't what you always hear in a eulogy, but how many have this much heart in them?
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>>http://www.brucespringsteen.net/news/index.html
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>Thanks for the link.
>
>>
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>>>When you bought the Jetta, you should have thought more about Diesel. A friend of mine has a diesel Jetta and she gets twice the mileage of a gas car, meaning, of course that she only has to fill up half as often as I do. Did I say she was a friend? I take that back. I hate her.
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>>>>I don't know where I am on the list but when my check arrives it will go right to work stimulating the economy. So far I haven't decided whether to spend it on Asian made electronics or just spend it on gas.
>>>>
>>>>Yesterday I achieved a milestone. The car needed gas and it was my first $50 fillup. Pretty amazing when you consider this is a Jetta that barely holds 13 gallons of gas. Regular. $3.69 / gallon will do that....
>>>>
>>>>>Cool. I'm at the top of the list :o)
>>>>>
>>>>>>According to a story on CNNMoney.com, economic stimulus checks from the U.S. government will go out several days sooner than expected due to what sounds like a computer programming miracle --
>>>>>>
>>>>>>The payments will go out ahead of schedule because of a new computer program that updates records daily - faster than an older program that updates weekly, according to Andrew DeSouza, a Treasury spokesman.
>>>>>>
>>>>>>http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/24/pf/taxes/Stimulus_checks/index.htm?cnn=yes
>>>>>>
>>>>>>Wow! My hat is off to them.