It's not the brand of car
but the car itself that's embarrassing.

It's a 1999 VW Jetta TDI that has been abused. I'm its second owner. The first owner let her daughter drive it for a while, and she somehow managed to run it without oil for a time so it now runs on two cylinders and has maybe 20 hp. During that time the cupholders got destroyed, it's been dented, the intercooler is munted, the turbo is toast, the hose connecting to the intercooler dragged on the ground for a while and is munted, and somehow she even managed to break the glove compartment. It's busted up, it has an exhaust leak so one side is permanently soot-covered, and it can't get out of its own way.

But it still runs and gets fantastic mileage...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 7 Nov 2008, 14:10, 1 reply)

is that
fantastic mileage to american standards, or to rest of the world?

if your car has a 1.9l engine, then it is the same as engine in my Seat Toledo, and I frequently get 60mpg
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 7 Nov 2008, 14:37, closed)

Well...
using US gallons and US miles, it gets about 53 mpg. Let's see... convert to UK gallons... ummm, miles in UK are equal to 1000 paces, or eight furlongs... it's not a full moon, so I don't need to multiply by that factor... ummm, there's shillings in here somewhere, I'm pretty sure, and a few stones...

I'm getting about 64 mpg UK, which is pretty damn good over here. I don't know what sort of mileage your cars typically get.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 7 Nov 2008, 14:57, closed)

64mpg is pretty much as good as you'll get here too
you must be laughing as you drive circles (slowly) round your compatriots
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Fri 7 Nov 2008, 15:00, closed)

They were laughing at me
when diesel fuel was so expensive, until I calculated the cost per mile of driving my car vs. theirs. A gasoline engine car typically gets about 30-35 mpg at best over here, where I get 53 mpg with the Weedeater. It works out that it costs me about 70% as much as it costs them to drive the same distance.

I think that when I can afford to do so, I'll replace the Weedeater with another diesel car. For one thing, one of the guys I work with brews his own biodiesel out of used cooking oil- if I can copy his setup, it will only cost me about a buck a gallon, instead of about three bucks. He uses his to heat his house and run his tractor.
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 7 Nov 2008, 15:05, closed)

woohoo
Props for the Soul Coughing reference
(unclestinky, Sat 8 Nov 2008, 16:06, closed)