BUT, the necessary will to do so is lacking,presently.

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'84 300SD sold
124.128

First i think the prius is not the best solution with the batteries and spending the 3k on them. I think its considered that after roughly 100K or 10 years the batteries need replacement. I do not think that a VW(same price range) will need that much in service. I had a 2003 VW jetta gasser and the only repair besides the regular maintannce i had to make was a brake switch in 100K. THen the timing belt. That is still much less than the 3k. Also I grew up in europe where you have a much wider selection of diesels from peugeut to renault to VW, Benz, etc. Generally speaking the best performing diesel was the mercedes(even the cheaper models which comepte with vw, not luxury). The second best choice was VW. Another thing to point out that the US market cant handle a lot of diesels on the road. The US refineries are made to produce mostly gasoline and not diesel. If we had a hudge spike in diesels ont he road the prices would jump for diesel fuel. It is interesting to see how the oil companies will move in the future, and that will determine together with car manufacturers if other diesels will be introduced to the US.