I am seriously looking at buying a diesel engine next time, but Toyota don't sell diesesl in North American. You Aussies get the 4 Runner diesel called a Hi Lux that runs forever. There is a product sold on the net you can just mix with used veggie oil and filter out the fries and it cost yes about 60 cents a gallon. Only problem with Biodiesel is it has gelling problems in cold climates, sometimes, and that's about it. They are working on this. Diesel engines last forever and there lower maintenance than internal combustion to boot. They do cost 2-4k more upfront, depending on size, but that's alot cheaper than hybrid batteries at 7k more. My Czech uncle runs a Hyundai Elantra diesel and it gets about 45 MPG, and it's fast off the line too, TDI!
the 3000 mi/3 month rule is perpetuated by oil change mechanics and jiffy-lube shops. it is a very earth-unfriendly rule to go by. because cars are so reliable these days, oil changes are one of dwindling sources of revenue for these shops. follow your manual's recommendation. but if you run synthetic, you can extend the oil change interval by 75-100%. i've been running synthetic for 10 yrs at 10k/12 months and never had a problem. this is good for the earth but if everyone did it, half the oil change mechanics would be unemployed. the engine block, rods, cams and pistons are the most durable part of the powertrain. something else will fail first.
those are all old cars from the 80s and early 90s. back then there was a noticable gap in reliability between japanese and american makes. these days the gap is much less and is not clear-cut. buick is more reliable than nissan and mercury is more reliable than mazda, but toyota/lexus beats them all. don't assume japanese and german are always better.
There's another problem... fuel tax. Public roads are built and maintained from them. If you run biodiesel, you'll be avoiding the fuel tax and might end up having the gendarmes on your tail.
True and I have read about that one. That's why I favor some form of flat tax based on income or sales. If you think about it, a tax based on sales ( which closed the loopholes on internet buying ) would tax all even those paid under the table. Of course we would have to step up customs enforcement. I am in favor of taxes that make reasonable sense, I am reasonable guy. Heck I am probably going to vote yes to hike property taxes for libraries. That's one of things I really love about Colorado, it's a pay as you go state. I know it wasn't always this way. That's how government should run, unless of a dire emergency. The only problem with a flat sales tax is that while ppl. get adjusted to it their would be recession because it would initially hurt consumer spending. Kind of like after 911 most ppl. stayed home and bought nothing for 6 months, above their necessities. Sorry to continue to stray off topic I will keep the banter to oil and cars from now on.
I was just going to respond in like. Reading a report on car reliability yesterday, the gap between American and Japanese has been closed in the last couple of years. Some of the German cars Volkswagon and Mercedes have been recently ranked as least reliable. Not good for my biodiesel idea.
Hi. I'm from Europe, and I've been reading for years on US forums about your 3k mile oil change... I can't believe it... Here in Europe EVERY manufacturer recommends 15/20 kilometers (=10/12.5 kmiles) for oil and filter. And consider that it's not only for newest engines: in every car that I've owned in the last 20 years, recommended oil change has been this long (and of course I have waited for more, thinking that if a manufacturer recommends me a 12500 miles interval, it's conservative) Instead of throwing away your 3k old oil, you could sell it on Ebay and send it over here, we'll use it for at least another 10k