In article , "Helmut"
writes:

To give you a lough for the day, and maybe you fell better about your fuel
prices:

Gernerally, fuel prices over here in EU are around 1,00 Euro PER LITER
(quarter gallon), so don't complain about high prices.

European fuel prices are that high in large part because of very high taxes.
The tax revenues are used for the roads and also to subsidize bus, transit
(Metro) and rail service. Unlike the USA, public transportation in Europe is
not expected to make money or even to meet its own expenses.

Though almost 50%
driving diesel (abt 0,80 euros /liter) powered vehicles (exluding commercial
trucks), we also have this price differences within short range.

Szenario: Driving from Venice/IT to Prague/Tschechnia (400 miles) fill up in
venice for 1.09, next stop near Vienna/Austria you pay only 0.65 and in
prague you can get hte liter of diesel for slightly over 50 cents.

That's only $2.00 per gallon! I've seen diesel prices in excess of $2 gallon
here at times.

They (Oil Companies) use the same excuse for the different prices as they do
over there at your side. BTW, ESSO and MOBILE also are the most expensive
brands over here.

Thats why Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes and all the other non-US Car
manufacturers sell their "premium edition" multi cylinder high consumption
vehicles to the States. They never could sell lots of them over here.

Modern Diesel engines have a mileage per gallon of 60 or 70.

Only in small cars.

And their
performance is not less the gas engines.

Agreed. But the first-cost is greater. And at US fuel prices, the difference
may not be worth it.

Suppose the diesel car gets 60 MPG and the equivalent gasoline car gets 40 MPG.
And suppose the car is driven 12,000 miles per year. That's 300 gallons of
gasoline vs. 200 gallons of diesel. If both fuels cost about the same (as they
usually do in the USA), the saving is only $150-200 per year. Compared to the
price of the car, insurance, repairs, maintenance, etc, that's not much saving.

So, now you can rest back at your next refueling stop, let the gas go into
your tank, and when at the cashier, just SMILE.
You know, you are filling up CHEAP.

Back in 1980 I bought a VW Rabbit Diesel. Over its 17 year lifetime, I got 43
mpg combined (I kept very accurate records). An equivalent gasoline Rabbit
would have probably done about 30 mpg.

But the diesel engine cost $900 more back then. Considering all factors, I
didn't save very much driving an oil burner.

73 de Jim, N2EY