And this is for Regular Unleaded?

My one politcal comment concerning this: to the crowd who screamed "War For Oil" last year I present Exhibit A: $1.99/gallon for 87 octane gas I paid last night.

The is now a year wait for the Toyota Prius hybrid. Sales have suddenly spiked. I'm assuming the Honda Civic Hybrid is becoming pretty popular as well.

However, if you're in the market for a new car and fuel economy is a concern then I present a different alternative: DIESEL! Due to slow revving nature of a diesel engine it won't accelerate like a gasoline engine usually. But your Zero to 60 time will be only a second or two less than the gasoline counterpart.

There are exceptions: the new Mercedes E-class sedan has a diesel option that make it faster than the 6-cylinder gas engine due to the amount of torque that diesel makes. If you can afford it ($50,000), go for it!

Horsepower is speed, but torque is work! Torque is great for hills. A gasoline engine will usually force you to downshif in order to climb the hill. Because diesels have much more torque you won't have to downshift to go up a hill. You can easily pass other vehicles as well because you won't need to downshift. Stomp on the accerlator and you'll get past granny and her Buick easily.

If you don't have 50 grand to blow, then Volkswagen offers a disel engine for virtually every model the sale in the U.S. A diesel Jetta/Golf will get an honest 50 m.p.g in highway driving if you drive the stick shift. Hybrids don't. Their unusual technology messes up E.P.A. fuel economy estimates. The Passat, extremely nice midsized sedan I would love to own, does offer a new diesel with 230 lb-fet of torque so it'll scoot! Downside is automatic tranny only.

Come on Detroit! Offer diesels in those trucks and SUVs and you'll get an automatic 10% increase in fuel economy. Besides, have you noticed that diesel fuel is around $1.70 a gallon? Better fuel economy and cheaper fuel that doesn't spike in price as badly. I'm seeing WIN, WIN, WIN here!