How do gasoline-powered vehicles compare to diesel or biodiesel vehicles?
Diesel vehicles typically have 30-40% better fuel efficiency than gasoline vehicles. Because of this per mile metrics are a better measure than per gallon. In other words, since a gallon of diesel will get you 40% farther than a gallon of gasoline will in comparable vehicles, you should look at fuel price, emissions, etc per mile instead of per gallon when comparing with gasoline vehicles. Diesel vehicles cost less to maintain, but cost more to fix than gasoline vehicles. The diesel engine is less complex and has less parts prone to failure, but the parts that eventually may fail have higher tolerances and are thus more costly to produce. Diesel vehicles typically have a higher resale value than gasoline vehicles. Diesel vehicles typically last longer (much longer) than gasoline vehicles. That and their better fuel efficiency mean higher value. Diesel vehicles have more torque or “off the line” power than gasoline vehicles. Older diesels are noisier than gasoline engines. Newer diesel
