I'll fill up with Premium tonight to see how it does. I tried premium in the summer and didn't see any mileage benefit at all but maybe with the oxygenated fuel now it will make a difference.

Randy, good to see you back! I misspoke (mis-typed) on the VW. Popular Mechanics compared a European VW Polo TDI (not a Jetta) to a Prius. The VW had better performance, got 74.3 mpg vs. low 50s for the Prius, and actually had fewer emissions. The only thing I don't like about the technology is they are using the same method as Mercedes in their Bluetec diesel to reduce NOx. They inject Adblue into the exhaust stream which converts Nox to Nitrogen and water. So the Adblue tank has to be filled up occasionally. Not sure how much that would cost. Honda has a Catalytic style converter that works without Adblue. All in all things are really looking up for diesel technology, which makes a whole lot more sense to me than complex hybrids with toxic batteries.

I can't answer your question about timing belt or plugged EGR. A guy I work with has an older TDI, he cleans out his EGR every year or so and doesn't think it's a big deal. I used to drive VWs and changed a few timing belts on them. A pain, but not a showstopper for me. Still, I wish timing belts would go the way of the dodo too.

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