'Cuz There Is A Cure For The Summertime Blues’

2009 Volkswagen
Jetta TDi
Clean Diesel’s 50 MPG


Usually, I love the summer. Even though many moons have passed since I’ve experienced the mad dash out of school and into the carefree contemplation of sunshine and freedom, summer has always been tinged with the aura of “play-time.”

Not this summer. Without naming names to protect the innocent, this has started out as one of the weirdest summers I’ve ever experienced. Death, injury, the cost of gas, the breathlessness of fear, the cost of gas, unforeseen developments, the cost of gas, and before I forget, the cost of gas.

I will try to discipline myself and not get too political. Two people can love each other and then want to kill each other over political disparities. I want to draw people in, not push them away with ‘surface’ wedge differences. So when I find myself obsessing about the cost of gas, rather than point and howl, I’ve decided to go clean diesel.

I experimented last year by renting a 100% Bio-diesel filled VW to see if the dang thing would run on veggie-squeeze. It performed beautifully and I was bound and determined to tell the Oil Companies to stick it, until I found out that if you lease a car, the warranty won’t be honored if you run it on 100% Bio-diesel.

So I waited. I know what you’re thinking. “Dude, just get a Prius!” Hey, I tried, my friendly neighborhood Toyota dealer insisted on tacking on a hefty fee for “Lo-Jack & Undercoating.” I responded by saying, “I’ve seen ‘Fargo’ and I’m not putting that fee in your pocket.”

So I waited. My friendly neighborhood VW dealer had been bragging for months about the new “Clean Diesel Jetta TDI.” It was rumored to get up to 50 mpg and with exceptionally low emissions. The concept car model finally came in. I test drove it and I ordered one with dreams of getting 600-700 miles on a single tank of gas dancing in my febrile brain like the agile Hippopotamus in “Fantasia.”

So I continue to wait… for my order to come through. And when my lean “green” mean piece of machinery arrives, I will update you all.