More pressing than whether to buy automatic or manual, drivers are now faced with the question of deciding between a diesel or gas engine.

More and more buyers are choosing diesel than ever before. The reputation diesel cars have of being loud and dirty is fading and today’s models are almost on par with their gas counterparts in those categories.

Where diesel cars do leave gas engines in their savings over the long term. Whereas gas engine cars cost less initially, in the long run, diesel cars end up saving a substantial amount in diesel and maintenance. Even if diesel is on par with the price of gas, or even above it as it frequently is, the car uses much less of it. Analysts report that diesel cars average approximately 25 per cent better fuel economy, sometimes more. (Anecdotal )case in point: a 2006 Jetta diesel car can drive 1000 km on less than a full tank. A 2006 Jetta gas engine car would use 2 tanks.

In 2010, diesel models, pickups among them, represented 2.3 per cent of all models sold this year, up .3 per cent from 2009. This number is expected to rise to 7 per cent by 2016 in part due to the trend towards cars that produce less c02, which diesel engines also do.

Car manufacturers are listening. In November 2010, Audi announced plans to have a diesel model available for every volume product in its lineup. Diesel engines already account for nearly half of the Audi A3 sales, thereby further eroding the diesel’s early reputation of being dirty. Audi says that 40 per cent of its Q7s have are sold with diesel engines and that they are struggling to keep them in stock. Again, the cars km-per-gallon are a major draw for consumers, who are still shell shocked from over $100/barrel price of gas.

Another plus for diesel cars is that the majority are considered green are diesel. Because the ‘green’ factor of a car generally focuses on its CO2 emissions / km driven and fuel efficiency, diesel engines qualify and perform exponentially better than gas engines.