This weekend I had our 2005 Volkswagen Jetta. Kinda made me anxious because I haven't gassed up our biodiesel car yet and honestly don't know where to do that and I knew I'd be covering a lot of miles this weekend.
I asked a couple of people in editorial and they didn't know either. Our senior consumer advice editor, Phil Reed, and Green Car Guide blogger, John O'Dell, normally fill the car up but weren't around to ask. Then I wondered how do people who don't have access to the likes of Phil and John find where to fill up their biodiesel car.
Googling "biodiesel gasoline station los angeles" I found the closest biodiesel fuel station was Conserv Fuel in Brentwood, just 2.5 miles away. Apparently it's "Los Angeles' first and only station that currently sells both biofuels and three grades of gasoline." And this location "is the only fueling station from San Diego to Santa Cruz now selling biodiesel (B99) to the public." Yikes!
Fortunately, even though the gas tank was initially three-fourths full and I drove it from Westchester to Eagle Rock to Santa Monica to Long Beach to West L.A. (about 80 miles) and was a bit of a leadfoot, the fuel gauge is only just a bit below half a tank. Not bad!
Caroline Pardilla, Deputy Managing Editor @ 63,836 miles
pat1usmc says:
12:19 PM, 10/27/08
You can't use regular diesel?
caroscuro says:
12:24 PM, 10/27/08
If there was an emergency, yeah, we could still use regular diesel.
dragonflight says:
01:48 PM, 10/27/08
It would defeat the current purpose for the 05 TDI though- to test biofuels. Replacing it with petrodiesel even for one tank could really mess up their overall stats (and clog another filter).
carfreak8394 says:
01:53 PM, 10/27/08
Wow. I just went on Google, and looked at the cloest gas station to my house that sells "alternative fuel" and the closest one to my house is an hour and a half away. Good thing I don't have a diesel car.
canadaphant says:
02:27 PM, 10/27/08
Notice the conspicuous lack of complaints from having driven the Jetta vs. Sadlier and the Smart.
karjunkie says:
02:50 PM, 10/27/08
How about an update on the biodiesel versus diesel comparo? Any noticeable differences in performance?
brn says:
06:56 AM, 10/28/08
Did I hear this right? You're testing what is sort of an experimental fuel and you're complaining because the nearest refilling station is 2.5 miles away? Some people are hard to please.
Btw: There are 60 biodiesel filling stations within a couple hours of me. I guess the world doesn't revolve around California.
stingray454 says:
09:30 AM, 10/29/08
Long Island has virtually no biodiesel stations. There's a handful of mom and pop stations supposedly, but you have to make appointments first, they have weird hours they are open, and they're all far away from where I live and work. Really disappointing as I would love to run biodiesel in my diesel Suburban. The politicians need to get on this and FIX IT!