$4,000 a month

[Surewhitey]

Living quite nicely on $2300 in Mexico. Even last year in LA was averaging $4-4500 living simple of course.
This includes health insurance in the states. 43&49...

 

[aja8888]

You mean more diesels in the warmer climate areas of the USA. Diesels are very hard to start in colder northern climate winters if you never had one up north. That's why they won't catch on up here. Then there's " the knock"!

Apparently you have not followed diesel technology in recent decades. Diesels are very adept to starting in cold weather, just ask the Canadians who drive lots of them. Glow plug and engine management technology has advanced such that starting at -20F or colder is not a problem. Even fuel is treated by distributors to reduce gelling tendencies.

The diesel "knock" has been all but tuned out with the advances in common rail injection and multi-pulse injection technology. Stand next to a 2009 and above diesel and you can't hear the engine running.

 

[Al in Ohio]

Apparently you have not followed diesel technology in recent decades. Diesels are very adept to starting in cold weather, just ask the Canadians who drive lots of them. Glow plug and engine management technology has advanced such that starting at -20F or colder is not a problem. Even fuel is treated by distributors to reduce gelling tendencies.

The diesel "knock" has been all but tuned out with the advances in common rail injection and multi-pulse injection technology. Stand next to a 2009 and above diesel and you can't hear the engine running.

A diesel engine considers anything below 40F degrees to be cold weather and can be hard to start. That's because there isn't enough heat content in the outside air to get the temperature of compression high enough to detonate the diesel fuel. Another problem is that oil companies change the fuel formula from summer to wintertime blends.
If you get stuck with summer fuel in a winter situation, then a diesel can be just about impossible to start. Take a tip from the "old time" truckers. They would mix about 5% gasoline to their fuel to assist in cold weather starting.
Glow plugs on these small diesels are available, but end up being a wasted effort. The glow plugs are mounted in the manifold, not in the cylinder. These diesel engines are not typically used in wintertime applications, so the manufacturers just don’t provide for proper glow plugs inside the combustion chamber.
If you really need to run one of these engines in the winter, then I would go the 5% gasoline fuel mix and find some way to heat the engine crankcase and especially the incoming air. I have successfully used a hair dryer to blast warm air down the intake manifold to raise the temperature of compression.

Again I live in Ohio and the few folks I know that actually bought a diesel about half complained a lot about winter starting issues until they traded it in and went back to a gas powered vehicle.

Don't believe the marketing hype.

Have YOU ever had to start a diesel when it's in the teens outside all week?

 

[NW-Bound]

I found this on Bogleheads:

Budget models of retirement spending - Bogleheads

That's where the link to Vanguards budget calculator was as well as other ones.

There are a couple of spreadsheets too, one of which has entries for one-time or big purchases.

I never had any real budget in my life, because we were always LBYM. I never computed what our annual savings were in terms of % of income. I bought what I needed (or wanted sometimes), and still had leftovers, and that was all I cared.

When I discovered this forum and found that people kept very close watch on their inflow/outflow, I realized that I needed to do the same if I were to stop working. So, I have been watching my expenses over the last 3 years just to see what they were. I decided to stop work when I saw that I was spending right at 3.5%WR as my children flew the coop, and I already bought the things that I wanted like the 2nd home, and the motor home (used) and its toad. Prior to that, we were spending consistently in the low $100K+.

Just now, looking at the expenses that Quicken tallied up over the last 12 months, I see that I could live on $50K/yr if I cut out: 1) charity donations, 2) travel, and 3) miscellaneous discretionary spending such as dining out, toys, etc...

Note that the above $50K still includes health insurance, and operating costs for 2 homes. However, it does not include vehicle replacement costs, large unexpected home repairs, etc... I would have to sell the 2nd home to get some safety margin.

 

[aja8888]

A diesel engine considers anything below 40F degrees to be cold weather and can be hard to start. That's because there isn't enough heat content in the outside air to get the temperature of compression high enough to detonate the diesel fuel. Another problem is that oil companies change the fuel formula from summer to wintertime blends.
If you get stuck with summer fuel in a winter situation, then a diesel can be just about impossible to start. Take a tip from the "old time" truckers. They would mix about 5% gasoline to their fuel to assist in cold weather starting.
Glow plugs on these small diesels are available, but end up being a wasted effort. The glow plugs are mounted in the manifold, not in the cylinder. These diesel engines are not typically used in wintertime applications, so the manufacturers just don’t provide for proper glow plugs inside the combustion chamber.
If you really need to run one of these engines in the winter, then I would go the 5% gasoline fuel mix and find some way to heat the engine crankcase and especially the incoming air. I have successfully used a hair dryer to blast warm air down the intake manifold to raise the temperature of compression.

Again I live in Ohio and the few folks I know that actually bought a diesel about half complained a lot about winter starting issues until they traded it in and went back to a gas powered vehicle.

Don't believe the marketing hype.

Have YOU ever had to start a diesel when it's in the teens outside all week?

Absolutely have as I have a home in Connecticut and spend quite a bit of time there. And, BTW , I have owned diesels for decades, going back to 1980. May I recommend that you do some research as there have been a lot of advances with small displacement engines since 2000, especially with the 1.9 and 2.0 liter turbocharged diesel engines. VW has used the 1.9 since around 1996 (Passat) and the 1.4 -1.6 L ones in the 1980 (non-turbo IDI versions).

We don't put gasoline in diesel fuel anymore due to its low lubricity and the use of very high pressure injection pumps (1800+ BAR). Actually, since the lowering of sulfur to <15 PPM in diesel fuel in 2006-07, suppliers add lubricity additives at the distribution terminal to help with lubricity (lack of it can ruin injection pumps). Check the Spicer lubricity study if you can find it online for lubricity tests using various additives.

If anything, cutting D2 is done with D1 (not gasoline) to aid in anti-gelling.

Not to get too far off topic Al, but here is an article on Mazda's new diesel technology: http://www.popsci.com/cars/article/2013-02/how-mazda-reinvented-diesel-engine

 

[Al in Ohio]

If you have tried it I'll take your word for it as I have not. Only hearing things second hand from others in my locale. I suppose it would be worth trying a rental that's a diesel in the winter, but how numerous are rentals that are diesel?

Just curious, what's the average highway mpg for a diesel sedan?

 

[haha]

I've been driving VW diesels for years and would love to move up to a MB diesel. I darn near bought a 2006 model year MB diesel sedan a couple of years ago for under $20K with less than 100K miles on it (lease turn in).

Is this a 6 cylinder inline engine, or a 4? Is it boosted?

Ha

 

[aja8888]

Is this a 6 cylinder inline engine, or a 4? Is it boosted?

Ha

It was the MB 320 CDI with the inline 6 cylinder 3.2 L turbo charged engine. After 2006, they produced V6 diesels. All modern diesels are boosted with turbos.

 

[aja8888]

Just curious, what's the average highway mpg for a diesel sedan?

Al, I have a 2006 Jetta TDI and get about 42 MPG highway. The newer Jetta and Passat TDI's (2009 - 2014) with the common rail injection engines get a few more MPG's.