This is our favorite end-of-month activity, looking back over the most popular posts of the last 30-or-so days on GreenCarReports.com. To celebrate the onset of autumn (for us Northern Hemisphere types, anyhow), we're back on schedule too.
We repeated three of August's most popular posts, and coverage of clean diesels swept four out of the top five. The top finisher, though, dealt with the always popular topic of human procreation. Or, rather, preventing it when desired.
# 1: Can Condoms Curb Climate Change Cheaper Than Low-Carbon Cars? Well, we kinda knew this one might rank. It's alliterative, it deals with s*x and, yeah, we wrote it to be a little provocative. Bottom Line: A new report from the London School of Economics strongly indicates that making family planning services available to cut unintended births could have a huge impact on cutting carbon emissions. And, they're much cheaper (at $6.10 per ton) than other methods, including lowering automotive emissions (at up to $31.70 per ton). Think about it.
VWvortex reader Bajan2.0T snapped this shot of the 2010 Golf TDI at the Toronto Auto Show.
Ford 6.7-liter Power Stroke V-8 diesel engine, to be fitted to 2011 F-Series Super Duty pickups
2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI
# 2: Will the 2010 Volkswagen Golf TDI Be Diesel's Biggest Winner? A perennial favorite, this one hangs onto the second-place rank it regained last month. Bottom Line: In selling new clean diesels in the U.S., Volkswagen should benefit from both low prices (the 2010 Golf TDI costs $21,990) and its loyal horde of existing diesel owners, who already understand the cars' benefits. But we think that Audi, BMW, and other carmakers without a history of offering diesels in the US could have a tough time.
# 3: Ford Super Duty Pickups To Offer Clever PowerStroke Turbodiesel V8. Once more, our loyal diesel fans took this one into the Top Five. Bottom Line: Severing its ties with International, who had supplied diesel engines for its trucks since 1982, Ford will launch its own, brand-new turbodiesel in the 2011 F-Series Super Duty picups. And it's one clever engine, flipping the intake and exhaust manifolds around from their usual arrangement to nestle the single turbo in the vee for a whole host of benefits.
# 4: The New 2010 Rabbit TDI Diesel...Or, Is It a Golf Again? Our other perennial favorite, this one from all the way back in February, climbs a notch for September. It ultimately led into this month's # 2 item. Bottom Line: Volkswagen took some time to make up its mind--never mind the waffling from PR spokeman Steve Keyes--but we got it right from the start: Yes, the 2010 Volkswagen Golf won't be a Rabbit after all.
# 5: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI: 36-39 MPG In Real-World Use. Completing diesel's near-sweep of our Top Five, this new winner for the month is the latest VW diesel piece seized on by our ever-eager Volkswagen TDI fans. Don't you go changing, guys! Bottom Line: VolkswagenReports.com author Tim Healey got 39.2 miles per gallon over a 540-mile high-speed road trip, and 36.3 mpg overall, in a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI sedan. Yet more evidence, if needed, that VW diesels get do better than their EPA ratings.
In case you're interested, here are our previous Most Popular lists for GreenCarReports.com:
Most popular posts: April 2009
