"Use what you got!!" Had to chuckle about PO's comment about fire codes. Last big storm here wanted to get an additonal 5 gallons of gas for my genset. Had a "KERO" can and thought I'd use it. Pulled into local place, put can on ground and started to pump. Pump wouldn't start? Walked up to the little enclosed office thing to find out why? The 18 year old female (NOT being sexist, just descriptive) stopped texting on her cell phone long enough to say "That's the wrong kind of can and it's illegal." What could someone with over 50 years operating and repairing large and small engines say to her? Went to another place and filled up :-) We need more laws and lawyers to protect us!!! Ev

In my mind that IS wholesale, lol. If you're going to buy 50+ specimens and have them all shipped to the same place, it would seem to me that it would fit the business model of at least some wholesalers, if not Iseli's 'Walmart' model. This order must have cost $5,000-$10,000 even at wholesale prices, so it might make sense for a wholesaler to work this kind of deal. If you really want to get a 'head start' on conifers, have a LOT of money, space, time and back strength, basically you can just get a business liscense and place a $5,000+ order and arrange a shipment. I'll be honest though, looking back at this order - given the circumstances(variable weather inc. warm/hot temps), and the enormous task of digging all of those huge holes, moving the plants around, mulching, removing them from their huge pots, etc. it seems the most likely result for our original poster here was death by gardening. I'm a big, young fellow with a strong back but a task like this is actually very daunting and not something I would want to have to get done in a short period of time. -Will

Synthetic oil is a requirement for the VW turbodiesels. The '04-05 models have a different engine than the others, so they require oil that meets more stringent requirements than the older engine requires. But the change interval is 10,000 miles, which helps some. And you can lower the cost by not going with the dealer's "liquid gold" and supplying your own oil (I buy Chevron Delo by the case for my '03 and just bring it to the oil change; they give me a break on the price of the oil). Or by not going to the dealer, at all, since independent mechanics and other places that do oil changes don't charge your dealer's hourly labor rate. Insurance cost is another factor I have not researched. Another factor to consider is comparisons in warranty. Also I was reading up on diesels and there is much talk and controversy about "properly" breaking in the engine for thousands of miles. All this plus what's mentioned above means it's quite a complicated decision if you want it to be. Insurance is, I'd say, typical. The big challenge is to make sure the agent hears the word "diesel" after the word "turbo." While (watercooled) VWs have never been the cheapest cars of all to insure, the previous generation finally resolved some long-standing issues that kept the price of insurance high. Break-in is one of those great topics to discuss because everyone has an opinion and hardly anyone can tie actual experience to the theories presented. Since most folks don't have two diesels so they can try their pet theory with one and use the other as a control, it's easy to get outlandish about how to break in the car. I figure you can't really go wrong with the manufacturer's recommendation, and what I remember reading in the VW manual sounded about like what I've read for other cars. And, seriously, if following the best (non-manufacturer) recommendations to the letter bought you even another 50,000 miles, you're talking the difference between 250,000 miles and 300,000 miles. These cars will be a distant memory for many owners by then.

Ah the old gas deisel debate ! I shall jump in, Firstly, there are some RV forums on the web that dissect this argument pretty good. I have a 1 ton utility bed gmc w/ the 8.1L gas currently and have had deisel work trucks before. The big thing people don't look at is that while deisels can give you some phenomenal mpg, this is unloaded. Load the truck down and/or drive faster than 70mph and that deisel mpg drops more dramatically than a gas. My 8.1L gas pickuper got about 12mpg then I added another 5000 lbs and I'm down to around 10 mpg. Guys I know that have deisel work trucks got up to 20 mpg empty but when they added the utility bed, pipe racks and all the parts they are down to maybe 14mpg. Everyone wants a deisel and the dealers won't discount, nobody wanted the big gas and I got a really good deal. Deisel engine in a pickup is at least $5000.00 more plus the dealers won't deal. The way I figger you have to drive at least 100k miles to break even, but I always get rid of my trucks just before 100k. Used to be that co's w/ large fleets of trucks bought deisels because there was less maintenance, just replace oil and fuel filters but it's the same way w/ gas now, most don't need anything until 100k. I say you are either a gas man or a deisel man, just don't try to say that deisel's make more sense economically. You need to do the math, also consider more stopping for fuel w/ a gas, so check the tank size. Also deisel is not as readily available as gas, when I had a deisel I had to make sure to keep it filled because the stations that carried deisel closed down after 10 p.m. Shouldn't be a problem touring out on the interstate however.