Normally, everybody across the globe should be excited about the excellent mixture of pulling power and efficiency that turbo-diesel engines deliver. In reality though, you still have to state your case.

Yes, we get it, another clever ad where somebody needs to explain why driving a diesel-powered car is a good idea, no matter where you live. And so this story is pretty straight forward. You have one guy looking forward to getting married but wanting to get his wife-to-be’s dad to give him his blessings.

What does the “dad” do? He keeps going on and on about low fuel consumption and torque numbers – which makes for good satire, sure, but it’s just a reminder (unintentional yet painful) for the rest of us that even though the concept of a diesel-powered car has come a long way in the US, it’s still not where it needs to be.

The VW Passat TDI Clean Diesel is available from $27.095 MSRP in TDI SE spec, which is actually pretty good value for money. Also, averaging 44 mpg (5.3 liters/100km) on the highway isn’t bad but it’s not all-new Euro-Passat levels of low fuel consumption.

Another thing to touch on is VW being the No.1 selling diesel car brand in America. Indeed they are, but it’s not like there’s anybody else trying to rival them in this department.

VW’s TDI family has 4 other members besides the Passat. There’s also the Touareg, Jetta, Golf and the Beetle. Most of their rivals only have one diesel-powered car in their US line-up.

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