If Nissan does this, it will force Toyota and the others to do the same. Nissan and the others simply don't "grok" the idea of how many off-roaders and construction workers out there that want a good truck are coaxing along 15+ year old vehicles and waiting for the day when a good replacement for their rusting hulk comes along.
All it needs is 4WD and manual and it'll sell a hundred thousand extra units that they didn't count on in the first year alone. They don't care one iota about speed. They just want high MPG and something that's not built like a small toy. (ie - Ford Ranger, GM Canyon/etc) .
But when it does happen, the huge demand that the idiots in their corporate towers in Japan and Detroit will be suddenly facing (and never saw) will finally change their minds. We just have to keep pressuring these morons that there really IS a market for small diesel trucks in the U.S.
Because when trucks become available, cars always follow.
Or you could privately import a 25 year old model and save a fortune and escape potentially troublesome gadgetry - not to mention getting the cool 2 door model that will never be sold here.
Well, it's not just diesels. Try to find a 4 cylinder work truck these days. You've pretty much got the Tacoma. But it's overpriced and gets a pathetic 22mpg in realistic driving. A lot of off-roaders are coaxing their old 4Runners and Land Cruisers way past their lifespan waiting for something that's a real truck with an engine that gets good MPG.
ie - it needs: A frame. Not negotiable. 4 cylinder or diesel. Optimally 30mpg highway. Mid-size or larger. 4X4 option. Manual option. (this isn't offered in the U.S. and is a HUGE negative as the off-road crowd absolutely won't buy it without this option)
If they can make all of these options available, they'll own the market segment that's waiting eagerly for such a workhorse and off-road toy.
Ford Ranger. 22/27 in a 4 banger. Everyone complains that they are old, old, old and the 4 banger is pokey. I like the way the look ok and they come in a manual.
I am not up on the issues why that platform (Tacoma/Ranger/ etc). is considered obsolete. I am also not sure why folks would want a 4 sec- naught to 60. However, it is almost a no brainer to say that a turbo diesel in either a larger displacement I4 or V6 would be a perfect match.
It is old, old, old...the body dates from 1993 and the engine is old and inefficient as well. A new 4 cylinder truck, if one existed, would have better mileage and power. The Ranger is unsafe in side impacts. The structure is too old to justify the necessary upgrades to make it competitive. If Ford really wanted to market a Ranger here, they'd bring in the new Europe/Asian platform. Not enough call for a small pickup here. However, that could change if gas continues to cost $4 or more per gallon.
I cannot imagine driving a Ranger gas 4 banger. My Ranger V6 was a gutless pig. And never got over 16 MPG. I thought something was wrong with the engine or transmission. I had both checked and were fine for a truck with 100k+ miles. I think the Ranger as sold all over the World with a 4 cylinder diesel would be dandy. The truck itself was solid. Though not as nice as my Frontier. Ford does build good small trucks, just not for US consumption.
Ok, so the platform needs tweeks to upgrades? I still do not really see why the platform does not make sense.
So for example (a tad off topic) , the Golf is really the "old" Rabbit platform. It was used in Europe long before it hit the US market as the "RABBIT". I had a 1978 Rabbit, so the platform is at LEAST 35 years old. I also would ask (point of discussion), what would be "enough call" for a small P/U?
Umm...not the same type of example. The Golf has gone through six generations of platforms. The Ranger on the other hand has not. The original American Ranger from 1985? received new body panels in 1993, but not a new platform. In 1994, the interior was restyled, but the 2011 still has that same dash. The Golf has never carried the same interior or same dimensions for 17+ years. There were some Ranger upgrades in 1998 (rack and pinion steering, five speed automatic transmission), but no significant styling changes. In 2001, the 205 hp V6 was added. VW has never neglected a platform in that way. There are still parts of the 1985 truck that would fit on the 2011 model. It's a proven machine, but in light of today's vehicles, does not offer the comfort, handling, safety or efficiency it should for a vehicle of its size.
And the new Passat family includes a Chattanooga choo-choo of its own: a clean-diesel version, adding to Volkswagen’s dominance of diesel in the mainstream American market. Some still doubt whether diesel has a much higher ceiling in the United States than it has achieved over the last three or four years, but VW grows ever more committed to peddling its Turbo Diesel Injection (TDI) line in North America. “It’s obviously a great part of the VW brand when it’s close to 30 percent of sales even for Jetta, our best-selling vehicle,” said David Sweet, general manager of product marketing for Volkswagen of America. "It’s a big part of our strategy going forward."
I wonder if the Passat wagon will come with a TDI. The Jetta wagon sells over 80% with diesel. People that buy wagons are generally more functional minded which the TDI is for sure. Does not look bad. It would be better with a couple more inches of ground clearance. I don't want to end up like Obama and the Limo. :shades:
In scanning the article, it would seem the real competitive thing is the Passat's competition in the so called "MID" sized markets. Not many mid sized cars are able to post 43 mpg (read that in another article). Toyota Camry, an almost ubiquitous mid sized car posts 33 mpg, with its hybrid posting 35 mpg. Respectively Passat gets 30.3% to 22.9% better.
So as long as the Passat is 13% or more cheaper than the TCH, you will do better overall.
Don't you mean if the TCH is 13% cheaper it will be an even comparison. Of course the handling in the Passat should be better. If they have neutered it to feel like a wallowing CamCord it will just be another POC appliance car.
Hmmm, with the exception of my second stepfather (the gin soaked sot that he was), I've never met a person that didn't value handling at least to a certain extent. Enthusiast level? Not so much. Value handling better than what a Prius can deliver? Virtually everyone I know.
German handling is one of the major reasons people buy VW in spite of the less reliability perceptions. How many will buy a VW if it is the same as driving a CamCord? The TDI is the only draw I can see in that offering.
Well, I AM German-descended. And I appreciate the efficiency of the clean diesels.
But my driving style just does NOT need a car with "German handling" at all. I take corners below the recommended speed, and I rarely drive above the speed limit.
Starting in 2000, when I got my last $150 speeding ticket, I wised up and "matured" my driving style.
When I first got my Outback, I'd been driving nothing but my minivan for around 5 years. So I had fun scooting around on the gravel roads near the house and it was fun on the windy road going up to the ski hill (172 turns in 16 miles). More fun than the minivan anyway.
That lasted a month or two and then I started driving it basically like the minivan. Whipping up and down the ski hill road tended to make me mildly queasy. My brakes last forever.
I had an old Miata for a weekend a couple of years ago. It was a hoot, but mostly because I enjoyed rowing the gears. I wasn't go-karting around the corners much.
The Prius II I test drove handled just fine, thank you.
Yeah, until you cannot get your Prius out of the way of "gin soaked sots" like my stepfather (who managed to collect a series of DUIs but who also had a very high priced lawyer and managed to keep his license through it all).
Of course from my perspective, one less Prius on the road is a good thing. :P
According to the rules, Toyota really keeps the Prius alive to sell the rest of its' product line. Less than a year ago (I don't remember the exact date) world wide production hit 2 M vehicles after more than a decade of losses and heavy marketing and in effect, US policy backing. If it were ANY other car (other than high end rigs) they would have pulled the plug YEARS ago.
Now I do not know the exact chain of events and political situations that triggered Toyota going through the proverbial "gauntlet". It was more than apparent that Toyota was being set up for those events. They were also "cruisin for a brusin."
Even the bru ha ha about the issue of wild random acceleration has been confirmed by the safety agencies as being as one would expect, (mostly DRIVER error. I do not think the message was lost on Toyota, nor the other oems: TOE the invisible lines.
Well, Toyota could introduce diesels to the US market to help them meet CAFE. It sounds like they are going with the hybrid platform though. They have a couple of five hybrid Lexus models too, and the 200h is coming soon.
Or maybe you want to get an LS 600h L with 438 horses. If you can handle it. :-)
I think really that WAS one of the invisible lines. aka, would you like to lose another round of BILLIONS of dollars? Can do easy, bring a turbo diesel to the US market. I think they probably will, but merely as a "ME TOO" reaction.
So you're saying that if Toyota bought a diesel to market here, they'd lose billions? Seems like a stretch.
There was a Toyota diesel hybrid that was supposed to be here last year. Guess the numbers didn't pencil out. Or maybe I'm just reading between the lines and Toyota was going to introduce it elsewhere. (AutoBlog).
Absolutely! But,... not (only) in the way that your response might imply/infer.
I would swag that Toyota took these issues as "idle" threats. You know too big to fail, etc. So the systems made pain (economic) a reality.
The cost of (model) certification is not even discussed, even the topic of grey market certification makes oblique references to the issues.
..."The United States continues to use a unique set of safety and emission regulations for motor vehicles, which differ significantly from the internationalised ECE Regulations used throughout the rest of the world. Vehicle manufacturers thus face considerable expense to type-certify a vehicle for U.S. sale, at a cost estimated to be upward of USD $2 million per vehicle model. This cost particularly impacts low-volume manufacturers and models, most notably the makers of high end sports cars. However, larger companies such as Alfa Romeo and Peugeot have also cited costs of 'Federalizing' their vehicle lineups as a disincentive to re-enter the U.S. market."...
Notice the issues are really MONEY related (aka TRADE)
In real life, though, that is about as rare as sighting an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.
Then I guess I've had at least a half of a dozen of such sightings in my driving lifetime because that's how many accidents I've managed to j-u-s-t b-a-r-e-l-y a-v-o-i-d in my cars that handle significantly better than a Prius, and which a Prius driver would have had zero chance of avoiding.
Is such an emergency maneuver required every day or even every year for that matter? No. That said, one happened to me just this Monday when I was tooling along at a nice sedate 40 mph on an otherwise empty road when a woman pulled up to the end of a driveway in front of me, looked to her right and quickly pulled out and headed directly at me in my lane without ever looking to her left. I just managed to swerve around her big [non-permissible content removed] SUV, threading the needle between her and the driveway owner's mail-box. She only saw me after I'd already cut hard to my right to avoid the impending head-on collision.
I've driven co-worker's Prius models enough times to know with absolute certainty that I would not have been able to avoid such an accident in such a car. True, it would have been her fault, but that isn't much consolation.
Well I reckon the National average doesn't take stats from the west. I just went by my local station , which has been lower than most, and here they sell diesel for 4.19 and unleaded for 3.59. Talked to a friend in LA and there he pays 4.02 for unleaded and diesel is 4.72
Release Schedule: The gasoline and diesel prices will be released on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 by 5:00 P.M. (Eastern Time) due to the closure of the Federal Government on Monday, May 30. The data will still represent Monday's price. U.S. Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Prices, 05/23/11
Gasoline (Dollars per Gallon) Diesel Fuel (Dollars per Gallon) 05/23/11 Change from 05/23/11 Change from Price Week Ago Year Ago Price Week Ago Year Ago U.S. 3.849 -0.111 1.063 U.S. 3.997 -0.064 0.976 East Coast 3.859 -0.093 1.067 East Coast 4.011 -0.064 0.972 New England 3.977 -0.068 1.127 New England 4.161 -0.046 1.063 Central Atlantic 3.912 -0.081 1.084 Central Atlantic 4.138 -0.072 0.973 Lower Atlantic 3.784 -0.109 1.036 Lower Atlantic 3.943 -0.062 0.962 Midwest 3.817 -0.157 1.123 Midwest 3.942 -0.073 0.957 Gulf Coast 3.710 -0.113 1.012 Gulf Coast 3.935 -0.061 0.958 Rocky Mountain 3.733 -0.024 0.879 Rocky Mountain 4.101 -0.033 0.994 West Coast 4.036 -0.081 1.027 West Coast 4.201 -0.047 1.069 California 4.121 -0.097 1.072 California 4.287 -0.084 1.125
Maybe we can get every one to post what they are seeing at the actual pump in there location . This would give a more accurate retail imprint of diesel vs. gas. I travel around 58,000 miles per year and the averages they post are far from what we see at the actual pump. It would be interesting if they actually posted the locations they got their survey information from or if they actually did more than put in bogus numbers. Kinda like Obumheads birth certificate that doesn't match historical events .
Thanks Larsb I was unaware of the edmunds forum for gas prices. When you get the other web look at the pump calculations. they seem strange to me.
they show diesel crude being cheaper than gas crude. Crude is crude. Why th variation of cost? Also shows diesel refining costs higher when they ar actually less per Chevron Oil information.
Crude is NOT crude. Why? Because only certain segments of any given barrel can be used for the refining of gasoline (roughly the lightest/"top" 50% of any given barrel), and the next "lightest" 25% can be used for Diesel, Jet-A Kerosene, and fuel oil, while the "heaviest"/lowest 25% of any given barrel is only suitable for use as bunker oil, tar, and asphalt.
Given that Europe refines enough raw crude to provide for all of their diesel powered cars (roughly 50% of the population), that means they are left with roughly twice as much light crude (i.e. gasoline grade) as the consume, and typically they sell that "gasoline" portion of crude to the U.S. Hence, "crude is not crude".
"Mainstream acceptance of diesel increasingly is illustrated by "take" rates by U.S. consumers when given a choice between diesel and gasoline powertrains for the same passenger cars and SUV models. Overall, the diesel take has risen to 32 percent from just 12 percent two years ago, according to Bosch Diesel Systems North America, a major supplier. That's in spite of a premium for diesel versions that typically runs from $1,200 up to $3,000 – and a hoary reputation hangover from diesel technology of old. "In the beginning we got more pushback from consumers because of the problems with diesel vehicles from the Seventies," said Lars Ulrich, Bosch's North American marketing director. "But the take rates now indicate consumers have moved past that."
can you give actual scientific lab reports showing this? I do know that their are various grades of crude. But if you believe the top half of a barrel and the bottom a different crude, I would like to sell you lake front property in the Sahara desert. Fuels are measured by barrel but rarely are stored in a barrel until after refining to the grade fuel or lubricant it is destined. There are varying amounts of paraffin in crude oil and mostly it is a geographical situation. As explained to me by a Chevron engineer, unleaded gas requires more refinement than diesel as does almost any lubricant and/or fuel. Coal oil, diesel and tars are the least expensive to refine and thus tie more profit to the refinery. He also said crude comes by pipeline, truck,ship(tanker) etc. Not shipped in barrels as the cost and logistics would make it impossible.
This said please send link to your statement(s). So I can understand where the information was received.
The following may help answer some questions without being to scientific. the average well drilled for oil produces more than crude. It also can produce water,methane,propane, butane, ethane and natural gas all from the same well. There are a few others but these are the most prominent.
Carbon Chains in Petroleum Products The different chain lengths have progressively higher boiling points, so they can be separated out by distillation. This is what happens in an oil refinery -- crude oil is heated and the different chains are pulled out by their vaporization temperatures. (See How Oil Refining Works for details.)
The chains in the C5, C6 and C7 range are all very light, easily vaporized, clear liquids called naphthas. They are used as solvents -- dry cleaning fluids can be made from these liquids, as well as paint solvents and other quick-drying products.
The chains from C7H16 through C11H24 are blended together and used for gasoline. All of them vaporize at temperatures below the boiling point of water. That's why if you spill gasoline on the ground it evaporates very quickly.
Next is kerosene, in the C12 to C15 range, followed by diesel fuel and heavier fuel oils (like heating oil for houses).
Next come the lubricating oils. These oils no longer vaporize in any way at normal temperatures. For example, engine oil can run all day at 250 degrees F (121 degrees C) without vaporizing at all. Oils go from very light (like 3-in-1 oil) through various thicknesses of motor oil through very thick gear oils and then semi-solid greases. Vasoline falls in there as well.
Chains above the C20 range form solids, starting with paraffin wax, then tar and finally asphaltic bitumen, which is used to make asphalt roads.
All of these different substances come from crude oil. The only difference is the length of the carbon chains!
To say that I was a bit taken aback by the tone in your post is a bit of an understatement. You have a lake front property to sell me indeed; and the horse you rode in on dude. FWIW, when I referred to the "top" part of a barrel, I was speaking (writing) figuratively, hence the fact that I qualified my statement by saying "lightest/"top" 50%", this was to make it easy for the uninitiated/slow to get the point.
As for links; is the EPA a good enough resource for you?
Comments
Guess you'd have to start a "Sort of High MPG Truck Club".
All it needs is 4WD and manual and it'll sell a hundred thousand extra units that they didn't count on in the first year alone. They don't care one iota about speed. They just want high MPG and something that's not built like a small toy. (ie - Ford Ranger, GM Canyon/etc) .
But when it does happen, the huge demand that the idiots in their corporate towers in Japan and Detroit will be suddenly facing (and never saw) will finally change their minds. We just have to keep pressuring these morons that there really IS a market for small diesel trucks in the U.S.
Because when trucks become available, cars always follow.
lol, diesels really are strangers in a strange land eh?
ie - it needs:
A frame. Not negotiable.
4 cylinder or diesel. Optimally 30mpg highway.
Mid-size or larger.
4X4 option.
Manual option. (this isn't offered in the U.S. and is a HUGE negative as the off-road crowd absolutely won't buy it without this option)
If they can make all of these options available, they'll own the market segment that's waiting eagerly for such a workhorse and off-road toy.
So for example (a tad off topic) , the Golf is really the "old" Rabbit platform. It was used in Europe long before it hit the US market as the "RABBIT". I had a 1978 Rabbit, so the platform is at LEAST 35 years old. I also would ask (point of discussion), what would be "enough call" for a small P/U?
VW Re-Opens American Chapter In Tennessee (AutoObserver)
I love all these Chattanooga pics. Need to see some in front of Rock City though.
That's about 17% better. So definitely a jump.
So with diesel at 10c more per gallon, that means that the cost to drive 10,000 miles is about 13% cheaper with the Passat.
So as long as the Passat is 13% or more cheaper than the TCH, you will do better overall.
Don't you mean if the TCH is 13% cheaper it will be an even comparison. Of course the handling in the Passat should be better. If they have neutered it to feel like a wallowing CamCord it will just be another POC appliance car.
And again - handling matters to very few drivers in the big picture.
The people who care about it REALLY think it's important.
And the people who don't care about it don't even consider it when purchasing.
I've never heard a "real life" complaint about Prius handling. Just auto reviewers and smarty-pantses who want to DIS the IUS.
I couldn't care less about handling. The "supposed thrill" of minor G-forces in my driver's seat just gives me motion sickness - no thrill at all.
Handling, Schmandling.
But my driving style just does NOT need a car with "German handling" at all. I take corners below the recommended speed, and I rarely drive above the speed limit.
Starting in 2000, when I got my last $150 speeding ticket, I wised up and "matured" my driving style.
That lasted a month or two and then I started driving it basically like the minivan. Whipping up and down the ski hill road tended to make me mildly queasy. My brakes last forever.
I had an old Miata for a weekend a couple of years ago. It was a hoot, but mostly because I enjoyed rowing the gears. I wasn't go-karting around the corners much.
The Prius II I test drove handled just fine, thank you.
Yeah, until you cannot get your Prius out of the way of "gin soaked sots" like my stepfather (who managed to collect a series of DUIs but who also had a very high priced lawyer and managed to keep his license through it all).
Of course from my perspective, one less Prius on the road is a good thing. :P
Now I do not know the exact chain of events and political situations that triggered Toyota going through the proverbial "gauntlet". It was more than apparent that Toyota was being set up for those events. They were also "cruisin for a brusin."
Even the bru ha ha about the issue of wild random acceleration has been confirmed by the safety agencies as being as one would expect, (mostly DRIVER error. I do not think the message was lost on Toyota, nor the other oems: TOE the invisible lines.
a couple offive hybrid Lexus models too, and the 200h is coming soon.Or maybe you want to get an LS 600h L with 438 horses. If you can handle it. :-)
In real life, though, that is about as rare as sighting an Ivory-Billed Woodpecker.
There was a Toyota diesel hybrid that was supposed to be here last year. Guess the numbers didn't pencil out. Or maybe I'm just reading between the lines and Toyota was going to introduce it elsewhere. (AutoBlog).
I would swag that Toyota took these issues as "idle" threats. You know too big to fail, etc. So the systems made pain (economic) a reality.
The cost of (model) certification is not even discussed, even the topic of grey market certification makes oblique references to the issues.
..."The United States continues to use a unique set of safety and emission regulations for motor vehicles, which differ significantly from the internationalised ECE Regulations used throughout the rest of the world. Vehicle manufacturers thus face considerable expense to type-certify a vehicle for U.S. sale, at a cost estimated to be upward of USD $2 million per vehicle model. This cost particularly impacts low-volume manufacturers and models, most notably the makers of high end sports cars. However, larger companies such as Alfa Romeo and Peugeot have also cited costs of 'Federalizing' their vehicle lineups as a disincentive to re-enter the U.S. market."...
Notice the issues are really MONEY related (aka TRADE)
Grey Market Wiki
Then I guess I've had at least a half of a dozen of such sightings in my driving lifetime because that's how many accidents I've managed to j-u-s-t b-a-r-e-l-y a-v-o-i-d in my cars that handle significantly better than a Prius, and which a Prius driver would have had zero chance of avoiding.
Is such an emergency maneuver required every day or even every year for that matter? No. That said, one happened to me just this Monday when I was tooling along at a nice sedate 40 mph on an otherwise empty road when a woman pulled up to the end of a driveway in front of me, looked to her right and quickly pulled out and headed directly at me in my lane without ever looking to her left. I just managed to swerve around her big [non-permissible content removed] SUV, threading the needle between her and the driveway owner's mail-box. She only saw me after I'd already cut hard to my right to avoid the impending head-on collision.
I've driven co-worker's Prius models enough times to know with absolute certainty that I would not have been able to avoid such an accident in such a car. True, it would have been her fault, but that isn't much consolation.
Thanks
Just checked today and it's 15 cent difference today.
I just went by my local station , which has been lower than most, and here they sell diesel for 4.19 and unleaded for 3.59.
Talked to a friend in LA and there he pays 4.02 for unleaded and diesel is 4.72
05/23/11 3.997 4.011 4.161 4.138 3.943 3.942 3.935 4.101 4.201 4.287
05/16/11 4.061 4.075 4.207 4.210 4.005 4.015 3.996 4.134 4.248 4.371
05/09/11 4.104 4.117 4.218 4.248 4.052 4.066 4.022 4.156 4.307 4.459
05/02/11 4.124 4.128 4.231 4.269 4.059 4.086 4.060 4.156 4.328 4.465
_____California is far right column
Here is the link if you'd like more info:
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip.asp
Even better, here is the DIESEL page which shows Californians getting gouged quite a bit on diesel prices:
http://www.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/wohdp/diesel.asp
U.S. Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Prices, 05/23/11
Gasoline (Dollars per Gallon) Diesel Fuel (Dollars per Gallon)
05/23/11 Change from 05/23/11 Change from
Price Week Ago Year Ago Price Week Ago Year Ago
U.S. 3.849 -0.111 1.063 U.S. 3.997 -0.064 0.976
East Coast 3.859 -0.093 1.067 East Coast 4.011 -0.064 0.972
New England 3.977 -0.068 1.127 New England 4.161 -0.046 1.063
Central Atlantic 3.912 -0.081 1.084 Central Atlantic 4.138 -0.072 0.973
Lower Atlantic 3.784 -0.109 1.036 Lower Atlantic 3.943 -0.062 0.962
Midwest 3.817 -0.157 1.123 Midwest 3.942 -0.073 0.957
Gulf Coast 3.710 -0.113 1.012 Gulf Coast 3.935 -0.061 0.958
Rocky Mountain 3.733 -0.024 0.879 Rocky Mountain 4.101 -0.033 0.994
West Coast 4.036 -0.081 1.027 West Coast 4.201 -0.047 1.069
California 4.121 -0.097 1.072 California 4.287 -0.084 1.125
This would give a more accurate retail imprint of diesel vs. gas.
I travel around 58,000 miles per year and the averages they post are far from what we see at the actual pump.
It would be interesting if they actually posted the locations they got their survey information from or if they actually did more than put in bogus numbers.
Kinda like Obumheads birth certificate that doesn't match historical events .
And their is an Edmunds forum for JUST that information, called:
Report Your Local Gas Prices here
When you get the other web look at the pump calculations. they seem strange to me.
they show diesel crude being cheaper than gas crude. Crude is crude. Why th variation of cost?
Also shows diesel refining costs higher when they ar actually less per Chevron Oil information.
Given that Europe refines enough raw crude to provide for all of their diesel powered cars (roughly 50% of the population), that means they are left with roughly twice as much light crude (i.e. gasoline grade) as the consume, and typically they sell that "gasoline" portion of crude to the U.S. Hence, "crude is not crude".
Diesel A Rising Tide Or High Water Mark?
Nothing new to those who pay attention....:)
I do know that their are various grades of crude. But if you believe the top half of a barrel and the bottom a different crude, I would like to sell you lake front property in the Sahara desert.
Fuels are measured by barrel but rarely are stored in a barrel until after refining to the grade fuel or lubricant it is destined.
There are varying amounts of paraffin in crude oil and mostly it is a geographical situation.
As explained to me by a Chevron engineer, unleaded gas requires more refinement than diesel as does almost any lubricant and/or fuel. Coal oil, diesel and tars are the least expensive to refine and thus tie more profit to the refinery.
He also said crude comes by pipeline, truck,ship(tanker) etc. Not shipped in barrels as the cost and logistics would make it impossible.
This said please send link to your statement(s). So I can understand where the information was received.
the average well drilled for oil produces more than crude.
It also can produce water,methane,propane, butane, ethane and natural gas all from the same well. There are a few others but these are the most prominent.
Carbon Chains in Petroleum Products
The different chain lengths have progressively higher boiling points, so they can be separated out by distillation. This is what happens in an oil refinery -- crude oil is heated and the different chains are pulled out by their vaporization temperatures. (See How Oil Refining Works for details.)
The chains in the C5, C6 and C7 range are all very light, easily vaporized, clear liquids called naphthas. They are used as solvents -- dry cleaning fluids can be made from these liquids, as well as paint solvents and other quick-drying products.
The chains from C7H16 through C11H24 are blended together and used for gasoline. All of them vaporize at temperatures below the boiling point of water. That's why if you spill gasoline on the ground it evaporates very quickly.
Next is kerosene, in the C12 to C15 range, followed by diesel fuel and heavier fuel oils (like heating oil for houses).
Next come the lubricating oils. These oils no longer vaporize in any way at normal temperatures. For example, engine oil can run all day at 250 degrees F (121 degrees C) without vaporizing at all. Oils go from very light (like 3-in-1 oil) through various thicknesses of motor oil through very thick gear oils and then semi-solid greases. Vasoline falls in there as well.
Chains above the C20 range form solids, starting with paraffin wax, then tar and finally asphaltic bitumen, which is used to make asphalt roads.
All of these different substances come from crude oil. The only difference is the length of the carbon chains!
As for links; is the EPA a good enough resource for you?
http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6en/xp/longhorn_nepa_documents/lppapp6a.pdf