12,000/14mpg = 857 gallons x $2 = $1714 x 3 years = $5142. A lot of money, but truck incentives are typically that high anyway, and you're factoring it over three years.

We certainly found the car to be miserly with fuel. For a long time, the fuel gauge needle appeared glued to full, and while we didn't manage the theoretical maximum 65.6mpg we did manage to get 55.6. That's better than the real world mpg figure of 52 that What Car? magazine found for the Prius. The economy and big fuel tank also means you can go a long way without visiting a petrol station. We got all the way from London to Cornwall and half-way back before needing a top-up.

The ECOnetic, it's clear, is greener than some of the greenest cars you can buy. It is worth pointing out, however, that its diesel engine will be creating more local air pollution (nitrous oxides and particulates) than a petrol hybrid. Whether that bothers you depends on your priorities on climate change and local air quality.

Yeah. OK. That's with $4 gas. What about $6 gas? or $8 gas.

SEOUL -(Dow Jones)- GM Daewoo Auto & Technology Co., the South Korean unit of General Motors Corp. (GM), Tuesday said its auto sales rose 8.6% on year to 92, 013 units in June from 84,700 units.

"Strong sales of fuel-friendly vehicles such as the mini car Matiz largely buoyed last month's sales," said a company spokesman.

Domestic sales rose to 13,633 units in June, up 18% from 11,577 units a year earlier, while exports were up 7.2% on year to 78,380 units from 73,123 units.

Members of “Gen Y” — a famously fickle age group loosely defined as those born between 1978 and 1994 — don’t feel they need to earn their luxury, observed Ed Kim, director of industry analysis for AutoPacific, which tracks the automotive industry.

“They want it now, and they feel they deserve it now,” he said.

But where, you might wonder, do today’s kids come up with the money to afford a $62,000 luxury German car?

“Common wisdom would hold that young people can dream about buying these cars, but that they couldn’t actually afford [them],” said Kim of AutoPacific.

The answer, he explained, is that youngsters are spending the rent money on their car payments.

“Generation Y is shaking out very differently to other generations,” said Kim. “There are unprecedented numbers of boomerang kids who come home after college and stay a long time.”

Living with the parents rent-free frees up cash for flashy rides like the M3, he said.

“They are not paying rent; they are not paying utilities. The temptation is huge to go out and buy a high-dollar performance car,” Kim said.

DETROIT - Ford Motor Co.'s June sales dropped 27.9 percent as high gas prices and a sluggish economy took their toll.

With General Motors shares trading near their lowest levels in more than half a century and gasoline prices rising to record levels, the auto industry braced to deliver another bleak monthly report on auto sales.

Industry analysts said June sales could drop to their lowest monthly rate in 16 years, with several predicting another double-digit dip.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Ford Motor Co. (F:
Ford Motor CompanyF 4.43, -0.38, -7.9%) said Tuesday its June U.S. sales fell 28.1% to 174,091 vehicles, dragged down by poor truck sales. Ford reported that June U.S. truck sales fell 35.6% to 101,981 units from a year ago. Ford's popular F-series trucks suffered a 40.5% drop in June U.S. sales to 38,789 units from last year