We heard no shortage of hand wringing three weeks ago when the Obama administration locked into place the new 54.5 mileage standard for 2025. Many critics believed it would force Americans into driving nothing larger than a Prius-sized hybrid--a proposition that, on the surface, just doesn't seem realistic.

What if I told you there's a Camry-sized, mainstream, roomy five-passenger, mid-sized sedan that is within 10 percent of attaining that target today, in 2012? You'd probably say I'm crazy. Yet such a car does exist, it costs less than $30,000, and it is available today at your Volkswagen dealership. I'm talking about the TDI diesel version of the U.S.-built Volkswagen Passat SE.

When you drive more than 50 cars a year--some of them head-turning exotics and luxury sedans costing well into six figures--it takes something special to make an impression. And the 2013 Volkswagen PAssat TDI SE certainly made an impression. I drove from my home in Riverside County up the California coast to attend the air-cooled, vintage Volkswagen show in Solvang and then