[Jim_Chow]

Definitely not cost effective. One major reason why people use diesel overseas besides the slightly better fuel economy and diesel is usually far cheaper than any grade of gasoline. Still, the maintenance costs and initial purchase price are slightly higher (like $7K in Oz between the petrol and TD), making it a wash unless you are driving a long distance w/o a gas station, with never really occurs in the lower 48 states. When you factor in the additional higher cost of diesel here (I'm seeing prices of $4.06/gal for diesel vs. $3.74/gal for premium in AZ), it's a deal-breaker. Most of the refining capacity in this country is geared towards gasoline over diesel. If one had $50K to blow on a conversion, one would be better off buying a used HDJ100 overseas & bringing it up to DOT specs (maybe $10K additional). The base price of the HDJ101 (Japan) was only $40K when new, so a used one plus the DOT cert fees would still run less than trying to convert a UZJ100.