One minor quibble with the article, DEF fluid isn't expensive. It runs about $5/US gal the last time I looked it up. On the Cruze, the tank needs to be filled at 16k km, and it takes about 5L IIRC. It's not going to break the bank.
Diesel is currently $1.269 and regular gasoline is $1.174 at my local station. Over the summer, diesel was a couple of pennies cheaper than gas, but not enough to make up for the winter spread.
I'd pick one of the Priuses, maybe the C-Max or the CT200 for our usage.