The VW Jetta TDI has proven to be quite popular in the short time it's been on sale here in the U.S.: it has put sales of the Tiguan in the cooler and the ones that are available are very hard to get. Now the fairest Jetta of them all has set a Guinness World Record by traversing the lower 48 U.S. states while returning 58.82 mpg thanks to John and Helen Taylor. The Taylors took 20 days to cover the 9,419 miles in a counter clockwise direction, and this wasn't a hypermiling slow-as-you-can-go affair – they stayed within 5 mph of the speed limit. Their car was completely stock as it consumed just 11 tanks of ultra low sulfur diesel and traveled 853 miles per fill up. With that kind of mileage and handling high up on the fun factor, the Jetta TDI makes an excellent case for itself if you like driving and want to lower your fuel consumption. VW also recently told us that the go-fast Jetta TDIs in the TDI Cup Series are returning an average of 25 mpg and doing their entire 7-race series on just two tanks of gas, which includes qualifying. If that's true, there's got to be another world record in there somewhere...
Clean diesel or hybrid drive? It's an intriguing question, and one that's not quite so easy to answer. There's the price of diesel fuel to consider, which runs a few dimes over that of regular gasoline. Then there is fuel mileage. Does the Volkswagen Jetta TDI have a shot at dethroning the Toyota Prius as the undisputed mileage champion of the U.S.? To get a preliminary answer to some of these questions, Popular Mechanics put almost 500 miles on both cars, dividing up their miles between the city and the highway. It's not a knock-out for either car, but it may offer some early answers to a few questions.
First, the mileage. In the city, there's just no beating a hybrid, which uses its electric motor to good effect and scores over ten mpg better in the stop-and-go traffic of Los Angeles. On the highway, though, the Jetta TDI is able to eke out a narrow victory, scoring less than one mile per gallon better. Once the price of crude is factored in, the Prius remains the overall cheaper car to keep filled up. Of course, there is more to the story than that, including which car is a better to drive -- according to PM, the Jetta. Finally, the TDI qualifies for a $1,300 tax credit that the Prius can't claim. It's too close to call. Expect a rematch soon enough.
The state of California has the toughest vehicle emissions regulations in the world in its LEV II (and the corresponding national Tier 2 Bin 5) standards. Those rules treat all engine types the same regardless of what fuel they use. It doesn't matter if the engine runs on gasoline, diesel or cow dung, the emissions standards are the same. These rules are so tight that no manufacturer has been able to sell light-duty passenger vehicles powered by diesel engines in California and four other states for the last several years. That's all about to change beginning with last month's sales launch of the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. The Jetta TDI is the first new diesel-powered car to meet the tough T2B5 standards, and it's fitting that VW invited us out to the birthplace of these emissions regulations to drive it. We spent a day driving the Jetta TDI in and around Santa Monica to gauge whether it has the right balance of Fahrvergnügen and low fuel consumption to be a viable alternative to cars like the Prius, Civic and Focus.
Volkswagen officials gave Autoblog some insight into their new model roll-out plans when we met with them earlier this week at the media drive for the new 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. First into showrooms will be the 3.0-liter Touareg TDI, scheduled to start production in Mid-February 2009. It will followed by the MK VI GTI, based on the new Golf making its debut at the Paris Motor Show next month. The 2.5-liter Rabbit (gas) and 2.0-liter Rabbit TDI (diesel) will follow in the fall. Absent from VW's diesel lineup is the Tiguan. Larger and heavier than the compact cars currently utilizing the 2.0-liter TDI, the engine would need an urea injection to meet emission standards -- and the crossover wasn't designed with a storage tank in mind. Sorry diesel fans, the Tiguan will be sitting this one out for a while.
We recently received a note from an anonymous source indicating that there's a mildly strained relationship between VW and some of its dealers. The source of the consternation seems to be the highly anticipated Jetta TDI, which was just recently released in the U.S. market. Apparently, Volkswagen of America has gotten complaints that some dealers are adding a significant markup on the new and desirable model -- a big problem for many automakers when a new model makes its initial introduction. The dealers are eager to make some money on the new cars while VW is concerned that customers may just look elsewhere because they feel they're being treated unfairly. What's more, some VW dealers may not be all that excited by the new model as there aren't that many available quite yet. This is a situation that's frustrating for the dealers, VW and, most importantly, prospective customers. Volkswagen promises that the situation will improve, and we hope it does. If the clean diesel engine is truly capable of returning the kind of fuel mileage that VW says it can, the Jetta TDI sedan and Sportwagen may indeed offer an ideal alternative to gasoline-sipping hybrids, that is, if customers can put up with the buying process.
Lovers of both fuel mileage and torque can finally rest easy; Volkswagen of America is now officially selling its 50-State-approved, clean diesel engine in either the Jetta sedan for $21,990 or Jetta SportWagen wrappers for $23,590. Equipped with the six-speed DSG transmission, both Jetta gets an EPA rating of 29 miles per gallon in the city and 40 on the highway. We expect to see better real-world numbers, though we're a bit wary of VW's advertising its alternate rating of 38/44 -- a number that is impossible to compare with anything else currently available. In any case, the $2,000 premium for the TDI engine will be lessened somewhat by the Fed's $1,300 tax credit which applies to either TDI model. Look for an early test of the oil-burner on these pages shortly.
Now that Toyota has sold so many Priuses that the popular hybrid no longer qhalifies for federal tax credits, and they are essentially sold out until the new generation cars show up next year, people might be wondering where to go for a high mileage vehicle. Volkswagen's new 50-state legal Jetta TDI is going on sale around about Labor day and our good friends at the IRS have decreed that people who purchase one will be able to get a check back from the feds for $1,300. The clean diesel Jetta qualifies under the Advanced Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicle income tax credit. That would bring the price premium for the diesel to only $700 over a comparable Jetta with a gas engine. The EPA has rated the Jetta at 29/40mpg city highway with a 6-speed DSG gearbox. Real world numbers are likely to be closer to the low 40s for most drivers, but we'll be finding out for ourselves soon. At the first drive of Mercedes new BlueTec diesels last month, company officials expressed hope that those vehicles would also qualify for the credit.
Despite the fact that Volkswagen's 2009 Jetta TDI sedan and Sportwagen cost more and have yet to get here, plus fuel prices in the five-dollar range, customer desire for the sparkless VeeDubs is running high. Perhaps buyers don't realize that these ain't the old Rabbit rattlers that cost three cents to run and would rack up a billion miles with five tanks of fuel. TDI maintenance costs are not insignificant, but the allure of inherent efficiency has folks putting their money where their mouths are and some dealers have sold out before even taking delivery. All in all, an auspicious start for the latest TDI Jetta.
Not faring as well is the Tiguan, VW's smallest 'ute. While we find the Tiguan delightful to drive and well executed besides the smallish cargo area (Jetta Wagon FTW), the launch hasn't gone as swimmingly as Wolfsburg had hoped. Maybe the TDI powertrain could add some sales sparkle to the Tiguan. It would fit, being on basically the same platform as the Golf.
Volkswagen revealed today that $21,990 will be the base price for its highly anticipated 2009 Jetta TDI, while the Sportwagen model will start at $23,590. This is extremely aggressive pricing on the part of Volkswagen that places the Jetta TDI in direct competition with the Toyota Prius, as eco-minded shoppers will surely cross-shop the two.
The TDI model will be the equivalent of the SE trim level for gas-powered Jettas. A 2009 Jetta SE 2.5L manual sedan starts at $19,990, which tells us that the high-tech, 50-state-compliant clean diesel engine is worth about a $2,000 premium. The Jetta TDI will, however, be available with either a manual or DSG transmission.
The EPA recently rated the 2009 Jetta TDI at 30 mpg city and 41 mpg highway, which were disappointing numbers for Volkswagen. It has since hired an independent, third-party certifier, AMCI, to ascertain what it refers to as the Jetta's "true fuel economy". AMCI came back with a better rating (surprise!) of 38 mpg city and 44 mpg highway. Whether or not you think it's fair for Volkswagen to go around the EPA in search of a higher fuel economy rating, we were just as surprised at how low the EPA numbers were. We're eager to get one in the Autoblog Garage ASAP for a review so we can test its "true fuel economy" for ourselves.
When we got our first chance to sample the new Volkswagen Jetta TDI last summer, VW of America CEO Stefan Jacoby indicated that the new compact diesel would achieve mileage in the 40mpg range. More recently, VW has been indicating that the Jetta TDI is capable of up to 60mpg on the highway. The first of the new fifty-state legal Jetta's were recently spotted on their way to dealerships and now the EPA has published official mileage numbers. Unfortunately those numbers don't quite match up with what VW has been claiming.
According to the official listings at FuelEconomy.gov, the 6-speed manual TDI managed 30mpg on the city cycle and 41mpg on the highway cycle. The combined number is 34mpg. Now those numbers are certainly respectable and nothing to sneeze at, but they fall well short of VW's predictions. Nonetheless, the TDI rates 41.7-percent better than the 2.5L five cylinder and 36-percent better than the 2.0 TFSI four cylinder. The big question is what will a diesel Jetta do in the real world? According to VW spokesman Keith Price Volkswagen's diesels typically do better in real world mileage than the EPA sticker values. VW, you know where to find our garage so we can judge for ourselves.
