http://www.greencar.com/articles/vw-jetta-clean-diesel-wins-2009-green-car-year.php

Edit: Sorry it’s not a Toyota, Paul.

Diesel is currently the same price as gasoline around here so they did pretty well in my book.

Doubt a Prius does as well on the interstate.

If I was doing mostly city driving I’d look at a Prius. If I did mostly interstate driving I’d get a Jetta wagon. Or – in our family’s case a Prius for me (ugh) and a Jetta wagon for her (ugh) b/c I have the short commute and she doesn’t. The better fit would be the reverse of those vehicles taste wise. ;)

The Jetta TDI wagon will be on my short list when I get around to shopping for another car.

EPA Highway: 40MPG.
Pop Mechanics Highway: 45MPG.
AMCI Highway: 44MPG.

These are essentially all in the same ballpark, that is why I didn’t comment on AMCIs results that VW paid for.

Taylors: 59MPG across America. Clearly this is hypermiling. It is what the Taylors do. They have 36 world records for fuel economy! They are the most successful hypermilers of all time. They have actually made a career of it.

Call it careful driving if it makes you feel better, but this has no bearing on what normal people will achieve, in which case EPA is actually much closer to accurate than the taylors results.

Check out their other records here is one that is intersting:

Shell / VW Golf 2.0 Litre Petrol

Driving 3,800 km’s using only 3 tanks of fuel, averaging 4.3 L/100 km

They got 54 MPG in golf 2.0L gas engine, which is not considered a very economical engine at all.

If you go by the Taylors results. The new Diesel is only slightly better than the old 2.0L gas engine.

Secondly, you strangely didn’t address the AMCI real-world tests.

I think we should all know better than to trust the EPA results by now.

I will be looking for something with good mpg either hybrid or non, either gas or diesel. I am not a tech zealot about any particular solution, just results. But I want a manual transmission so maybe hybrid is out unless Honda gives us one in the insight (manual is compatible with Hondas IMA).

I don’t need super mileage either, so I may end up with a new Mazda 3 with 2.0L direct injection if it gets and improvement over the current 2.0L.

Thanks for the response; I couldn’t have said it any better.

As I’ve said many times before, I’m not “anti-diesel” per se; the economics don’t pan out very well, bet it’s an excellent engine and it’s good that VW is offering it here. Meanwhile, diesel market share in Germany is plummeting.

The reason for a standardized test is repeatability and comparability.

The EPA numbers are much closer to these real world numbers at the Popular Science comparison with Prius.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/4284188.html?page=2&series=19

The Jetta got 32mpg/45mpg. The Prius got 45mpg/45mpg. This is real world head to head without hypermiling.

No need for any kind of retraction.

2009 Jetta TDI sets Guinness World Record:

http://www.stockhouse.com/News/USReleasesDetail.aspx?n=7064494

3rd party testing concludes that real-world driving produces 24% better fuel economy than EPA tests:

“The Environmental Protection Agency estimates the Jetta TDI at an economical 29 mpg City and 40 mpg Highway. Volkswagen went a step further to evaluate the real world fuel economy of the Jetta TDI. Leading third-party certifier, AMCI, tested the Jetta TDI and found it performed 24 percent better in real world conditions, achieving 38 mpg in the City and 44 mpg on the Highway.”

http://www.volkswagengroupamerica.com/media/2008/08/18_vw_wait_over.htm

Ownership taught me that (automatic) TDI-PDs balk at biodiesel and returned ~35MPG in mixed driving wasn’t worth it when my fuel costs are about 25% or more higher than RUG.

Sold it because I had to buy a car that better fit my family (why yes, its a CUV). I do miss the VW dynamic, I don’t miss the diesel. Next stop, a future hybrid Honda product. Das Auto? Auf wiedersehen VW, konnichiha Honda.

The Prius beat VW diesel beetle in Edmunds long term test as well. It doesn’t get much more real world than that. A multitude of drivers giving it a year+ spanking.

Anecdotal 60MPG testimonials from hyper-mileing diesel fans don’t mean much.

Those of us waiting for the new TDIs never really saw them as a “Prius-killer” anyway. Instead of getting the Prius’ poor performance, poor handling, and high price, you get performance and handling of a good gasser, but with better fuel efficiency and a price somewhere in between.

WRT VW, yep, they totally blew it. The left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing is totally what happened here.

My gas mileage on my Prius is suffering right now. I’m now down to one fuel distributor which doesn’t pollute their gasoline with 10% ethanol, and that is BP.

I only got 59 mpg coming from the fuel station this morning (figuring the tank has 7-8% ethanol in it now). Last week, before the Marathon station started polluting their gasoline with ethanol, I managed over 78 mpg coming from the fuel station. It’s about 3 miles away, from the outskirts of town to the town center. Temperatures and traffic were broadly similar.

I hate ethanol.

True for most enthusiasts, but not true for the majority of car owners.

I love it when someone proves me wrong. I had it coming today, because I was feeling cocky about the TDI EPA results.

I knew they were due, and had been looking for them just a couple of days ago. And I knew they would be in this ball-park, based on what the ‘06 Jetta got, when adjusted for the ‘08 EPA tests.

What I came across instead was VW’s ridiculous projections of “mid-40’s in the city, 60 on the highway”. The person who said that should be fired. As Chris Haak makes clear, manufacturers do their own EPA tests. VW knew months ago what the results would be. They didn’t run this test yesterday. And yet they shoot off a week or two ago with off-the-wall wishful-thinking. Classic case of the right hand (PR dept.) not knowing what the left hand (compliance engineering) was doing.

VW has, and deserves major egg on their faces.

Thanks, Chris, for keeping me honest. And thank you EPA, for keeping VW honest.

The whole point is NOT just about miles.
Not even close.
I didn’t dream at night as a boy about mileage!
Look.
For a long time I have been trying to tell anyone who will listen, there is a goal for any engineer/design team when it comes to building the perfect car.

A car must have balance.

1) Reliability.
Cars must be expected to give you 200K.
2) Economical.
Cars should reach the minimum of 32 plus Hwy today. Soon this will be a city mpg.
3) Beauty.
You should want to stand in the garage at night and admire your catch.
4) Strenght.
You car must supply you with the horsepower needed to get you and your family when called…up hills, onto traffic safely.
5) Safety.
Today, no more with the safety options.
The car needs to protect everybody…and not just as an option. Around turns, stopping or whatever.
6) Fun.
Yes. Your car should be something that makes you want to go out for a loaf of bread.
7) Affordable.
You see, anybody can build the car that nobody can afford. But can you build one that we average Joes can get into.

OK.
So you have your Prius.
It gets you high mileage.
But don’t tell me I then can’t bring my family and its suitcases to me grandma.
Don’t tell me I can’t love my car.
Don’t tell me to sacrifice the pure joy of driving hills and curves…because I have mileage. I can pretend I am somebody in my Mazda3.
You cannot in the Prius.

So, you see…it’s not just about the mileage.
It’s about cars.

So you have your Prius.
It gets you high mileage.
But don’t tell me I then can’t bring my family and its suitcases to me grandma.
Don’t tell me I can’t love my car.
Don’t tell me to sacrifice the pure joy of driving hills and curves…because I have mileage. I can pretend I am somebody in my Mazda3.
You cannot in the Prius.

So, you see…it’s not just about the mileage.
It’s about cars.
The love of cars.

The Republicans may have tried to kill the EPA years ago, and no, the EPA did not buy into Reagan’s “trust but verify” slogan. They run their own tests.

Sorry, but you’re wrong. It’s exactly as I had originally described it:
http://fueleconomy.gov/feg/how_tested.shtml

Manufacturers test their own vehicles—usually pre-production prototypes—and report the results to EPA. EPA reviews the results and confirms about 10-15 percent of them through their own tests at the National Vehicles and Fuel Emissions Laboratory.

Ahem…

Also what do you expect from a 3200+ pound beasty powered by a bigger, more powerful engine??

After this test result, people aren’t going to buy the TDI to save on gas. They’ll but it for other reasons, but it’s not going to appeal to the “I want to spend less on fuel” crowd. I don’t think VW was counting on that.

My advice, if you do less than 12k a year, and you want a nice SUV, and you can afford a nice SUV, then buy a nice SUV because it will provide the best value by FAR. Especially right now.…

Actually, while the logic may seem a bit convoluted, LC is correct. You can pick up a “nice SUV” pretty damn cheap today. So if you can hold your overall use of the SUV down and you need to rent a truck once a month you probably are better off with buying an SUV cheap. One downside is that if the SUV has a nice interior I wouldn’t want to use it for hauling stuff. If you don’t care about banging up the interior, well then even that issue goes away. Just keep that mileage down…I just spent $4.35 a gallon today…12K miles a year would put you past the tipping point…

Prius LOVERS… Here is some good news for you. Since I don't have much going for me these days, I like to look around and read what others are saying. I found this nice feature from InsideLine comparing the top MPG cars of a few years back, the Prius being 2008. The bottom line is…don't always trust the EPA.

Cars are different and people need different things from their cars. I need a wagon. I nned 25 to 30K per year driving, 75 percent at 50 and higher. If, however, my needs were more urban and commuting, the Prius seems the better. But I simply cannot trust the hybrid to do the hwy mileage I do. Can you trust it to give you 5 or more years and 200 to 250K? Don't give me the damn Canadian taxis crap. I am talking non-hwy and real-life work. Now knowing what I need,

Paul N, Menno and the rest, would you really and faithfully advise the Prius as the car for me? Or will you be honest and tell me its really a diesel that best fits my needs. Tell the truth and enjoy this link: http://www.edmunds.com/advice/fueleconomy/articles/126370/article.html