Auto & Car Blog

Filed under: Diesel, Volkswagen

The first ever season of the Volkswagen Jetta TDI Cup wrapped up this weekend before the start of the Petit Le Mans race at Road Atlanta. After eight races at tracks around North America since April, Josh Hurley’s second place finish in the last race was enough to put him over the top for the series championship. Hurley captured the pole position for the opening race at VIRginia Internation Raceway and then ran consistently enough, including a win at Portland, to accumulate 260 points. Liam Kenney won the Road Atlanta race and finished second in the championship. The championship means Hurley earns $100,000. If Hurley manages to get a professional racing contract within the next six months, Volkswagen will give him another $250,000 toward furthering his racing career.

[Source: Volkswagen]

Continue reading Inaugural VW Jetta TDI cup goes to Josh Hurley

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Filed under: Diesel, Volkswagen, USA

Volkswagen is reporting that its new 50-State legal clean diesel Jetta TDI has already sold out. U.S. dealerships had an allotment of 1,300 TDIs and those have all been spoken for. The good news is that VW of America is likely to get some more due to the popularity of the model in the States. Initial expectations were for 25-percent of sedan buyers and 33-percent of wagon buyers would go for the new diesel. In actuality, those numbers are a bit higher, with nearly a third of sedan buyers and half of all wagon buyers opting for the oil-burner.

VW says it isn’t competing with the hybrid Toyota Prius, but in truth they are likely competitors in the eyes of many consumers. Though the two models run on different fuels, they are both sold primarily on the merits of their fuel savings and low emissions. What’s more, they are priced fairly close to one another and both of them were efficient enough for the Feds to offer tax credits on them, though Toyota’s hybrid credits have run out. In any case, VW will begin offering the TDI engine in the Rabbit sometime next year and more may be on the way after that.

[Source: Automotive News - sub. req’d]

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Filed under: Diesel, Hybrid, MPG, Toyota, Volkswagen

There’s a question that’s sure to be on the minds of many of our devout readers: does the new Jetta TDI come close to the Prius when it comes to fuel mileage? We’ve had our first impression, and we’ll see for ourselves soon enough when we get our hands on a new TDI for a long-term test, but Popular Mechanics has done some of the footwork for us already. In a test that wound its way both through California’s inner trenches - the surface streets in LA *shudder* - along with some a good deal of snaking blacktop in between, the crew at PM kept separate logs for both city and highway mileage, all the time with a view towards fuel mileage. So, who won? Um, depends.

The Jetta bettered the Prius by less than one mile per gallon on the highway, as it rode its abundant torque to a mild victory. In the city, which is the traditional edge for the all hybrids, the Prius earned its fuel mileage crown back by besting the TDI by over ten miles per gallon. Plus, diesel fuel still costs a bit more than regular unleaded. That’s not the whole story, though, as PM still preferred to spend time in the Jetta’s interior. So, which do you choose? Why not tell us yourself in the comments.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]

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Filed under: Hybrids/Alternative, Sedans/Saloons, Green, Toyota, Volkswagen

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.

Read our First Drive of the 2009 VW Jetta TDI and full review of the Toyota Prius to see what we think.

[Source: Popular Mechanics]

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Filed under: Economy, Hybrids/Alternative, Sedans/Saloons, Green, Volkswagen, First Drive

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. Continue after the jump to find out more.

Photos Copyright (C)2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading First Drive: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI

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Filed under: Diesel, MPG, Volkswagen

Back in June we told you about a test that Top Gear did with a Toyota Prius and BMW M3. At the time, the Top Gear crew ran a Prius around their test track as fast as they could for 10 laps with Jeremy Clarkson pacing right behind it in a BMW M3. Not surprisingly, the Prius - which is not designed for this kind of application - scored a comparatively poor 14.3 mpg (U.S.) in the test. As we all know, driving style does affect mileage which we again demonstrated this week during our drive of the Jetta TDI. The driving we did in the southern California canyons was at least as strenuous what Top Gear did to the Prius and we managed a much more impressive 30.7 mpg. While the Top Gear air field track is flat, the Jetta drive route included significant and repeated elevation changes as well as a 20 degree temperature swing from about 73 along the coast up to over 90 further inland. Altogether, a very impressive performance by the German diesel even without any start stop or hybrid capability.

Photos Copyright (C)2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.
[Source: AutoblogGreen]

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Filed under: Diesel, Volkswagen, AutoblogGreen Exclusive, First Drive

The state of California has the toughest vehicle emissions regulations in the world with its LEV II (and the corresponding national Tier 2 Bin 5) standards. Those rules treat all engine types the same regardless of what type of fuel they use. It doesn’t matter if the engine runs on gasoline, diesel or cow dung, the rules are the same. Those rules are so tight, that no manufacturer has been able to sell light duty vehicles with diesel engines in California and four other states for the last several years. That’s all changing now beginning with last month’s retail sales launch of the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. The Jetta is the first new diesel-powered car to meet the T2B5 rules and it’s fitting that VW invited the media out to the birthplace of emissions regulations to drive it. We spent a day driving the Jetta TDI in and around Santa Monica to gauge whether the Jetta has the right balance of Fahrvergnügen and low fuel consumption to make it a viable alternative to cars like the Prius, Civic and Focus. Continue after the jump to find out more.

Photos Copyright (C)2008 Sam Abuelsamid / Weblogs, Inc.

Continue reading AutoblogGreen First Drive: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Sedan

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Filed under: Economy, Crossovers/CUVs, Hatchbacks, Volkswagen

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.

[Source: AutoblogGreen]

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