Green car of the year is a Diesel!

Joe Romas · **Posted:** Fri Nov 28, 2008 8:36 pm

VW Jetta TDI has finally been recognized for what it is

http://blog.wired.com:80/cars/2008/11/a ... een-c.html

ATXKJ · **Posted:** Fri Nov 28, 2008 9:22 pm

In the NYT review -the reporter got 48mpg highway cruising vs the '41mpg' EPA rated

(If I was looking for a car - that would be it)

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Sat Nov 29, 2008 12:53 am

Very cool.......................... Luv them diesels!

mrkake · **Posted:** Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:11 am

Sweet! I have always really liked those cars. A girl in my area is trying to talk me in to buying her '02 that has been converted to run on WVO. She can't make her payments anymore :cry:

. I wish I had the ability to take it off her hands. It's an nice black on black too.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Sat Nov 29, 2008 2:27 pm

I haven’t done that much research on it. But from my understanding, the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI is biodiesel compatible and can run on a maximum of 5% biodiesel according to the owners manual??? I’m sure it can run on a much higher blend of bio, but wanted to hear if anyone knew for sure?

retmil46 · **Posted:** Sat Nov 29, 2008 3:29 pm

About bloody time. I bet Consumer Reports is having a snit fit that their beloved Japanese brands got beaten out, especially the hybrids. Besides the fact that they've always rated VW low on their list as long as I can remember.

Finally, a little payback for that crap CR story about our CRD's only getting 11 mpg.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Sat Nov 29, 2008 8:50 pm

retmil46 wrote:

About bloody time. I bet Consumer Reports is having a snit fit that their beloved Japanese brands got beaten out, especially the hybrids. Besides the fact that they've always rated VW low on their list as long as I can remember.

Finally, a little payback for that crap CR story about our CRD's only getting 11 mpg.

Consumer Reports, in my opinion, is the worse consumer rating publication known to man.

clackclack · **Posted:** Sun Nov 30, 2008 7:04 pm

I got one of the last 06 tdi's... There is a wait list for the new tdi. I plan on picking up a tdi rabbit if they hold true to there word and start delivering in the fall of 09. Then I will have something to drive in case I loose my sanity and try a sfa conversion on the crd. I'd really like a crd wrangler but I'm loosing hope.

I've got 28k on my 06 tdi. Absolutely no regrets (except maybe scheduled service cost at the stealership). I don't think I could recommend any other vehicle more highly (including 2 honda's). I love the CRD but it can be a needy mistress, and I would be reluctant to recommend it to just anyone (not because of the VM Motori which has been solid accept for the adjoining bits). The tdi is a long-tested, complete, and thoroughly thought trough package, a worry free diesel for the any folk.

Threeweight · **Joined:** Mon May 14, 2007 5:57 pm **Posts:** 679

dieselenthusiast wrote:

I haven’t done that much research on it. But from my understanding, the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI is biodiesel compatible and can run on a maximum of 5% biodiesel according to the owners manual??? I’m sure it can run on a much higher blend of bio, but wanted to hear if anyone knew for sure?

VW is paranoid and won't warranty higher levels for fear of someone's home brew bio having a chunk of chicken beak in it, that gets past a hole in the fuel filter and clogs an injector, causing a catastrophic failure. No diesel vehicle manufacturer warranties for higher than 5% (including Chrysler with the CRD Liberty). Cummins on the other hand will warranty their engines for B20 that meets ASTM (which doesn't mean much in this context since they aren't responsible for warrantying engine failures in Dodge trucks).

The argument is that bio isn't made to a uniform quality standard (not technically true now, since most commercially made stuff meets ASTM specs). That, and they all look for any excuse to void warranties.

I had to take my 06 Jetta TDI in for a recall item (plastic headlight clips, go figure) last week and got to check out the new ones. The new 2.0 engine is more potent than my 1.9 (over 230 foot pounds of torque is pretty impressive for a small family car). I'm hoping diesel prices get under control (perhaps its time to tax fuel exports, creating a disincentive for refining fuel here produced from domestic sources then shipping it overseas in order to artificially inflate prices). The new VW TDI's are just wonderful cars all the way around, the only thing holding them back from making a big leap in market share is diesel prices.

vtdog · **Joined:** Fri Sep 30, 2005 11:27 am **Posts:** 640

I have noticed that (around here at least) local VW dealers have the TDI in stock. Earlier in the year they all had no stock and would sell the cars before they actually came in. I don't know if production has caught up, or demand is very low, or some combination of the two. So, it seems that if you want one you won't have to pay ADM (a***holes demanding more) for the privilage.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2008 12:47 am

vtdog wrote:

I have noticed that (around here at least) local VW dealers have the TDI in stock. Earlier in the year they all had no stock and would sell the cars before they actually came in. I don't know if production has caught up, or demand is very low, or some combination of the two. So, it seems that if you want one you won't have to pay ADM (a***holes demanding more) for the privilage.

Although many on this forum may disagree, I think the oppressed economy has caused many “potential” buyers to come to a screeching halt.

retmil46 · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2008 1:52 pm

dieselenthusiast wrote:

vtdog wrote:

I have noticed that (around here at least) local VW dealers have the TDI in stock. Earlier in the year they all had no stock and would sell the cars before they actually came in. I don't know if production has caught up, or demand is very low, or some combination of the two. So, it seems that if you want one you won't have to pay ADM (a***holes demanding more) for the privilage.

Although many on this forum may disagree, I think the oppressed economy has caused many “potential” buyers to come to a screeching halt.

Exactly. From what I've heard, many banks are demanding 20% down payment for a car loan now. For a $25K car, that's a 5 grand down payment - not many people with that much extra cash in this economy.

And that many people are hesitant to take on more debt when they might be getting a layoff notice at any time.

dieselenthusiast · **Posted:** Thu Dec 04, 2008 2:25 pm

I live in the middle of farm country, and many of these farmers are in the same dilemma. Even those who have extra cash flow aren‘t spending money. As odd as it may sound, most of these farmers have no idea what to plant for next year. Fertilizer is getting more expensive while the prices of corn, wheat, milo, soybeans, cotton, and sunflowers have plummeted. Let’s take ethanol as an example: Six months ago corn was so high that ethanol wasn’t profitable, now the price of gasoline is so low, that you can’t make ethanol cheap enough to compete with gas prices. Because of high diesel prices, farmers are wanting to change out their diesel generators to gasoline engines just to save money for irrigating. Farmers are so dang confused by the unpredictable economy and the new direction of government that they don’t know what to expect for next year. To say the least, they are pretty nervous.

nursecosmo · **Posted:** Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:24 pm

dieselenthusiast wrote:

I haven’t done that much research on it. But from my understanding, the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI is biodiesel compatible and can run on a maximum of 5% biodiesel according to the owners manual??? I’m sure it can run on a much higher blend of bio, but wanted to hear if anyone knew for sure?

The models sold in Germany are warrantied up to B100 as long as the fuel meets the EN14214 Biodiesel specs (which all BD sold in Germany does). It's a shame that the US wont push for similar requirements from the auto manufacturers and BD producers, seeing as how most of the worlds soy and rape oil comes from north America.

Green car of the year is a Diesel!

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