Comments on: VW Overwhelmed by Demand for Clean Diesel Sportwagen

By: LargoSlade

LargoSlade — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 02:51:18 +0000

My dealer is open Saturday’s from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM. I am in Gilbert, AZ. I guess it depends on how large a city you live in for that type of convenience.

By: Ukemike

Ukemike — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 03:52:50 +0000

Wow, who you calling "second tier?" VW is the biggest auto manufacturer on the planet. I'm sure the US market is important to them but

By: patrick morrisson

patrick morrisson — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:01:34 +0000

An article recently appeared in the October 2010 edition of Motor Trend comparing the new Honda CRZ and Golf TDI and the results are quite enlightening. The magazine also went on to compare the same Golf TDI this time with the 6 speed DSG transmission with a Toyota Prius. This time the results were closer and given that Motor Trend is an enthusiast magazine and all the factors were examined not just the fuel savings, I thought the article was balanced and fair.

As many people have mentioned in the comments above; the deal breaker for me is space. I live in Canada and naturally my kids play hockey all year round so I need room for two hockey bags. The other factor is the amount of time I spend on the highway. I have had kids in hockey for 20 years now and have averaged about 50-70,000 km's per year. ( about 30-40,000 miles per year)

So for myself, it was a no brainer getting a Golf/Jetta TDI (Highline) wagon loaded with everything I could tick off in the boxes. In Canada, diesel is about 5-10 cents a litre cheaper than regular pump gas plus, aside from a hybrid car, the fuel economy is tremendous. Plus its clear that a Jetta will outperform a Prius on a long trip for comfort- good seats are really important for myself.

I agree with many of the writers above that VW dealers and sales staff are arrogant and defensive when it comes to anything negative you might point out to them. Forget about negotiating a better price than list- I went the fleet car route and paid cost- here in Canada we get hosed with anything German made because of the exchange rate.

Here is the link for the articles I was mentioning: Motortrend.com ( October 2010 edition) - the articles start on page 116 and end on page 130. Hope this helps.

By: Craig

Craig — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 06:50:31 +0000

New VW Sportwagen TDI owner. We kept our 2005 Dodge Caravan, 2.4 liter engine with shortbed vehicle, no options (not even power windows).

I LOVE driving my 2010 VW Sportwagen! It's just a fun car to drive with all that torque! However, to be totally honest, our old 2005 Caravan is like an old sofa -- one sits more upright than in a Sportwagen -- and having my kids 2 seat rows away is often a good thing! We're keeping both cars for now.

My first car in life was a used VW bug -- there were exactly two unmarked controls on the dashboard -- one for the headlights, one for the wipers. One commentator said that with European cars one often has to refer to the owners manual to change the radio station; that's not far from the truth! ---

By: wally

wally — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:06:22 +0000

Is that my imagination, or did someone post a link from 2004? (Union of Concerned Scientists). The previous gen diesels did not meet Tier II Bin 5 standards. The current crop do.

Aside from the 8 or so hybrids, most cars don't address both climate change (high MPG) and smog (e.g. SULEVs and PZEVs). If you live in L.A. or Houston, pick the PZEV. If you live in San Luis Obispo or Nebraska and drive long distances, address climate change.

By: Dave maddux

Dave maddux — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:58:30 +0000

I Love my Jetta TDI but good luck finding a VW dealer that is open on Saturday for service!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 05:02:29 +0000

Regarding the discounting of diesel fuel creation efficiency, I don't believe that is really fair. Both diesel and gasoline, as well as kerosene and other petroleum-based fuels, are all created using fractional distillation. Very few of the components come out of the fractional distillation column ready for market. Many of them must be chemically processed to make other fractions. For example, only 40% of distilled crude oil is gasoline; however, gasoline is one of the major products made and marketed by oil companies. Rather than continually distilling large quantities of crude oil to produce gasoline, oil companies chemically process some other fractions from the distillation column to make gasoline. This additional processing increases the yield of gasoline from each barrel of crude oil. So, through the miracle of modern petrochemical chemistry, the producers can turn diesel or kerosene into gasoline, which effectively results in more gasoline and less diesel per quantity of crude.

I've driven an A4 Avant Quattro TDI in Europe and, in my experience, it gets about the same effective mileage as a FWD A4 or Golf Estate. All are great cars. I also drove an A8 with the 3 liter diesel. Fast and efficient.

By: TDI Owner

TDI Owner — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 05:55:49 +0000

When deciding on my purchase, total environmental impact was considered. I wanted a vehicle that required less fuel than my existing vehicles. Construction of hybrid vehicles requires more rare earth metals than required for conventional vehicles. The energy requirements for extraction of rare earth metals ores, and mining associated environmental impact and the human toll for materials to build a hybrid were deemed unacceptable to me relative to the modestly higher fuel use and carbon output of a diesel.

By: simon@syd

simon@syd — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:58:28 +0000

Its a bit late but…
Here in Oz we’ve just started seeing the likes of the super clean diesel mazda…
http://www.smh.com.au/drive/motor-news/the-car-that-uses-urine-to-save-the-planet-20091014-gwiy.html
Now, in this article it mentions that every 20,000km you have to replace a A$140 vial of this magic urea stuff to keep Nox low – not as low as a gasoline or let alone a hybrid, but low.
There you go – hidden costs afflict these clean diesels, and if the operator decides that they cant be bothered shelling out the cash – who suffers? whoever’s behind them!

Admitedly mitigating this, Mazda has built in a feature to try to persuade the operator to comply.

More info on this sort of thing is required.

By: Scott Cale

Scott Cale — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:12:42 +0000

Thanks for the link to the de-quacking(cracking). Maybe the concerned Scientists will read it.
Diesels Rule!!!!!!!!!!