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I was headed west on I-94 last week when I noticed two hybrid cars travelling very slowly given how fast most other went, and apparently they were doing so in tandem. I drove with them for a bit. This site's URL was emblazoned on the back.

I'm Jason, and I drive a 2006 Volkswagen Jetta TDI. I [heart] my Jetta, as it gets 50 on the highway, and most importantly, I can and do use biodiesel. My old newspaper The Wisconsinite ran an article on biodiesel in spring 2004, and I was enchanted with it ever since. Now I actually use it, and the stuff rocks. The car itself is great, too. It's a 5-speed, and while I like to talk about crushing other people/cars with DIESEL POWAH... I don't want to crush anybody. I know too well what that's like.

I may be one of the few on here who's not a hybrid enthusiast, but a biodiesel evangelist. I'd like to see how that plays out on this site.

Cheers,
Jason
Milwaukee, Wisc.

Jason,
We have one or two other Diesel guys here and we realy want to get more. I am SO glad you checked us out. Though lots of us own hybrids, this is not a hybrid site.

We actualy want diesel guys to join but for some reason the guys over at tdiclub don't seem to be interested too much. I know who's car you saw (no it wasn't mine), and he deserves a huge pat on the back for getting you to check us out!

Lets start with the basics. What speeds to you run on the highway? And what are your tire pressures at? 50 sounds pretty good, but I think you should be able to bring that up a bit more (even if you don't go as slow as thoughs insites were going). BTW, I think they were getting somewhere in the 90s for their FE. You guys correct me if I'm wrong?

BTW, lots of us here are waiting for some company to come up with a diesel hybrid. That should be interesting.

Hi Jason:

___You were probably following Chuck’s (Delta_Flyer) Silver Insight w/ CleanMPG on the back and either Terry and his wife Cathy in an HCH-II or Hobbit in his Prius II as we were sort of trading places back and forth. All of us and the 3 hybrids were heading up to Hybrid Fest 2006 and really enjoying the drive. By the time we hit Milwaukee, Chuck’s Insight was sitting south of 95 mpg but we kicked it up a notch once on the 65 mph Interstates between Milwaukee and Madison. We ended up at 93.0 in the Insight. Not a bad showing but we also hope to get the TDI’ers up into Insight like territory with a little help in setup and technique.

___We most certainly welcome TDI drivers as they have much to offer in terms of great FE but especially the ability to reduce GHG emissions while running B100 – Home brewed or purchased.

___Good Luck and welcome to CleanMPG.

___Wayne

question, how long does it take for you to get to 30 mph under normal driving conditions? i'm just trying to visualize what stop and go is like with your diesel car.

I've never timed it, but if you're at a stop and you punch it, that puts you up over 20 within a few seconds. A quick jump to second gear puts it past 30 in no time at all. It also depends on if the engine is warm or not. A warm diesel engine runs better than a cold one of course, esp. in wintertime.

If you're willing to use it for all it's worth, you can go pretty fast. This is a 2006 vehicle, not a 1976. The technology has come a long, long way. I've occasionally wanted it to do "better," but then I realized I was talking about getting up to 40 mph in two seconds. 8-) Even with my mighty diesel power, there are certain things it can't do and still maintain the efficiency I so value.

Cheers,
Jason.

Jason,
We have one or two other Diesel guys here and we realy want to get more. I am SO glad you checked us out. Though lots of us own hybrids, this is not a hybrid site.

We actualy want diesel guys to join but for some reason the guys over at tdiclub don't seem to be interested too much. I know who's car you saw (no it wasn't mine), and he deserves a huge pat on the back for getting you to check us out!

heh, TDIClub seems kind of stuck on itself. They're good, though.

Lets start with the basics. What speeds to you run on the highway? And what are your tire pressures at? 50 sounds pretty good, but I think you should be able to bring that up a bit more (even if you don't go as slow as thoughs insites were going). BTW, I think they were getting somewhere in the 90s for their FE. You guys correct me if I'm wrong?

Wow, I seriously don't know what the tire pressure is. I think it's around 50, but I'll check.

BTW, lots of us here are waiting for some company to come up with a diesel hybrid. That should be interesting.

I'm one of them. That would sooo rule... I love my TDI, but it can be made better.

Hi Jason:

Howdy!

___You were probably following Chuck’s (Delta_Flyer) Silver Insight w/ CleanMPG on the back and either Terry and his wife Cathy in an HCH-II or Hobbit in his Prius II as we were sort of trading places back and forth. All of us and the 3 hybrids were heading up to Hybrid Fest 2006 and really enjoying the drive. [snip]

If you see a newish silver TDI with an oval bumper sticker declaring "50 MPG" on the read bumper, that's me. ;-)

Cheers,

Jason

so what are some of the limitations of your tdi you do not like?

what's your average trip is like in terms of distance and conditions you encounter on a day to day basis?

What techniques do you use to get 50 mpg on your TDI?

And what is your average speed in the city and highway? Do you like to punch it sometimes?

As for the car itself, when warm up and happy is it loud at idle? How smooth is the engine?

How well does the car glide/coast? Say if you put the shifter into N at 40 mph, how long on a flat road does it take to get your speed dropping down to ... 20 mph?

Is it hard to maintain a tdi yourself?

do you bump start (using the clutch to start the engine) your tdi?

how fast do you shift in your car? (my curiousity)

how do you measure your fuel economy (like device called the scanguage or manual calculations at the pump?)

Is it hard to mod a TDI to run on biodiesel? Are the cost reductions that true after making the switch? Is it true biodiesel offers lower emissions AND more power? That's too good to be true!!

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions! Your answers can help you achiving better FE and at the same time can be an outcome for I to own a TDI or not :D

Jason

Welcome to the group. My wife drives a TDI Golf and I drive an Insight. I have listed our recent tanks on this sight and a complete record of all our tanks on the Greenhybrid sight. They are listed under sno779 as Lil tractor and silver slipper. I hope you record your tanks as well. I think our TDI is the only one so far on this sight and there are several on GH.
We haven't used any biodiesel yet so start evangelizing. I'm listening.....Louis

Jason,

I'm finally able to welcome you after making it back to Dallas.

I'm flattered that you found out about us and responded. Just hope some people in Dallas also respond.

Other sites have had what I'd consider infighting between various technologies offering some kind of gain in FE - IMA vs HSD hybrids, diesel vs. other powerplants, maybe ethanol vs. other fuel sources....they all have some merit. Looking at the big picture, I'd be very happy to see the general public get rid of the obvious gas guzzlers - that would make a big impact.

Jason --

Welcome from another Milwaukeean! Given how far away some of our members are, you & I are practically neighbors :D

This is a *great* site, no matter what you drive :)