I've only read about them, and the EPA had them at 29/40 but VW had a third party certifier AMCI who later confirmed a much more respectable 38/44 mpg's. I won't test drive one until the Jetta Sportwagen has been out long enough the stealers remove their "adjustment".
I'm patiently waiting for a member to drive one. So far, I have seen a few posts from people who drove one on other forums. They seem to report high 40's or low 50's mpg at 60mph. Here is what I've seen so far: http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3892952 http://forums.vwvortex.com/zerothread?id=3905898 There may be more numbers on TDIClub, however I have not been there lately to check. The amount of faith to put in those numbers is debatable until a known driver with calibrated equipment can take one out for a drive. Kind of related: I read from the EPA this weekend that their tests underrate diesels slightly more than gasoline or hybrid powered vehicles. Here is the summary: The report is at http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy/420r06017.pdf on page 8.
Note that the discrepancy is also higher for drivers of high-FE vehicles (basically most Civics, Corollas, etc.) It may be that differences in driver behavior are coming into play here. This might be especially true of diesels. Most passenger diesels the last few years have been VW TDIs, which are greatly disproportionately driven by people who rack up a lot of hwy miles and get better FE than they would if their city/hwy profile were more typical. It doesn't necessarily mean that the EPA is being unfair to diesels. If anything, it's pretty impressive that the 140hp '09 gets the same FE as the 2004-06 TDIs with the 100hp PD engine (though substantially less than the 2002-03 model with the 90hp VE). Here are the current ratings (city/combined/hwy, per 2008+ spec) from the EPA website: 2009 Jetta Sportwagen TDI manual: 30/34/41. 2005 Jetta Wagon TDI manual: 31/34/39. 2002 Jetta Wagon TDI manual: 35/39/45.
Hi All: ___I think this should give you an idea as to what the new Jetta TDI w/ the 2.0L Turbo-diesel is worth European based Audi holds its own fuel economy challenge ___If amateurs can pull almost 70 from the A4 with the same engine, I suspect the Jetta is worth 85 + in the hands of many here. ___Good Luck ___Wayne
Awesome - I'd bet the Audi is a trifle heavier than the Jetta. Wayne - when are you going to hire yourself out as a '3rd party Mileage tester' ?
Hi Vooch: ___Think Car and Driver in Detroit could use my help? Here Wayne, here is the Porsche 911 GT3. Let us know what its worth ___Good Luck ___Wayne
I'm trying to figure out VW's marketing: 'Let's sell 2009 cars in calendar year 2010...'? (People will think we've been building them awhile?)
Hi Vooch: ___The following might help? http://www.cleanmpg.com/forums/showpost.php?p=145804&postcount=47 ___I bet 60 to 65 mpg would be a good lmpg for a decent hypermiler? ___Good Luck ___Wayne
Reports from TDIClub.com members are showing fairly bad results for the 2009 TDI's. Most get Mid-Upper 30s combined, mid 40s for all highway jaunts. Remember that 1992 civic vx gasoline 8 value 1.5L engine that got 55mpg. The future has got nothing on the past. Even a early geo metro is blowing these new TDI numbers away.
don't forget the jetta scores 5 stars on the crash ratings.... while the civic... heh I wouldn't want to be in an accident in one of those! with the exception of the 06 civic models and above with Honda's ACE (Advanced Compatiblity Engineering)
crash ratings never really come up on my list when buying cars. Mainly because any car you get in a serious crash with will be the same result no matter the "star" rating. 65mph head on is instant death pretty much. Might as well go for the mpg etc.
