I always hear about VW diesels and their great gas milage. I was even mentioning them to someone today as an option for someone who isn't ready for the hybrid path.

Then she comes back asking where does VW sell diesels because they are not featured on the company's US website.

I check myself and all I can find is a $68,000 beast that will use a V10 turbocharged diesel???

So does Volkswagon not offer diesels anymore? Are they just a luxury item for extra power and only available for the eliete? With stricter regulations on cars coming why are they offering V10 engines??? Or does a turbo diesel not count in a company's MPG average?

 

No VW diesels until 2008 model year.There are some holdover 2006 diesels at some dealers.VW needed a while to make the changes new EPA regs required.
Luck,
Charlie
PS VWs small diesel cars get very good hy mpg-maybe 90% of what a Prius or HCH 2 get(low 40's),the city mpg is quite a bit less than a Prius, but still very good-very slow of course.

 

We have a 2003 VW Jetta that we bought used about 1.5 years ago to run biodiesel, which we own as a sort of diversification strategy in addition to our Prius. Having learned to drive in an old Mercedes diesel, I can tell you that it has plenty of acceleration. The only problem is that they're pretty scarce to begin with, and are now in even greater demand based on those of us wanting to use bio.

It's license plate, "PHREEUS", is both a reflection of my desire to free us from dependence on foreign oil and a play on Prius. You can see its picture on my plug-in wannabe site:
http://plugin-wannabe.wikispaces.com/PHREEUS

Matt

 

In the States, a durty diesel, I mean it emitts a lot of NOx and PM even with bio fuel, can't be sold as 2007 or later model.
A diesel vehicle has to be certified as Tier2 Bin5 cleanness now.

Ken@Japan

 

Correct, which is why I suggested considering a used one. As to the other emissions, as Gary Locke, the former governor of Washington state once said, "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good". Biodiesel is a big improvement on dino-diesel or regular gasoline, but that's another forum ...

BTW Ken, did you hear about my plug-in wannabe site, http://phev.wikispaces.com ?
It includes some bumper stickers in Japanese, 例えば、”大きくなったらプラクイン・ハイブリッドになりたいな！” Please check out the Japanese language products here:
http://www.cafepress.com/pluginwannabe/3506392
Could you possibly help me promote this in Japan?

Thks, Matt (マット)

 

I personally don't want to drive following a non-clean diesel.
There is a study saying "up to nine times as much carbon dioxide will be emitted using biofuels compared to conventional petrol and diesel because biofuel crops are typically grown on land which is burnt and reclaimed from tropical forests".
http://reporter.leeds.ac.uk/press_re...t/biofuels.htm
I'm negative to a plug-in hybrid vehicle.
Our Prius as gas-electric hybrid is already rated very good (104g/km in UK).
A plug-in is usually done at night time and the electric supply is adjusted by a thermal power generation such as oil, coal and gas.
The CO2 emision is not good as current Prius.

Ken@Japan

 

sorry, Ken, but the fact is, carbon-based power plants are MUCH better regulated than all those tailpipes. The studies and numbers are out there. darreldd.com or Tesla Motors.com. What is used to create gasoline? electricity. what is used to extract it and refine it? electricity. why not skip this liquid fuel step and fuel our cars directly with electricity?

Gasoline will ALWAYS be dirty to make, burn, etc. Electricity CAN be (and will be) clean and renewable. don't you think we can find better uses for oil than burning it to transport our butts around?

 

We just sold our '02 Jetta TDI. It got great mileage and I believe the diesel engine is rock solid. There was quite a bit of incidental maintenance (things breaking, wearing out).

We consistently got 35+ mpg without really trying - this is with an automatic. On longer trips we weould see 40+ mpg.

Sold it (for a great price as they are not available in the '07 VW's) and got a Camry hybrid for our larger family (we just added our third son 1 month ago and the backseat was more than a bit cramped with 2 kids plus a big carseat).

I liked the sound of the diesel too...

Scott

 

I don't mean to tread into something I have little knowledge of but wouldn't Tesla Motors be slightly biased when it comes to electric cars?

That and no matter how clean you claim an electric car can be how is that going to help if I'm hauling 7 people and their ski/snowboard gear 400 miles and sometimes through freezing temperatures and snow? Or what If I'm a long distance haul trucker?

Electric cars have to have longer ranges and fast recharge times before I'd look into one.

 

I was looking on Ebay for Prius stuff and found:

VW Beetle TDI 2006 auto Jetti Prius Hybrid

It seems this seller wants to tempt us with how quickly the Prius batteries must be replaced.

Bob Wilson