VW turbo diesels -- a summer sales blockbuster

The automotive market is a lot like the personal technology market -- if you really need to upgrade, you can snag something that’s super-cool, way different or just plain awesome. These, mind you, are all technical terms used in reviews of cellphones, bleeding-edge computers, hi-def LCD TVs and the new video game system of the moment, but they occasionally can be used in automotive journalism, too.

If silicon-based gadgets are to fly off the shelves, they had better be great, and the same goes for cars. That said, Volkswagen recently announced that last month it sold 19,027 units, an 18% decrease over June 2008 sales, but the drop was to be expected in today’s "new economy."

There is a bright side to those numbers. Ladies and gentleman, may I present Volkswagen's version of the Apple iPhone 3GS, the TDI turbo diesel line-up of cars.

Volkswagen's clean diesels posted their best sales month ever since their re-introduction to the American market earlier this year, with 5,072 units sold last month alone. That represents a whopping 26% of Volkswagen sales, which is an amazing number for American diesel sales, but not so much for Europe, where in some countries diesel sales hover around 60%.

Jetta SportWagen TDI sales lead the pack with 1,982 units sold in June. Clean-diesel TDI models, according to Volkswagen, accounted for 81% of Jetta SportWagen sales, 40% of Jetta sedan sales and 29% of Touareg sales.

We’ve driven all three models and have to say that compared with the anemic Toyota Prius, we’d take a torque-heavy and fuel-sipping TDI any day of the week over a gas-electric hybrid. 

Perhaps Southern California will soon equate diesel with automobiles instead of overpriced, cheesy Euro denim.

-- Jon Alain Guzik

Guzik is editor-in-chief at DriverSide.com.

Photo credit: Volkswagen

Comments

[Frankenbike]

At 41mpg hwy/30 city, they're certainly thrifty. Though why no one is making a diesel electric hybrid is a mystery. In these cars, you could expect 41+mpg city if they were hybrids in addition to being diesel.

[Stanley Hutchinson]

Actually, VW is working on a diesel-electric hybrid and promise to bring it here to the U.S. soon. They will be testing it in Europe soon. and MBZ has one in the works they are testing also for release soon.

I just wish VW would bring back their beloved VW Caddy pickup. NO ONE has a compact pickup for DIY people or for small jobbers that is thrift and gets GREAT gas mileage.

[tangerlino]

I had 3 diesel American cars and trucks and still remember
the bad filters and the chance of pic\king up bad fuel.
Don't forget to plan ahead, diesel fuel is not available everywhere. Ah the odor.

[Brown McPherson]

I just returned from 2 weeks in Italy. Seems to me that diesels were more than 60% of the new cars. We rented an Alfa Romeo 159 wagon with a 1.9L TDI engine. On one leg of our trip, Florence to Rome, we averaged 94mph and over 32mpg. Pretty amazing. The car is rated at over 59 in EU highway cycle. Over our 4 day rental the car averaged over 35mpg and that's with lots of high speed highway driving. Why aren't more of these super efficient diesels sold here?

[Kerry]

Darn! Mr Guznik you let my secret out! I was hoping they'd go on sale so I can afford one. :}

[Gimme A BREAK!]

10 (yes, TEN!) years ago, going to Europe landed us in a diesel - NOTHING like the unrivaled crap from Detroit. Quiet. Clean burning. Much cheaper than gas. Better fuel economy. Could have had those here for 10 years, were Congress not so corrupt....so DELIGHTED to see Detroit and the rest of the Rust Bucket 'BURN, Baby, BURN!'

[caitlinfinnegan]

I purchased my Jetta TDI in March--it was the best automobile decision I've ever made. Even though my driving is 90/10 in favor of short city trips (I got a new job 2 miles from work a month after I purchased the car), I'm still getting 27+ mpg each tank. The few times I've taken freeway trips, mpg has gone up to 40 mph.

Can I also say that, at least in Oregon, I'm paying less for a gallon of diesel than the average gallon on gas this summer?

LOVE THIS CAR!!!

[Travis Y]

These cars are more harmful to the environment than the gas versions. Clean diesel means that it is clean in terms of dirty diesels. The offset of higher fuel and cost of vehicle doesn't make these any kind of bargain. This " Clean " is smoke and mirrors. If you buy a hybrid then that means that you want high MPG and real " Clean ". These cars are neither clean nor affordable in the long run. Higher MPG means nothing with higher fuel costs also. Crunch the numbers before you buy folks. Remember that fuel prices keep going up for the 5 to 6 years you own this thing. One final note is to try and find how many stations sell diesel fuel away from the freeway and highway off ramps. Not many.

[Dr. Gary]

I still have a very drivable 25 year-old turbodiesel.

Ponder this:

During the past 25 years that my diesel has been running, lesser cars would have been built and scrapped what, three to four times?

What is the carbon impact of mining all that metal, formulating all that plastic, etc. three or four times, instead of once? And who knows, this car may run for another 25 years!

The diesel engine is the ultimate in sustainability!

Conveniently, anti-diesel folks do not factor this into their greenthink.

Think, again!

[Daniel]

Let me see??? Bio-Diesel electric hybrid that is super clean, has extremely low CO2 emissions and gets about 70 mpg. We save money, help the environment, support American farmers and stop sending $700 billion per year to people in the Gulf who want to kill us. Gee, would any of that be a good idea?????

[Daniel]

Travis Y

We could write books about what you don't know about diesels. Clean Bio-Diesel Hybrids (series hybrids) are the future. I just hope some American companies wake up to this before they give up this market too.

[MMSteve]

TDI is a great idea, the critics agree: http://motormouths.com/makes/volkswagen

[Frankenbike]

Diesel opens up a lot of possibilities, and I do think that American manufacturers at this point could produce passenger car diesels that rival Europe, since they've finally figured out how to make engines that rival those in European cars.

But bio-diesel is not environmentally friendly. The mass farming required creates significant problems on the ground, particularly in terms of runoff and soil depletion. There are no magic bullets. Long term, only all electric vehicles with significant alternative energy production and clean battery/capacitor technologies are environmentally friendly.

Everything else just shifts environmental damage to somewhere else.

[Jessica]

Travis Y doesn't know what he's talking about. I won't waste everyone's time citing facts that refute every unsubstantiated statement he made, though. I am one of the folks who contributed to VW's good TDI sales numbers, and boy am I glad I did. I am getting an average of 37MPG per tank with mixed city/highway. Can't wait for the 1st road trip.

[wcmillionairre]

Too slow, ill-handling, and aesthetically displeasing...I will keep the RX7, thanks.

[jupiter]

Few if any owners of these new diesels will likely get the durability the one poster here cites with his/her ancient diesel.

The level of complexity required to conform to California diesel rules erases the diesel virtue of simplicity. Outside California, people routinely replace catalytic converters with simple pipe when the time comes.
What do you think they'll do with these intrinsically more toxic diesels?

The new diesels have catalytic converters, turbochargers, super-high pressure fuel injection, ceramic matrix particulate oxidizers, and urea injection systems. They will be money pits as older, used cars.

Without the above necessary emissions gear you are left with the old diesel technology that pumps particulates and nitrides of oxygen into the atmosphere profusely. The U.S. asthma epidemic is strongly linked to diesel particulates.

Biodiesel produces even more particulates than petrodiesel when you combust the two. Burning untreated vegetable oil in a diesel is illegal in Europe because the soot (particulates)is so thick.

No German brand has a strong track record for durability in America. Caveat Emptor.

[wcmillionairre]

Peugeot tested a diesel concept car in Germany last year; 200MPH, 45MPG, and looked like a LeMans P1 car. Now THAT...I will buy, sight-unseen, all-cash. BRING IT ON!

[Tommy von]

I don't care how much mpg they get. I hate driving behind "clean" diesels because I still smell the exhaust. And forget it if they step on the gas hard to speed up, anyone behind them drives through a black cloud of "clean" exhaust.

[Daniel]

While diesels are in fact better for the environment than gasoline, the bottom line is they are better for national security and homeland security. We simply have to stop sending billions and billions to the gulf states were some of the money goes to support terrorism. The Big 3 had successful working prototypes that got between 72 mpg and 80 mpg ten years ago. The reason they never made it to market is the California Air Resoruces Board did not allow the flexibility to permit diesels even though their overall environmental impact is less than gasoline. We need to stop funding both sides in the war on terror. CARB allowing diesel would be a big step in that direction.

[Travis Y]

Here write a book about this : Biodiesel gives crappy mileage just like flex-fuel does. Food supply would suffer because the corn lobby would get a monopoly it. Diesel is way dirtier and that's a fact. Ask the benz dealer how much the " Clean " tank costs to refill. If they will give you a straight answer. They had no coment at the auto show. I read Green Car Journal and know more than most any of you about physics. Diesel is dirty. Period.

[Travis Y]

Jupiter has it all wrapped up for the Apple / Mac / Jetta crowd. Everything he said is 100% correct. Research it. Diesel will skyrocket soon and then these thing will be on par cost wise with the regular jettas. Sorry folks.

[buststyles]

Travis Y, Jupiter

So how big is the money pit when it comes to replace the battery on that hybrid. Most new cars even gas have high pressure fuel systems (eg VWs FSI technology), turbo chargers are common. VWs diesels do not use urea injection like a mercedes. The only thing is the particulate filter which might have to go on all cars in the future.
Funny nobody ever mentions the environment when it comes to the production of batteries for hybrids

[Bill]

Does the VW TDi take 100% BioDiesel? Does anyone know? Thanks.

[travisyisadouche]

Buststyles has it right. The economic and environmental cost of producing/disposing of hybrid batteries far out dirties anything diesel.

Diesel fuel now has much lower sulfur content because of US regulations that limit the amount of sulfur.

Diesel engines last longer and require less maintenance thane their gasoline counterparts so I don't believe Jupiter's points are valid. You're talking about an engine that routinely outlasts gasoline engines over the long haul.

Speaking of fuel supply suffering -- how about us reducing our demand for foreign oil? According to the Department of Energy, if 30 percent of the passenger cars and light-duty trucks in the U.S. had diesel engines, U.S. net crude oil imports would be reduced by 350,000 barrels per day. To put this in context, U.S. crude imports averaged well over 20 million barrels a day in the first half of 2005, according to the Energy Information Administration, a statistical agency within the Department of Energy, so diesel is only one piece of a more comprehensive solution to oil dependency.