Quote:
Originally Posted by jharcourt
I have two TDIs: a 2009 Jetta DSG Sedan and a 2009 Jetta DSG Sportwagen. They are identically equipped, except the sedan has 17" wheels and the JSW has 16". After 25k miles each, it seems they behave pretty much the same way. I commute 50 miles roundtrip every day, but I live in the San Francisco Bay Area and cover about 2k feet vertical drop, up and down each way. I use AC year round. I keep the tires at 35 psi and I average 35 mpg mixed city and highway. Diesel here is typically the same as regular. But California gasoline costs more than it does in other states, whereas diesel #2 is the same or less, so the difference is not as pronounced as it is elsewhere. I drove down I 5 earlier this year (flat as Kansas) and found I could average 55 mpg at 55 mph, no problem. 65 mph brought it down to 49 mpg. 75 reduced it to about 44 and 85 brought it down to about 39 mpg. But the fun starts as you take it well past 100 mph, which we California dwellers frequently do (in Nevada).
Now that I'm getting decent mileage I don't obsess over it (at least not as much as I did driving a Chevy Blazer during the $4/gal days back in '07). Over the last 30 or so years I've driven various Japanese and American cars, good and bad, but the Jetta is my first European (well, Mexican) car. I have heard that the MK V is the largest and best equipped Jetta in that car's evolution. For sure this pair of '09 TDIs are better built and better designed than the American or Japanese cars I've owned, and those have included Chevys, Chryslers, Fords, Hondas, Mazdas and Toyotas (and like many of us I've rented just about everything else when I had the chance, including well put together Lexus', BMWs, Mercedes and the occasional exotic car). There is nothing cheap about the materials or workmanship in the '09 Jetta TDI. Both cars handle extremely well, and like many upscale cars the faster you drive the better (and safer) they feel. So the TDI handles impeccably and feels just fabulous at 135 mph. Not skittish. Not dangerous. Which is one reason I find it difficult to get 55 mpg by driving 55 mph. It's just too much fun to drive fast on the highway. I tried the Fit, the Insight, the Civic and the Prius before I decided on the Jetta. They are all very nice cars. And I was looking for great mileage. But none if them will do 85 - 90 mph comfortably, let alone 135. Though they are all peppy and quick leaving a stoplight, none of them will accelerate adequately to make passing on two lane highways even remotely safe (the Insight is quite remarkable in it's all-out struggle to merge into fast-moving highway traffic). All of them will sooner cause you to lose control and leave the road at high speed due to jittery and unpredictable short-wheelbase response to driving surface irregularities. There is no question that the Jetta's electric steering assist is so much better than hydraulic power steering I now have a hard time feeling good driving cars without it. The Jetta simply feels more roadworthy and there's no getting around it. I don't know if I'll still be singing it's praises in a year or two but chances seem good that if I treat it well I will continue to enjoy it's better qualities and it will last a lot longer than any other car I've owned. Bottom line is that this a high mpg, high mileage car for people who like to drive long distances, or who just love to drive. Oh and one more curious thing about the clean diesel and dsg combo (my first time for both technologies). On a good long incline (like the ones in Nevada that will subtly take you up 5000 feet before you know it), well I haven't found any gasoline powered vehicle yet that I couldn't pass, barely caressing the pedal, at 2000 rpm. This car has so much low rpm torque it does not need to scream at 5000 rpm to get you moving. It glides by effortlessly. And economically. If you want high mpg and a great ride for a tough daily highway commute, this is your car.
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Wow, excellent post!
I know that we are biased here, but I had a similar experience with my first exposure to Volkswagen cars. At the time I had an '88 Hyundai Excel and borrowed a friend's '86 Golf and wow, what a difference! And with TDI, the experience is even more so as you have detailed. I have since owned many VW's, with a few other brands mixed in, but have recently come back to the TDI JSW 6MT. In addition to your points about the Jetta being superior to the competition, another area I would add is
safety. VW is consistently on top of the industry and a pioneer in new technology in this area. Compare the reinforcements, air bags and roll cage in the Jetta to any of those other ones you mentioned and it's not even close.
I typically travel 38 miles each way to work and mostly highway at about 75 MPH. I typically average 42-43 MPG. I have only had the car for less than 3K miles and I have about 38 combined for total driving, but oh what fun the driving is! Mileage gets better with age, as I can attest was the case with my '02 1.9L TDI Beetle.
I am not a mechanic, but have one caveat to the OP I have gathered from sources far more knowledgeable than I. If you go TDI you want to properly break the engine in by seating the rings. This will maximize compression pressure for the life of the car. This means that you want to use 2500-3500 RPMs, especially climbing hills for the first 10K miles or so. And no cruise. This will obviously be a chore since the car does do so well at lower RPMs, as jharcourt here pointed out.