[studhilo]

Silly question here...Is VW planning to make Golf TDi's some day (in the next year or so) so that one doesn't need to play the search and get fleeced game to get one? Seems strange that they would invest so much in a introducing and marketing a car that doesn't exist.

 

[grizzly]

Yes. You have to be patient though.

 

[philcollison]

Yes, but not in time to take advantage of the $1300/1700 advanced diesel credit.

 

[chef73]

gas mileage

Does going a certain speed range give you better gas mileage or is it all about a constant speed.(cruise control)

 

[Superbass]

Does going a certain speed range give you better gas mileage or is it all about a constant speed.(cruise control)

Best mpg is around 50 mph on level road. Once you start to go beyond a certain speed, let's say 40 mph, drag starts to reduce fuel economy. This is also fast enough to not lug the engine. Too slow and mpg suffers. Too fast and mpg suffers. If you watch the mfd, you'll see average mpg drop off a cliff around 70 mph because the engine is getting out of the sweet spot and drag is really slowing the car.

 

[mrlinch]

I can vouch for this in the real world. I drove down to New Orleans with my Golf and only got like 35 or 36 MPG average because I was going about 75 the whole way down. This last tank of gas I filled with mixed mileage was 37 MPG. So yes, going faster kills your MPG.

 

[sportriderseattle]

personally I feel that VW is being very sensible about their business strategy: that being not having cars sit on lots like all the American manufacturers. We as American's just "want" way to much. From what I hear, in Germany, they only have like one model per dealership as a display car. One never test drives a car to figure out of they want it. They visit the car and they simply order the car and wait for it to be delivered.

Two thumbs up for VW for being financially sensible

 

[chittychittybangbang]

I wouldn't mind doing that as well but it's unusual to see a demo Golf TDI to even know what the car feels like. The other problem with ordering cars is that you are subject to delays. Because of the drop of expensive car sales, some Porsche buyers were expecting a 2 month wait that turned into 9-12 months! They ordered, the dealer had an allocation, but the factory scaled back production to keep the supply low and dealers happy. In the case of the TDI engines, it's that most are sent overseas, not that they factory purposely reduced production.

 

[minienigma]

I would argue that VW doesn't go far enough in terms of that.... I used to be a Mini Cooper driver -- when customers order their car, they were given a build number. From there, customers can register online and see the status of their car -- whether it's being scheduled to be produced, are in production, production complete and waiting transport, waiting at the docks to be put on a boat, in transit to destination port, arrived at port, in transit to distribution / inspection / testing center and finally at the dealer. It makes it a much more customer-friendly experience.

On the contrary, my ordering experience with VW/Audi is less satisfactory.... You kind of have to rely on the word of the dealer that your car is properly ordered (or even on the date they said the order was placed). I cannot access the status of the car myself -- I have to constantly pestering my dealer to get a minor status update. I understand that it's a dealer-centric and somewhat more personal approach to selling cars, but it's a hassle and annoying for newer generation of tech- and internet-savvy buyers like myself.

There is a conflict of interest with VW's way as well. The dealer have incentive to sell the cars they have on the lot (or which ever cars they can trade for). So they can lie and scam their customers with false promises during the order, and then just delay, delay, delay -- which gives the dealer a chance to convince the customer to settle for a car on the lot. I've had this happen to me once -- the dealer made the order, and promised, promised, promised the order was made correctly. Then there's one delay after another. Finally when the car came, the car had options that I didn't want (and supposedly didn't order).

Now, if BMW/Mini can do it with high rate of success with their "open" ordering system. Why couldn't VW do the same?

 

[vik]

Simple math

Guys,
the reason VW is not bringing Golf TDI from Germany here in the US is simple math. The price they ask for a TDI here is a fraction of what that car commands in Europe, where they can't produce enough to keep up with demand. It was good when the Dollar was higher than the Euro. Now that the situation is reversed they just keep a presence of "virtual" models in the US, but basically are waiting for the currency rate to change or the TN plant to come on line.
Of course the same is not true for cars that come from VW Brazil or VW Mexico.

When I was calling VW of A to ask about my order, they rather look dumb than telling you the truth: no car from Germany coming...

 

[chef73]

how do they do it?

when i go to the vw website and look at the tank wars i can't believe some of the numbers on the dash board. The most i have gotten is 51 any insight on how they get these numbers.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

The results aren't certified. You just have to take a picture. The leader got 68.8 mpg just over 25 miles. When I visited Mt. St. Helens I rented a Prius and I was getting 199.99 mpg because I coasted almost the whole way. You can also adjust the dashboard units using VCDS. In other words, recode the instrument cluster for imperial gallons which are smaller than US gallons. Using smaller tires would also increase the logged distance traveled per mile.