Chev releases a turbo four diesel in the Cruze econo box front wheel drive car

[JCByrd24]

If you go to VW's web site so you can compare apples to apples they say that the gas version of the Jetta gets 34/24 while the diesel gets 42/30. That's about 8 mpg different, about 1200 gallons over 200k miles. Once you add in the price difference for the diesel it's a wash. If, like in the US, Diesel costs more than gas it doesn't pay for itself. I did notice that VW now offers the Jetta with a gas Hybrid option that gets about 6 more mpg over the diesel. Kind of makes you wonder if diesel engines will ever become viable in cars when VW realizes that for the same money they can sell a gas/ electric hybrid that gets better mileage.

Epa ratings aren't apples to apples though. We owned a 2010 gas jetta for 3 months, never saw more than 31 mpg, even pure highway. Put 7000 miles on in those three months. Knew tdi owners getting 45 mpg all the time. Should have bought the diesel!!. We now own the 2012 tdi, never seen below 42 average, and have averaged 50 in the summer on trips. That's easily over 2000 gallons at 200k miles, which these engines are known to do easily. That more than pays for the difference, plus the package is better and the driving experience is better.

Comparing to a hybrid is silly. First, totally agree about the environmental impact of batteries. I'm no expert but what I've heard isn't good. Their longevity isn't comparable to a tdi either I don't think. Finally, the driving experience is not the same. I've driven a Prius for a week and it wasnt horrible, but it is an econo car and i found it no fun. plus no manual trans option. As I said in my original post, it's the torque with the mileage that sells vw tdi's. if you ask you local dealer I bet they'll tell you they sell themselves.

 

[crazyal]

Epa ratings aren't apples to apples though. We owned a 2010 gas jetta for 3 months, never saw more than 31 mpg, even pure highway. Put 7000 miles on in those three months. Knew tdi owners getting 45 mpg all the time. Should have bought the diesel!!. We now own the 2012 tdi, never seen below 42 average, and have averaged 50 in the summer on trips. That's easily over 2000 gallons at 200k miles, which these engines are known to do easily. That more than pays for the difference, plus the package is better and the driving experience is better.

Comparing to a hybrid is silly. First, totally agree about the environmental impact of batteries. I'm no expert but what I've heard isn't good. Their longevity isn't comparable to a tdi either I don't think. Finally, the driving experience is not the same. I've driven a Prius for a week and it wasnt horrible, but it is an econo car and i found it no fun. plus no manual trans option. As I said in my original post, it's the torque with the mileage that sells vw tdi's. if you ask you local dealer I bet they'll tell you they sell themselves.

I'm not going to disagree with you, I think the idea of batteries being a green solution requires one to ignore the facts of production of the batteries and their limitations. I've never been too interested in hybrids but if you read what VW is saying about their hybrid and it's turbo gas engine they say it can be a fun drive. While not great EPA ratings are as close as we can get to comparing models. My Subaru is rated at 27/something and I never get less than 30 unless I really drive it hard. Before the switch to 10% ethanol I was getting close to 34. But that's the problem with gas, how you drive makes a huge difference to the mileage you can get while, at least with me, diesels just don't seam to suffer from a heavy foot.

 

[Oaktree]

As I said in my original post, it's the torque with the mileage that sells vw tdi's. if you ask you local dealer I bet they'll tell you they sell themselves.

Curiously, how are modern diesel cars in cold weather? Not uncommon for it to hit 25-30 below mid-winter here. Tractor takes some "coaxing" to get going even when it's in the +teens. My only experience with a diesel car was an 80s-vintage VW Rabbit that an old gf had. It was not happy when temperatures got below 20 or so.

 

[newbury]

Curiously, how are modern diesel cars in cold weather? Not uncommon for it to hit 25-30 below mid-winter here. Tractor takes some "coaxing" to get going even when it's in the +teens. My only experience with a diesel car was an 80s-vintage VW Rabbit that an old gf had. It was not happy when temperatures got below 20 or so.

My '09 JSW TDI has done fine STARTING down to about 10, which is the coldest it's been in. However the darn thing is so fuel efficient it doesn't really warm up at low temperatures. I had a 1978 VW Rabbit diesel in Vermont that started and ran fine at 40 below with the correct fuel (don't fill up in New Jersey at 60 above and park near Canada at 40 below) and a plug in heater warm up. Remember these cars were designed for GERMANY which has some alpine type areas.

 

[dmccarty]

Curiously, how are modern diesel cars in cold weather? Not uncommon for it to hit 25-30 below mid-winter here. Tractor takes some "coaxing" to get going even when it's in the +teens. My only experience with a diesel car was an 80s-vintage VW Rabbit that an old gf had. It was not happy when temperatures got below 20 or so.

In cold weather, diesels like to have their oil warmed up with an engine block heater which is what I did for years. The engine would start without the heater but it was kinda ugly. I switched to 5wx40 and 0wx40 synthetic oil and the engine starts up real easy without the block heater. My trucks block heater pulls 1500 watts per hour and needs at least three hours to warm up the oil which costs 50 cents a day. Using the 5wx40 or 0wx40 oil is simpler and saves money compared to using the block heater. The nice thing about the block heater is that you had pretty instant hot air to warm up the truck and defrost.

My MPG goes down in the truck during the winter mainly due to the increased time to warm up the truck. In hot weather I will get 21.5-22.0 but in cold weather I will loose a 1-2 mpg. Usually just 1 MPG, but if it really gets cold for a week or more, the MPG might drop to 19.5ish.

Later,
Dan