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2009 Jetta TDI

iShater

iShater

macrumors 604
Original poster
Aug 13, 2002
7,027
470
Chicagoland
The new 2009 Jetta TDI models are out and available for test drives. I try to avoid version 1.0 of any vehicle, but I might test drive this baby this weekend.

Has anybody test driven one? bought one? what are your thoughts and impressions?

Thank you. :)
 
I personally think they look great, got the book on one, and it says that the diesel MPG is going to be about 40-50 which is great. I have also heard that VW's right now have lots of quality control issues and they are not the best cars on the road right now, but that was just one opinion. I'd go for it.
 
I have heard about some quality issues, but I thought the new CEO finally got that under control. My buddy had issues up to the 2003 Jetta model, but the dealers fixed everything under warranty.

I just love VW, and I am itching to finally get one. :D
 
I saw one on display in Quebec about a month ago. The VW guy let me start it up...it idled nicely. I would seriously consider it as my next car (shopping for a car currently) but with the price of diesel, the extra MPG might not trump the extra $$$ for diesel in the long run.

Pics:
Jetta_1.jpg
Jetta_2.jpg
Jetta_3.jpg
Jetta_4.jpg
 
JDR nice pics, thanks for the info. For now at least, the MPG savings compared to gasoline definitely more than makes up than the price different between diesel and gas. The question is for how long.

Do you have any specific dealers in Chicagoland that you would recommend?
 
JDR said:
I saw one on display in Quebec about a month ago. The VW guy let me start it up...it idled nicely. I would seriously consider it as my next car (shopping for a car currently) but with the price of diesel, the extra MPG might not trump the extra $$$ for diesel in the long run.
Click to expand...

Forgive me I've never driven a diesel before, but they red line at 4.5? Thats really low compared to gasoline cars, yet I heard diesels can be quiet fast.. I am a little confused...

Is this similar to 2 Stroke vs 4 Stroke?
 
Rhosfelt said:
Forgive me I've never driven a diesel before, but they red line at 4.5? Thats really low compared to gasoline cars, yet I heard diesels can be quiet fast.. I am a little confused...

Is this similar to 2 Stroke vs 4 Stroke?
Click to expand...

The achieve the higher torque and lower RPMs, so they do not need to rev that high to get the power. Unfortunately I don't know enough about engine to explain any more :eek:
 
Rhosfelt said:
Forgive me I've never driven a diesel before, but they red line at 4.5?
Click to expand...

And it's often folly to even approach the redline in most TDI's because the torque generally tails off well before then, so you're actually better off changing earlier, and keeping the engine in the peak torque band.

Mine redlines at 4k, but the torque peak is 2200k, I seldom go past 3.

Put simply... you change less, but change sooner.
 
I've heard diesels get around 30% better MPG than petrol, now at about $5/g diesel and $4.25 for petrol around my house, thats 15% more for diesel, so it would be worth it. I dont' know how much mroe the diesel car costs, but as far as fuel costs go, it would be worth it, spend more at each fill up, but fill up less often.
 
Had the chance to drive it this weekend. I have a 2007 Wolfsburg Jetta and I might trade it in for the TDI in the coming year. VW has honed their diesel engines decades, and they live up to their billing! It's an amazing price when comparing to over-priced hybrids.
 
silbeej said:
I've heard diesels get around 30% better MPG than petrol, now at about $5/g diesel and $4.25 for petrol around my house, thats 15% more for diesel, so it would be worth it. I dont' know how much mroe the diesel car costs, but as far as fuel costs go, it would be worth it, spend more at each fill up, but fill up less often.
Click to expand...
That is the case around here, it is around $2k more than a gas. I also like less fillups :D


TimTheEnchanter said:
Had the chance to drive it this weekend. I have a 2007 Wolfsburg Jetta and I might trade it in for the TDI in the coming year. VW has honed their diesel engines decades, and they live up to their billing! It's an amazing price when comparing to over-priced hybrids.
Click to expand...
I just read at the tdiclub forum that it might be qualifying for a tax credit too, so it might be even cheaper. Assuming dealers to jack up the prices over MSRP by much.
 
TimTheEnchanter said:
Had the chance to drive it this weekend. I have a 2007 Wolfsburg Jetta and I might trade it in for the TDI in the coming year. VW has honed their diesel engines decades, and they live up to their billing! It's an amazing price when comparing to over-priced hybrids.
Click to expand...

Now seems like the right time, with clean diesel finally readily available in North America and the cars that take advantage of it coming back... I'm kind of interested in the TDI also. I go back and forth on whether I think the new Jetta exterior is cute, but it's not bad.

In terms of initial quality, VW is still below US average...

http://www.jdpower.com/corporate/news/releases/pdf/2008063.pdf

Although that's largely because of how much the US average has improved. They're in the same territory as Mazda, which I don't consider overly problematic. Sigh at where the MINI is still, though -- it's sad that after several years on the market they have not resolved this.

Have to run so can't look up a longer months-in-service quality metric.
 
Thanks for the link Mohan. Sux that it is below Ford, and I guess below average in quality. :(

I love the previous body style, but it doesn't look as bad as I used to think of it. Oh, and I guess the quality is not as bad as I thought it to be.
 
I'm excited about the new VW diesel engine, but I want it in a Golf (Rabbit), not a Jetta.

VW is poised to make a killing on these in the current environment though.
 
I expect it to show up soon enough - probably as a 2010 model.

The big question is when will we see the Japanese and American carmakers start selling diesel cars? Or are they throwing everything into the more expensive and complex (and arguably no more efficient) hybrid drive systems?
 
Quite a few test drives and impressions here ...

http://forums.tdiclub.com/forumdisplay.php?f=22

Decent mileage, not spectacular, but you are getting up there in torque with a lot of the older V-6s, without sacrificing mileage.

But as they say, wait and don't pay dealer markup ... VWs always start high then drop in price to a couple/few hundred above invoice.
 
Subaru is the the only Japanese company that I am aware of that is working on bringing a diesel engine to the US, I think in 2009 or something.

I haven't heard of any domestic or japanese makers considering it.
 
iShater said:
Thanks for the link Mohan. Sux that it is below Ford, and I guess below average in quality. :(
Click to expand...

Ford in the recent past has a fairly bad rep in this area. They've been doing reasonably well. Although they're buoyed unintentionally by the fact that they scaled back so many North American launches. :eek: The bad example of MINI aside, generally line quality improves over time. So when you're not launching new products, you'd expect better IQS scores. Even Toyota experiences that, although they're very good at minimizing the dip in quality.

VW's performance on the other hand also represents a huge improvement. Around 2000 they were dead last, from what I recall. Most of the Korean marques (Korean cars in 2000... not 2008!) were even slightly ahead of them. IIRC, back then, the industry average IQS defect rate was around 150/100 vehicles, and VW was at some kind of stunning 350 or something like that.

Agreed on the previous Jetta body style -- I think the fact that it was so good for its time is precisely what makes it harder to come to accept the new one. Maybe it's sort of like flame surfacing, and it needs a little tweaking. I thought the 7 was okay when most people didn't like it... I liked the 5 when most people thought it was okay... I think on the 3, it's stunning.
 
Yes, Subaru does have a boxer diesel out in Europe and it's supposed to come to the states. I think a diesel is a good match for what most Subaru drivers want - economy and good torque for a heavy car. I'd like to have one in my Forester.

But I'd much rather have a diesel Golf. And by the way, I'm going to keep calling it a Golf, I think the name change back to Rabbit was stupid...:rolleyes:

mkrishnan said:
Maybe it's sort of like flame surfacing, and it needs a little tweaking. I thought the 7 was okay when most people didn't like it... I liked the 5 when most people thought it was okay... I think on the 3, it's stunning.
Click to expand...

I think the BMW's "Bangle-ized" cars got better over time, but even the 3-series looks flabby compared to earlier designs. The 3-series continues to grow bigger, that's the problem.
 
I commute using CNG, but this car would be great. Just imagine when they have a plug-in hybrid TDI running on biodiesel. I think that might be a nice combo and if plug-in/electric doesn't take over then this might be a direction we see more of.
 
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