2009 Diesel Jetta
 

Is anybody considering one of these as a new vehicle? I just did some reading up on it the preliminary reviews are fantastic. 50 state emissions compliant, tons of torque, I just wonder about reliability with it being the first in the diesel re-design and being delayed for "technical issues".

If I hadn't just bought a car last year I'd be looking into one, it's slated to be about the price of a high end civic (around $21k).

Any opinions?

Sources for some info

Jetta Article 1

Jetta Article 2

I like it. I want it.
ohh BTW high end civic, SI models are $23-24K or the Muegun[?]SI is $34K

I'd trade my Insight for one of those

Honda's turbo diesel is coming to the states next year.:thumbup:

I was thinking EX-L when I said high end I guess I should have been more specific :-) (thought process was the standards "civic" with a trim package)

I want to see how they run on Bio before I want one.
Will I buy one "new"? probably not.

The "technical details" that have delayed the launch are not on the basic engine components, but on the emissions systems (VW has been building diesels for a long time, so it should be reliable.) The problem has been that they can't meet our more-stringent air quality laws, and VW has failed a couple of times when they thought they finally had it dialed in. They will get there.

All diesels can run on ASTM D-6751 bio-diesel ... but that's not used fryer oil from the local KFC. You'll see pumps with B10, B20 or up to B100 (that's 10% bio, 20% bio and 100% biodiesel) in the next few years. The biodiesel is blended with petro diesel.

Biodiesel can be made from food sources (chicken fat from slaughterhouses, soy beans, etc.) or from non-food plants (Hawai'i is installing their first algae farm to produce biodiesel). One major advantage of biodiesel over other bio-fuels is that it can be stored, transported, piped and refined using the existing infrastructure.

If the car companies can finally make them clean enough, and they think they can now, bio-diesel may be the best bet we have to get off foreign oil (with the possible exception of breakthroughs in battery technology).

Not entirely true; one type of diesel catalyst is ruined by bio-diesel.

My VW runs on B80 whenever I can find it; and with a little luck will be running on home brew soon.

I thought the purpose of the ASTM spec was that it was functionally identical to the petrodiesel. Do you know which cars have the non-compatible cat?

I would hope that all the new cars have compatible engines! Its certainly something to check when making a decision.

VW only warranties up to B5... run anything higher and something goes wrong, you're not covered by the warranty