Jetta TDI or Prius?
 

Okay guys, I claim excuse on the fact that until two months ago, I had not had a car in three years! I am still catching up on all of this!

I found this site when I wondered how the Jetta TDi compared to the Prius. I guess that I need to find a "Dust to Dust" discussion here.

Okay guys, I claim excuse on the fact that until two months ago, I had not had a car in three years! I am still catching up on all of this!

I found this site when I wondered how the Jetta TDi compared to the Prius. I guess that I need to find a "Dust to Dust" discussion here.

What sort of driving do you want to do with it ?

Oh boy, sorry this took so long! From what I understand, the Jetta does better on the highway and the Prius is much better in the city. Also, I read that the Jetta requires periodic hard driving to blow the carbon out of the turbo. I do more city driving than I would like and my highway driving includes some hills that are too big to coast down, so it sounds like the Prius would suit me better.

How correct am I? :)

(Moved the Prius/Jetta discussion to a new thread, hope you don't mind.)

For city driving the Prius would be your better choice.

regards
Mech

Yep. Highway is the only place the TDI has a chance of matching the Prius. Anything else and the Prius will be better.

Hybrid: Reality - Article - RoadandTrack.com

Quick summary: in ALL the tests, highway cruise included, the Prius beat the Golf TDI's mileage. Highway was the closest, with Prius at 57 mpg and the TDI at 53.

If you get (a new) one with a diesel particulate filter, it needs to be able to run for some extended time once in a while to clean out the DPF.
It doesn't need to be driven particularly hard during that DPF-cleaning though.

Modern diesels with DPF and what not are getting too complex and can have serious issues.
Mine certainly isn't the only one, and VW / Audi hasn't been spared either.

Soot buildup in the EGR-ducts, EGR-cooler and control valves is just one issue.

Sounds like the Prius is for you.


I think I'll be going with CNG - possibly even a hybrid converted to CNG.

Get an older VW and run it with 100% renewable biodiesel, the Prius still uses some gasoline.