Car & Driver long term test of 09 VW Jetta TDI from March 2010 issue

Not necessary. I just put it in the bag with the rest of the reading out there. I first try and find out who is funding these reports and than go from there. This goes for both sides of this issue. I have what I believe to be an open mind.

Yes, I like JC and no I don't believe verbatim all he says....but most of the time he's pretty close to the real deal. JMHO.

As for the DSG........well, it seems you either love it or hate it (even on the TDI forum) Me? I like it a lot and thus far have no complaints.

I have to say I've developed a lot of respect for many of your fellow posters. It stays polite and there is knowledge to be gained.

In the end you have to ask yourself 'what do I want in my car' and can I get it? For me the Prius is just too bland a drive. It does what it was designed to do..........give excellent MPG. I give Toyota props for knowing how to market the car. First make it stand out in the crowd so people seeing it will say "hey, that's a hybrid". VW and most of the rest of the Europeans take a different approach. No flash at all. I mean there is no way you can tell my diesel Jetta from a gasser unless you know what to look for. That being the lonely TDI badge on the lid and the turned down dual exhaust. Otherwise there are no clues.

Both are nice rides and should give years of service though I doubt you'll see 400 to 500 thousand miles on a Prius. Go over to the TDI forum and you'll see a lot with over 200 thousand and up. Most will kid you with less than 100 thousand miles....such as 'it's just breaking in' and so on

Anyhow, take care all and thanks for letting me crash your party for a couple days. I really enjoyed it.

Time to move on.

 

GTIDan,

I've owned a new VW. Traded it in on my Prius. I believe I've read that there are Prius taxis in NYC that are hitting the 300,000 mile mark now without any issues...I'm sure others can back that up with links. And, as the cars just haven't been around long enough, we'll have to wait and see how many hit that 500,000 mark.

More importantly though, as a former VW owner, I do have to ask you this: What good is a car that can do 500,000 miles if a) it costs a fortune in fuel to operate in the future and b) there's nothing left to it but an engine that runs fine? One reason I couldn't wait to get rid of my VW was that it was literally falling apart even though I took good care of it and had it regularly serviced. I'll never buy another VW again.

 

Thanks for your contributions. I have recently moved on as well and could not be happier. I gave up my Prius for a Sonata. I also considered a TDI, Jetta or A3. I like both but could not make a deal to work financially. I agree with you… the Prius delivers what is supposed to, good MPG, although my lifetime has ended bellow EPA after 20K miles (46.3 MPG), but it was still good as many Prius chatters like to emphasize.

But, to me, fuel efficiency as a consequence of a great hybrid technology is where greatness ends in the Prius. It lacks comfort, quality, handling, driver's visibility, spirit, and you end up paying too much for a technology designed for fuel efficiency as opposed to paying a decent price for the number and quality of features it offers.

As long as one is happy with your respective ride… it all ends well! :car:

 

i have to disagre

i also drove the new sonata and to me the prius is 95% what i want in a car ( the 5% is that there is still a ice in it )
and over here the prius got a big tax credit so making it not high priced but even cheaper because the prius is loaded with gadgets
where with other brands in the same class size you have to pay a lot more.
like a automatic is not standard in cars over here where in the us most sold cars are automatic.

 

I guess this is going a bit off topic here but since I'm considering a Sonata now (trying to decide between getting a big deal on a 2010 or pay close to MSRP on a 2011), I thought I could give my opinion and I unfortunately disagree a bit with you. I guess it depends what you're looking for in a car. The discounts you’re talking about in the Prius, whatever it is, is not what most people, or at least, people like me, had or are experiencing. I totally eliminated the Prius from my search because of the high cost for features despite of the unbeatable FE.

The new Sonata limited edition costs about the same as the Prius III, in fact, I got a better price in the new Sonata compared to Prius III and the Sonata IMHO is just a huge leap forward in quality, comfort, and features. The Sonata limited has basically everything Prius III has but much more. I'm not talking about small things like touch tracer display, I'm talking about leather, 17" wheels, moonroof, auto lights, electronic seat adjustment, auto dimming mirrors, Infinity sound system, fog lights, luxury interior (wood accents), all of which cost a lot of money...