Prius over Golf TDI? Mixed feelings

3.5 quart engine oil every 10k miles. Engine air filter every 30k miles. Spark plug at 120k miles. Coolant change at 100k miles then every 50k miles after.

Brake pads, struts and transaxle oil may not need to be replaced. Tires will cost you the most. No belt, no alternator, no starter, no clutch, no special diesel emission control hardware maintenance or no power steering fluid to change.

I think that sums up the Prius maintenance!

 

Before you buy any VW, take a look at the reliability ratings in Consumer Reports. Taken directly from the drivers of these cars.
None of the VWs or any German car, for that matter, is remotely close to the reliability of Toyota or Honda. And Prius is the king of the lot.
I know of some first time hybrid buyers who were steered away from Prius by all that negative stuff in the media. A shame they missed the boat.

 

I'd make the same argument for Prius, and most other cars. Prius can do mid to high 50s at those speeds in the summer.

So I believe the highway fuel range difference of these two choices should be small potatoes compared to the other factors on your list.

 

I did the Golf TDI vs Prius comparison too.

Vs Prius, IMO the Golf drives better, looks better, interior material are a bit more upscale. I asked three VW dealers for quotes. 2 out of 3 didn't even return my calls or emails. One dealer did return my call ...a week later, but they didn't have the spec I wanted. Then I saw CR reports on VW, it wasn't good. And TDI Forums, not good either. In fact I couldn't find anything positive said about VW reliability or their dealer network.

I hadn't considered the Prius until my wife insisted I try one. I've always been more into "enthusiast" cars, like BMWs and Jags. So I go see a 2011 Prius, and what a pleasant surprise! Much better than expected. Not quite as upscale as the VW but still very good fit and finish. More interior space than the Golf, especially in the trunk. Better gas mileage and available with leather seats. My Toyota dealer even let me borrow the Prius for a whole day! So I could try it with the kid's car seats and drive on my normal route.

I now own that same Prius. It's saving a ton of money on gas, it's very nice to drive, lots of space for the kids. No shame in driving the ultimate driving appliance. I really like this Prius!

 

the golf cant be that bad. here in austria every second car on the road is a golf tdi.
imo: its disgusting to start from a traffic light right behind a tdi. have you ever seen the soot-cloud of a diesel. and it does that every time it accelerates.
especially the german diesel engines dont give a sh!t about whos behind them. vw and audi are the biggest criminals when it comes to this.
and people dont care about that here --- yet. the german companies' propaganda works too well - and toyota has, when it comes to marketing, absolutely no answer.

 

I can't speak for the GOLF TDI, but I have 2 shipmates that are Jetta TDI drivers, and I liked them well enough to circle one myself on a dealer lot.
Great cars!
Absolutely phenomenal in terms of initial build quality! If Priuses had the same interior fit and finish, there would be two of them in my driveway right now. The TDI's are also much more fun to drive---but anybody with a three digit IQ, or the ability or desire to drive a car with a clutch already knows that. Unfortunately, that rules out 99.44% of American drivers.

However (comma!) I've never known a TDI driver that wasn't faced with a 4-digit repair bill for either the motor or the transmission in their first 200K miles of ownership. A very small sampling admittedly, but that's the data that I have, and I have to go with it.

The Prius may look and drive like an econo-box, but they're generally fairly dependable econo-boxes, and they get better mileage on regular old pump gas (that's some 20-percent cheaper than diesel btw...) here in the USofA.

So my next car will be a......well......I do not know....

But it's not going to be a TDI.

Sorry!

 

Mark54321,

Did you consider the Lexus CT200 ?

 

OP i live in bergen county NJ also?


where do are you going to "drive" a VW in this state?

stop and go traffic Saturday on rt 4?
rt17 morning commutes?
cross bronx expressway (most clog road in US)?
out to willowbrook mall on a Sunday?
out andback to Pennsylvania with all the other New Jersians clogging the road?
sitting on the parkway trying to get to the beach?
or would you like to be picked off by the police and given a ticket in the lovely "money poor" state?


you might as well sit, relax, and save fuel

 

Just my 2-cents as I had a Passat wagon before my Prius. As others have mentioned, VW's are great cars to drive and a crap-shoot to own. You may get a great one, you may get a terrible one, and the terrible ones are a nightmare. Even the great ones have more issues than a Toyota. Maintenance cost is high, and I have been less than impressed in dealing with the dealership for warranty issues.

I have always had the belief that VW's built in Germany are better overall than ones from South America -I do not know where they build the Golf, but if some of them do come from Germany you may want to make sure that you get one of them.

 

Yup - I've owned WVs + Audis and they have some of the best road manners of any auto out there. However, be prepared to visit the dealership when problems start.

-Brad

 

Understood.

The CT200 is about 30k msrp. Maintenance at the dealership is no doubt expensive, although as a couple of us have written earlier that is not a given requirement of ownership. As for fuel economy on the highway, EPA rates it at 40 mpg. That is about the same as a TDI once you correct for the cost difference in fuel.

Is the TDI much cheaper to buy ? I ask because the fuel is certainly more expensive, and as you know the maintenance and repairs on average are considerably more. You might also want to check insurance rates. All and all I am wondering if your strict budget and contemplation of VW are not at odds one with the other. Edmunds and Consumer Reports both supply 5 multi-year TCO calcs. The absolute numbers may be off, but the ratio is probably informative. Rather like EPA fuel economy numbers.

One other question: are you willing to perform simple DIY maintenance yourself ? I know the Prius is amenable from my own experience, but I cannot speak to the VW. The answer may change your money calcs.

Is the Prius 3 really worth the premium ? What are you keening for, and what is the extra cost ? In some cases aftermarket is cheaper and better. Heck, you might be able to apply the difference to aftermarket upholstery

 

I did and I'm not sure what you're referring to.

According to the Consumer Reports web site, the 2010 Golf TDI has "above average" reliability ratings. It's also "recommended" by Consumer Reports, something it wouldn't do if the reliability was below average. On top of that, this year it has the highest "owners' satisfaction" ( See which owners said they would buy that car again ).

If you are using Consumer Reports as your data source, I don't know where you're getting the "poor reliability" data.

 

FYI at those speeds the Prius will get considerably more than 50 mpg.

 

I think that is right, based on less than one year of data for the Golf. Look at TDI history that goes back further in the Jetta ---

 

The other downside of the CT 200h is that it isn't AT-PZEV certified and thus won't have the longer warranties such as the 10 years/150K mile on the HV battery and 15 year/150K mile on emissions.

NJ is a CARB state and thus the OP would see the benefit of the above warranties on AT-PZEV cars such as the Prius. Lexus powertrain and basic warranties are longer than Toyotas though.

 

That's a good point that the Golf TDI is based on a short time period of data, but even the Jetta TDI has "average" reliability since the common-rail TDI was introduced in 2008, according to your graphic. Some comments here make it sound like the TDI's reliability is horrible.

Based on my experience with two TDIs (both Jettas), one a 1998 model and the other a 2002 model, I had virtually no issues with the 1998 model in 128,000 miles, and only had the intake clogging issue (happened a few times) on the 2002 Jetta over about 135,000 miles. Presumably, the intake clogging issue has been addressed in more recent models.