New 2012 TDI Passat Commercial - Cute, really cute...

I believe the US version of the new Passat is larger - more towards the Phaeton size.

But I agree the US don't seem to get the best diesel engines. Even BMW send them the crap versions. Perhaps it's the exec's at BMW NA who just want the 'biggest' diesel, rather than going for balance and getting the best engine?

 

Grumpy, we get over-sized engines in petrol cars too.

For example, here the Yaris and Fit both have 1.5 litre engines while in the UK the Yaris has a choice of 1.0 litre, 1.3 litre and 1.4 litre diesel and the Jazz has 1.2 litre, 1.4 litre and 1.3 litre hybrid.

Standard Merkins sacrifice efficiency for power and the industry is only too happy feed their hunger. Then you have the EPA tests which institutionalize bad driving, with the effect that a small-engined car without a turbo is going to get bad EPA highway numbers. That leaves really good EPA numbers only on hybrids. Economy-minded Merkins get screwed over.

For the Yaris, the US 0-60 is 8.9 seconds. The UK 0-62 is 11.7 seconds. 11.7 seconds would have been OK in the USA in the 1970s.

Now, take the Passat. It's bigger in the USA because Merkins like bigger cars. The engine's bigger because people want more power. Then you have a market where diesel consideration at only 30% (and that's the highest it's been for years) for multiple reasons: history and ignorance; higher fuel taxes on diesel; low fuel taxes; gas stations not all carrying diesel; cheap Prius; additional NOx control cost; EPA tests that "penalize" diesels; cars from German manufacturers with rip-off maintenance prices and a choice of luxury makes or a normal make with a horrible reliability record.

The result is a small diesel market where the cars are targeted at those who care about torque and ordinary buyers are forced to pay a sub-model upgrade premium once they've decided which large-engined VW they want.

However, it should be noted that for the Passat itself the demand for the diesel model is very high. In the USA, because those who want diesel have limited choice in cars, the take rate on diesels models is relatively high, with Audis in the range of 40-60%, and VW's overall rate in the low 20s%, even with the cheap petrol Jetta being VW's bigggest seller. I do expect to see a big drop in VW diesel sales as the Jetta Sportwagen TDI has a very high take rate and I think sales will be hit by the Prius v.

 

795 miles per tank!
When did a tank become a unit of measurement, really? measures efficiency?

This car is now a lot bigger in order to compete in the US market, kind of Chevy Impala & Kia Optima look.



Thank God the V10 Diesel Touareg is no longer offered!
2008 Volkswagen Touareg V10 TDI Review | The Truth About Cars

 

Well, when people got innumerate or easily deceived.

However, each trip to a gas station takes time. So, if you increase the range on a tank you reduce the number of visits to a filling station and people will like that, especially if they're somewhere that filling stations can get very busy or you have to choose between cheaper and more convenient.

Reduced refueling is also a great argument for PEVs.

 

The new Passat TDi SE compared very well to the 2012 Camry XLE during motortrend testing over hundreds of miles. The Passat ended the testing at 35mpg and the Camry at 36mpg. The Camry was much quicker in acceleration bt but they ranked the Passat higher because it was more fun to drive.

The Sonata hybrid got totally creamed. LOL

2011 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid vs 2012 Toyota Camry Hybrid XLE vs 2012 Volkswagen Passat TDI SE Comparison - Motor Trend - Mobile

 

So, the 795 miles is the combined mileage on a tank or highway only with a MT?

 

Highway only. 18.1 gal/tank * 43 mpg = 778.3 mi/tank.

 

Well, it sounds good for anyone who is willing to only calculate the highway part of driving. I live in a city and have to drive to reach the highway resulting in a city %/highway % combined mileage.

 

Well, it's advertising. You can hardly expect honesty.

 

Despite deceptive marketing techniques I really wish I could get 700 miles on one tank of fuel. It would be great to do so with 50mpg or more and not have to hypermile like crazy. That is approx 300 miles more than the average Genii tank mileage and 200 more than Geniii tank mileage.

 

I for one, would not want to haul that much gasoline that I am not going to use in one month.

I have a 12.2 mile rountrip commute to work. I plan to only put 5 gallons(1/2 a tank) of gas in the PIP at a time until empty. I will fill up for out of town trips.

 

SO they obviously asked consumers what was important to them and they said "Hey we want to go further on a tank of gas". Rather than improve fuel economy to allow this they simply increased the size of the fuel tank.

lol. hmmmm

 

Well in my opinion, debate over the specific reality of the mileage claim aside? That's a clever and funny commercial that simply get's a direct message about the vehicle across...

Combine that with the VW Darth Vader kid commercial and I'd say VW has the much better advertising agency right now.

I watch a VW commercial and come away feeling good. I watch a Toyota commercial featuring a giant Mummenschanz like disassembling people person and I feel creepy.

IMO the commercials VW are presenting remind me of the commercials Toyota used to present. Since my guess would be the cost of the Toyota "People Person" commercial was probably significantly more than the cost of the VW commercial? Toyota needs to contact VW's advertising agency.

Toyota has the better products....but VW is kicking butt with their advertising.

 

And I'm on the opposite side of the spectrum as I drive 100-150 miles a day.

 

Well, advertising is for entertainment only and completely irrelevant at least in my case when buying a particular car.

 

If I could tolerate sitting at my desk at work all day, I'd have just shy of a 10 mile r/t commute. However, I go home for lunch, and make it about 20 miles a day. If I do nothing but go to work and maybe the grocery store once a week, I can push 3 weeks on a tank of gas.

My favorite question when people heard I drove a Prius and got 50 mpg was "how often do you have to put gas in it?". I told them "whenever I run low". Apparently that wasn't what they wanted to hear lol

 

That's why the VW commercials succeed over the Prius commercials, they make their products appear fun to drive. The Prius commercials make people feel they should have flowers coming out of their nice person. I wouldn't have considered buying a Prius if I just depended on their advertising.

 

At least with regards to the Prius. They are not so flowery with the Camry commercials. lol

Pit Stop - Reinvented 2012 Toyota Camry - YouTube

 

Have you seen the video comparing the Prius Plus to the standard Prius?
The 3rd Generation Toyota Prius Features
It's down at the bottom.