Prius vs TDI

I raced my Prius around, flooring it after every stop and doing 85mpg on the freeway and I couldn't get lower than 37mpg. Driving it like a normal human being I get 44-50mpg avg depending on temps.

The benefit of the Prius is the lower emissions but if all you care about is gas prices then the Prius may still win out unless Diesel is cheaper than gas in your area. Unless of course you convert to biodiesel. I wouldn't say the Prius is less efficient simply because diesel require more refining and that ups our energy consumption rate in the U.S..

Ultimately the cost difference between 46mpg and 55mpg is quite small so I would just choose the car you like best. Again, if you don't care about emissions.

*edit* I just noticed you were looking at instantaneous mpg while you were driving at 75mph. My guess is the car was not warmed up all the way and/or you were driving in cool temps below 60deg. There is a big difference between a warmed up Prius and a cold one. Also if you accelerate to your desired mph then let off the pedal then gently reapply pedal to maintain your speed your mpg will go up quicker. Or you can just hit cruise control. lol

 

I am assuming u were also test driving it. I noticed that test drived cars have substantially lower FE than when you have yours for a while. People like to gun the car and brake hard in order to test the limits of the car when they test drive, plus they probably do this for only a few minutes at a time, maybe 5-10 minute test drive when the vehicle is not warmed up.

For example: When I tested the HCHII, it said 26 mpg as the avg FE. I was quite surprised that it was so low. Now I am getting roughly 43 mpg.

 

Hi Bailer,

Did you check the air-pressure on the tires of the Prius? That has a big effect on mileage.

Diesel actually has 1.3 times the fuel energy of regular gasoline. So, 35 mpg in a Prius is equivalent (in energy consumption tank to wheels) of 45.5 mpg in a TDI.

Yep, the big advantage of an old TDI is biodiesel, but the higher pressure injection in the newer cars may require a professionally made biodiesel product (no more Straight Veggie Oil or garage made bio-diesel).

The Idaho National Labs has been running two test generation two 2004 Prius around Phoenix (used for a delivery service between banks). Both are at 125 K and have had total ownership cost of $.20 / mile, or less. Hard to beat in a TDI with the Turbo repairs.

The electric AC in the Prius seems a good match for Phoenix. It can run at full power, even when the car is stopped. Its also closed-loop controlled, so you set the amount of cooling for best fuel economy and sufficient comfort.

 

I love our Prius and couldn't imagine not having it now, but the Jetta TDI wagon would be a fantastic car too. Right now here in WA state, regular unleaded is around $3.45 a gallon, and Diesel is around $3.02 a gallon. Makes you thnik.

Dave

 

I would be careful with the Volkswagon brand. I just got rid of my Beetle Convertible. 4 other people I know well bailed on their VW cars.

My car was in the shop for long period from the week I bought it. They never have the parts, never know what is going on, never want to take responsibility for their lousy product.

It is a shame because they sucker you in with cute, fun to drive cars, that are a pain in the nice person. Why do they still have the same old electrical issues, with today's technology?

Be careful, as it sounds you are too busy working and driving to deal with a VW.

 

Running consistently at 75mph you should be somewhere in the 40-45mpg range based on what I've seen in mine. Honestly a TDI shouldn't be too far behind. My only real problem with Volkswagen is reliability. A buddy of mine has a Passat that's only two years old and he's already looking to get rid of it.

 

I just had a road trip with my wife on Monday, 400 miles. I filled up my tank to full before I left and I came back I still had alot left on the tank. When I was going up, I was doing really well, I kept it less than 75 mph. My reading on MPG was somewhere close to 56 MPG. This is 100% highway, we didn't stop once thru whole 200 miles. When I was coming back home, my wife was sleep, so I floored my Prius. This car can really move btw. I was going 85+ mph constantly. At the end of the day, my MPG suffered alittle and by the time I was refilling my tank earlier today, MPG was only reading 51mpg and I droved 500 miles and I only had to put 9.7 gallons of gas in my tank.

Tell me what kind of midsize car out there can drive upto 500+ miles and put less than 10 gallons to fill it up? This is amazing car. If I was under control and drive little slower when I was coming back on, I could've easily got 55+mpg. But NJ gas price is much cheaper than most of your guys, so time to time I can have some fun in my car. hehe.

 

My first car was a VW jetta 91, and my next car was a vw jetta vr6 2000. in all the years i had those cars i never had issues like the ones you are describing. Every time i brought the car in it was diagnosed quickly and relatively cheaply then repaired in a timely manor. They even washed the car after they finished every service job even ones outside warrantee.

The only big work i ever needed was when my 2000 got vandalized (someone tried siphoning gas or something) and they broke the little flap in the filler neck. They couldn’t replace just the neck they needed to replace the entire gas tank. Parts + labor was well over $2000 but since it was vandalism my insurance covered it.

I suspect your bad experience has to do with your dealership or service location itself.

I have 2 friends who both bought identical (not on purpose) Jetta TDI's (2005s i think) and they both love them. the only thing they did mention was needing to fill the oil more often but i think thats normal for a diesel.

Anyway to answer the OP. the TDI’s are very nice and the seats are fully adjustable even on the lowest models. But if you fit good in your prius go with the prius I think you will find it cheeper to maintain and the added benefit of being in the carpool lane is sweet.

 

Go to:

http://myvwlemon.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi

and using the search function, enter "TDI" and you'll get 200 hits, which is the maximum number of hits the search engine will return.

 

I'd highly recommend the TDI.

I have a 96 Passat TDI with well over 300K miles on it. I average between 43-47 MPG on it with my Northern NJ commute of 90 miles/day.

I bought a Prius January last year mainly because late 2005, I ended up working in NYC and the traffic started bothering my knees with the clutch.

Now that I'm back to Northern NJ, I went back to my Passat TDI. My wife now uses the Prius to shuttle kids around.

In my TDI, I never got below 40MPG even with my NYC commute. My best was 52MPG cruising 70MPH on a vacation trip to Florida with 5 passangers and trunk-full of luggage.

In the Prius, I only got above 45 MPG when I was working in NYC. I guess because of crawling for over 45 minutes at times.

Below are my problems/services with my TDI in 11 years/300K+ miles:
- Replaced Alternator Voltage Regulator 2 months ago.
- Muffler/resonator replaced last summer due to corrosion
- 2nd K&N Drop-in Filter
- 3rd driver window regulator
- 4th timing belt
- CV joint went at ~125K miles and ~275K miles
- 4th set of front brake pads, 2nd on rear
- 5th set of tires
- Instrument cluster died when 1st battery died (~150K miles)
- Engine still original (block, head, turbo)
- Transmission and clutch still original
- Upgraded ECM chip with Upsolute at ~105K miles

The best part I like about my passat TDI is not having to refill for 800+ miles. and that I have ~125 miles to go when the fuel gauge hit the red zone (half-tank range of most cars).

I love the Prius, too. I just love my TDI better. And besides, the Prius still has to prove itself. I only got <25K miles on it for the 16 months I owned it.

Mike

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bailer @ May 16 2007, 01:01 PM) [snapback]443510[/snapback]</div>

Are you sure about the size comparison? It's certainly true that the Prius does not have as much room as some larger cars, but it's also true that the Prius has a lot more room than a lot of people think. I like to say that it violates some law of physics by being bigger on the inside than on the outside. I can't find the thread right now, but I've seen several postings on here about just how much people are able to haul in their Prius; I think my favorite might have been the guy who took a full-sized washing machine to dump in his Prius. That was probably a bit extreme, but the car is definitely bigger than it looks; something that is made even better by the hatchback design. That said, there are some things that it may not work for and if you really need a bigger car, you should get a bigger car; it's just that a large fraction of the population doesn't need a bigger car.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(bailer @ May 16 2007, 01:01 PM) [snapback]443510[/snapback]</div>

The two cars may be close in terms of MPG, but it should be remembered that the Prius is tuned to have low emissions, not to have high MPG numbers; the high MPG numbers are just a (very nice) side effect. In my opinion, that deserves some reward (such as the carpool pass).

 

Can you buy 2007 Jetta TDI today in the states?
I believe you can't.

Ken@Japan

 

One other consideration is option levels. I'm in sales, too, and the Nav and Bluetooth features make my Prius an ideal choice (besides the lower emissions/fuel cost savings) for my business. Ignorant as I am of what the VW you're looking at may offer in option packages, this may be a moot point, but I thought it worth mentioning.

Good luck with whatever choice you go with, I think it's a smart thing to come to here and get some opinions about the Prius.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ken1784 @ May 16 2007, 01:23 PM) [snapback]443525[/snapback]</div>

They will be here in 2008 (late September 2007)

Dave

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ZenCruiser @ May 16 2007, 02:26 PM) [snapback]443528[/snapback]</div>

Either you are going to TDI or Prius, you must have a bluetooth option. I don't really care so much about my Nav, it was fun for couple of weeks but I use my bluetooth and I can't go back to anything car without this feature. It's a must option I think.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(DaveLeePrius @ May 17 2007, 03:44 AM) [snapback]443546[/snapback]</div>

I see, it's not today.
Do you have any specs and pricing for the 2008 Jetta TDI?
I believe the price is going up to meet severe 2007 and later emission standard.

Ken@Japan

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Betelgeuse @ May 16 2007, 11:19 AM) [snapback]443522[/snapback]</div>

I was pretty amazed at how much I can fit in my Prius. I had to pick up thousands of dollars worth of fireworks for my car clubs fireworks stand last year. Everyone couldn't believe we fit all of that in there. My pooe passager had to deal with all the crazy stares from passing motorists. Maybe because he was Asian and had boxes of fireworks on his lap. :lol:



When we opened the doors the other boxes fell out but it was packed window to window.