Jetta TDI vs. Prius, San Francisco on a tank?

I'll add that my TDI can easily do 70mpg in the city if driven properly. But then again, a Prius can easily do 80mpg in the same conditions. I will have to agree with you jhinton that there is more to a car than economics. I probably wouldn't trade my Golf for a Prius, I simply don't think the Prius would be as fun to drive. A 5-speed Insight would be a much harder choice though.. I think I would really enjoy it.

 

Speaking of diesel vs gasoline price trends, are there diesel-price reporting sites similar to gasbuddy and all those? Anybody know?

 

www.Xgasprices.com where X is replaced by a city. For example, www.winnipeggasprices.com . It relies on people reporting the prices though, so sometimes there aren't many updates, especially for diesel.

 

I would have to agree. Diesel and gasoline have traded places as far a price goes quite often lately. Right now, Diesel is more expensive, but to make a judgement on a car purchase, I think it would be wise to consider the price history as well.

 

Here in California, diesel has been more expensive than regular for about 5 years, at least where I live.

 

Its tough to know what to subscribe to. On this basis, pricing in sub-$3 gas makes sence before buying a car, but I don't think many of us are on board with that. I've got my corny spreadsheet set at $4 and that may be high.

As far as diesel, 120% of gas prices is the historic high and the northeast is currently at ~117% (approx. 4.79 vs 4.09). The non-cyclical supply and demand explanation I heard was that diesel is more a necessity for the global economy, where conservation has put less upward pressure on gas. As prices for both rise, disparity between them grows in favor of the price of gasoline.

Sounds logical. do not know if its true.

 

Same here in AZ. Diesel traditionally is around the same price as premium... however, for months it's been more expensive than premium. My truck with it's 35 gallon tank almost requires me to walk in with a brief case attached to my arm with a handcuff in order to pay for fuel. Luckily I barely ever have to drive it.

 

Surprised nobody else noticed this...

Auburn, WA is 658 miles north of San Francisco *how*? As the crow flies? Gee, are we going off-roading?

I consider the trip from south San Jose, CA to kind-of-northern Seattle as 850 miles. Google Maps says Auburn, WA to SF is 789, though that includes about 6 miles of non-freeway driving.

Last I checked diesel at my local gas station, it was $5.35. Phew.

 

Best of luck to VW. In their favor: No waiting (in stock) and a lower price new than many used Prius. Can't fault them for taking advantage of a situation.

 

Your kidding right? My dealer has 3 times as many deposits as he has cars allocated from VW. The first TDI's won't be delivered until September or October. In June VW sent each dealer a demo car for test drives but these are not for sale.

 

Sorry... ASSumed. You know what they say.

 

I am hoping TDI wins the race and more people opt to get the TDI. Hopefully then, my wait for a Prius will get a bit shorter

 

I watched it. I'm glad at least the newscasters see something wrong with this "challenge". I'm hoping they suprise us by making real scientific measurements and not just by who's tank lasts the longest despite fuel capacity. Otherwise the dealer is gonna end up looking like a monkey F%^$#@ a football on this one.

 

OK OK that report is BIASED for sure, a VW dealer is doing the freaking test for crying out loud LOL

and for those jack asses that keep talking payoff for the Prius, Wth is the payoff for the Jetta TDi? + the fact that 87octane cost almost $1.00 less per gallon than diesel ?!?

anyway here is a video i posted before maybe it can help you guys out a bit:

 

No such luck. The TDI's are pretty much sold out before they are available for sale. When I test drove one this past weekend the dealer had 12 deposits for sedans and 5 for wagons. He knows he'll be getting 5 sedan Loyal editions in October. Past those 5 cars, he has no clue when cars will arrive. The 5 cars are his allotment of the first 2500 of 12,000 2009 TDI Jetta sedans and wagons.

 

ok
i am from Europe and this so-called NEW clean diesel is already on the market for years now... nothing special only the common rail injected variable turbo diesel concept is something new to the US nothing new to the technology....
this way the JETTA TDI is put if it where a cleaner car then the prius!
and stil jetta 70 liters of diesel and prius 45 liters of petrol.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Hmmm, I wonder what the tire pressure on the Prius was and how many miles it had on it. I was expecting that it would dominate the backroads test....

 

It amounts to taking a globe, running a string along the surface of it between the two locations, and measuring the length of the string.