Is the 2010 VW Golf TDI a threat to hybrid buyer market ???

The main reason people buy the Prius is not fuel efficiency directly, but total cost of ownership. >>>

That is a very general statement. In my case, I am considering purchasing a Prius mainly for the fuel savings (15 mpg vs 50 mpg). I only keep my cars as long as factory warranty is in effect. With BMW, you schedule your free oil changes and they'll have another BMW with a full tank of gas waiting for you. You also get free car washes any day of the week. As for savings in insurance, I haven't bother to look into that.

The attraction of driving a diesel is the torque that comes in very low in the rev range. You can leave the car running with the a/c on say, a couple of hours while you shop and there are no adverse effects as diesels just sip fuel while idling. Also, for people who keep autos forever, the heavy duty aspects of a diesel are very attractive. Obviously you and I are not good candidates for diesel ownership, 'tho I owned a '81 MB diesel for about 8 yrs.

 

I looked at the 2009 VW Jetta TDI Clean Diesel recently, it seemed fine, the interior was a little spartan, but it did have more power and torque than most hybrids.

I've never owned a diesel car and know little about diesel technology, but a couple things concerned me about it, specifically the engine can't accept large amounts of "biodiesel", so if that ever takes off it's of no value there, and the green sticker in the window rates the car an 8/10 for global warming but only 5/10 for smog. The salesman I spoke to could not explain the low smog rating, a big disappointment for a car that's being hailed as "Green Car of the Year".

 

Audi had solar panels for venting the car. I don't know if they still have it and/or if it caused problems. I trust Toyota reliability.

I seem to remember that Mazda had a similar system in their then top of the line 929.

 

The 12v battery died on my father-in-law's new beetle. I tried to change it but wow, VW did not design for DIY. Even with online instruction, it was impossible for me because I did not have the tools to reach the screws between narrow gaps.

Finally went to a local mechanic and paid him to do it. He used 3 tools that I've never seen or known their existence. Learned something new!

 

Are you referring to the series of videos Green Human made of a trip from Portland to Portland or some such rubbish? If so the whole thing was so ridiculous that any clown with a third grade or higher education would see right through it. These bozos resorted to asking morons to start the Prius as a way to put it down, made the bozos look pretty stupid to me. They even ran a poll, Prius won!

If you want your car to look good, highlight the features of your car against the best on the market, the car of choice for comparison? The best, Toyota Prius! If Toyota want to have a marketing company do a comparison tour with the 2010 Prius the only car they will be able to compare it against is the 2009 Prius, because it will be the next best to the 2010 Prius. I can bet they wont compare it to a Volkswagen.

What are those poor results you speak of? I get 55 to 58mpg over 1000km on a 42 litre tank in traffic. Who cares about 30 miles?

 

NOx output from the Jetta TDI is comparable to ULEV gasoline engined cars:

About the bio diesel problem, that is something that all modern diesels have in common. They are not approved for bio diesel use. From a carbon balance point of view that is not a disaster: The same carbon benefits could be achieved if the vegetable oil was used in place of heating oil instead of in cars.

 

It's true that my Honda Fit also scores 8/10 global warming and 5/10 smog on the green window sticker, the same score as the 2009 VW Jetta TDI, it's just that the TDI won awards for being Green Car of the Year while the Fit didn't. I would expect better from the car that won the award. IIRC the Prius' smog rating is much better than 5/10.

 

I can explain the TDI's low smog rating for you. The smog rating is nothing more than the EPA Tier 2 Bin rating. One would expect that the lower the Bin the lower the emissions but that is not always the case.

I have two issues with the EPA's air pollution score:


1) The Bins are assigned based on the worst emission. (EPA regulates 5 pollutants) So it is entirely possible to have:

CO ------- Bin 1
HCHO --- Bin 1
NMOG --- Bin 1
PM ------- Bin 1
NOX ----- Bin 5
(This car would be rated Bin 5 and get a 6/10 Air pollution score while a vehicle with all 4's would be rated Bin 4 and get a 7/10)

Bin 5 = 6/10
Bin 4 = 7/10
Bin 3 = 8/10
Bin 2 = 9/10
Bin 1 = 10/10
( http://www.epa.gov/greenvehicles/detailedchart.pdf)

2) Air pollution score is based on the amount of pollution the vehicle is allowed to emit not what it actually emits. This the the actual vs. allowed:

VW 2.0L TDI (Diesel)
Emission --- Cert ----------- Allowed ----- Bin #
CO ---------- 0.4 ------------ 4.2 ---------- Bin 2
NMOG ------ 0.012 ---------- 0.090 ------ Bin 3
PM --------- 0.000 ---------- 0.010 ------- Bin 1
NOx -------- 0.05 ----------- 0.07 -------- Bin 5
( http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/onroad/cert/pcldtmdv/2009/volkswagen_pc_a0070279_2d0_u2_diesel.pdf )


To me these two issues severely limit the usefulness of the air pollution score. So I go the the CARB website and look at the actual certification. I personally would like to see them average the Bin scores instead of simply taking the worst one.