Jetta TDI meets Prius 2010 sales

Hi Bob, got your email but when I replied it said you couldn't get email ?
Anyway I'm not hijacking your thread I just couldn't find a way to reply to you.
I have tested out the back support and it does in fact help. However it does move around a bit when I am driving, so I am constantly adjusting it. It will make driving the Prius more tolerable until Tuesday when I drive the car down to the guy who is buying it.
If I had bought the Obus Forme on Amazon.com I would have saved a few bucks.
Here are the links since you asked about the part numbers. I have both of these pieces and they work good but not good enough to keep the car.http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B000FJUA8S?tag=priuschatcom-20 http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B000FJS6KC?tag=priuschatcom-20

I drove a brand new BMW and found thatseat was also bad for my back. :O

I did the math on the Jetta TDI and not factoring price of the car because the Sportwagen is more money and the sedan is selling at a discount.
Here is how it broke down for me. In my area last year Diesel was selling for 65 cents more than Premium or 85 cents more than Regular gas.
So factoring for 15,000 miles a year
and assuming EPA figures
Jetta TDI - 44mpg - 15,000/44 = 340.90 gallons x 4.85 a gallon = $1653.36 a year for fuel. Now that's based on last years insane prices.

2010 Prius - 50mpg - 15000/50 = 300 gal x $4.00 a gallon = $1,200 a year
Prices are at the exact same time as the diesel figures.

2009 Honda Fit - 34mpg - 15000/34 = 441.17 gal x $4.00 a gallon = $1,764.68
We drive the Fit everyday so we know what it gets.

Prices would be lower now but the math holds true, so you save $111.32 a year if you buy the Jetta TDI $22-26K vs the Honda Fit Sport Automatic for $17K. Diesel fuel is always high in the winter here.
So saving $9.27 a month doesn't make much sense to me unless you just want a diesel which is more expensive to service. Compared to the Prius the TDI doesn't add up. I will be trying one this week. I'm hoping for very supportive seats.
Diesel really fluctuates a lot in price but generally it's always higher than Premium except in the summer when it's on parity with Regular gas.

 

It was obvious even at the time of all the diesel attention that supporters were in a state of panic, attempting everything they could possibly do before the 2010 Prius deliveries began.

I checked last week to see if that one particularly bias diesel website had posted any updates since their final post with the abrupt "correction" to their MPG results. Nothing.

The outcome they feared is being confirmed by their total silence now. Not hearing even a peep from groups once so vocal says it all. This is the double entendre meaning behind the "stealth" term given to Prius... since there have been times in its history where it silently progressed even deeper into the consumer market.
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Bob, I believe the TDI did get some portion of potential Prius owners due to the "intense marketing of the 2010 Prius before availability", so many people were frustrated they could not get the Prius and decided to get the readily available TDI instead. Also, many VW dealers were asking bellow sticker price, in some cases up to 1.5K bellow, besides, there is the 1.3K tax-credit and diesel prices are lower. There is also reports here of people going frustrated by Toyota dealers marking up their Prius prices above sticker. Quite frankly, as much as I'm excited about getting my Prius soon (maybe today!!!!), if it weren't for the poor VW reliability, I would easily have got the Jetta after checking out and driven both cars many times.

I do not underestimate the ability of the Jetta get close or maybe even higher MPG (depending on the driving habits) than the Prius in the hwy. In my long test drives with both, the MPGs were very similar and it was not just hwy, there was at least 15% stop and go traffic. There are many real-driver reports recording 50-60 MPG with mostly hwy drive.

 

After 24k mostly hwy. miles over 9 months, I'm getting a pretty consistent 41-42 mpg on my '09 tdi wagon. Diesel here is running 5-10 cents less than regular gas. (Yes, I know it'll go up again come winter.) Though I, too, continue to be alert to the prospect of VW's rep for low quality, the car has been trouble free (and I invested in an extended warranty, just in case and to compensate for my high mileage commute.) So far, it's been a pleasure. It also does very well in snow. I must add that the high torque comes in handy now and then. Oh, and the 1300 buck tax credit was a nice addition. My trusted local mechanic (not VW) tells me that if it's put together properly, the diesel should be LESS expensive to maintain than a gasser. Stay tuned.

 

That's good to know. The longer report I got from someone who owns a 09 Jetta TDI, before this one from you, was 7 months. Everybody I keep in touch with is running trouble-free with their 09 TDI so far. Maybe this time, VW and TDI fans are right; the car is a lot more reliable but it's of course still too early to tell. People who know very well these new clear diesel engines consistently say that their maintenance is indeed a lot cheaper than gasoline engines. A close friend of mine, who owns a Jetta 03, guaranteed me that if I consult with him frequently and follow his advice about maintenance, I would run up to 300K miles trouble-free in a 09 Jetta TDI spending 1/3 of the cost for the Prius maintenance... the problem is he lives 3K miles away, kind of far... besides I did not want to take the risk as I will be putting about 100 miles per day in my new car for the next 4-5 years...

 

Is he suggesting 15k miles extended oil change? Basically he is asking you to pick his guarantee or VW warranty (10k miles).

 

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Well, he is referring to general maintenance. According to him, the VW TDI diesels requires prompt maintenance with the right guys, not the VW dealer service as they don't know what they are doing and often cause collateral damage when servicing the car. These right guys are the so-called TDI gurus. He said if I take the car to one of these in the frequency he suggests (there are many spread over the country), the final cost of maintenance for 200-300K miles is approximately 1/3 of the Prius maintenance... and he is serious about it... He may be right but I just can't buy it as much as I like him. Good guy though. :bump2:

 

Thanks Bob, good advice.
The Obus Forme comes as two seperate pieces. I have not seen them as one piece. I can use either the seat back or the cushion or both depending on the need. They work ok, but not earth shattering.
The soon to be owner of my car has already been reading PriusChat.
I'm sure he'll love the car, my only problem is I have to drive it about 4 hours down to his place. That's going to take a toll on my back, but there is no other choice.
I sure hope he doesn't change his mind after I get down there.
Loved the BOOTcamp story. I'm a 9 1/2 EEE myself. I'm dying in narrow shoes.
I drove a Jetta TDI today with the DSG. I was unimpressed. The manual might be better but my wife can't drive stick.
We will probably buy eithere a Civic or another Fit. The Accord is just too barge like and is ponderous to drive, good seats tho. :

 

I drove a Jetta Sportwagen TDI today and I agree that you need to go to a good mechanic but then again the dealers should actually be able to fix the cars they sell while under warranty.
Imagine if we had to find Prius guru's or Honda guru's.
I think the fact that most dealers can't fix the cars properly speaks volumes.