Sorry, no pictures yet.
I picked up my new 2010 Jetta TDI a couple days ago and am really impressed with this little car.
A couple observations, first the Jetta is considered an economy car, but this car priced out at something just north of $30,000 so its not cheap to buy. That said, when I looked at the dealer's inventory on Jettas, in various configurations of sedans and wagons, gas and diesels, not one other vehicle was within $4000 of what I paid and several were showing stickers almost $10K less than I paid. So clearly this is a car that can be economical, or it can be optioned up to a 'near' luxury compact car. My particular car is obviously optioned up with lots of goodies.
But what impresses me most about the car is not all the fancy doo-jiggies and thing-a-mabobs that I added to it, but rather the little diesel engine.
I've got just over 230 miles on the car. Picked it up with 9 miles on the odometer. The little computer read out on the dash board is telling me that my "average" fuel economy, as of this morning, is 40.4 miles per gallon. That is combined mileage. I drive a lot of rural 2 lane roads and a lot of suburban driving, but so far I've not driven anything that would be called 'city' driving.
Now I could probably get similar fuel economy with a Toyota Prius. And when I checked those the price, similarly equipped, was in the same ball park of $30-$32,000.
But there are some HUGE differences between the VW diesel and the Prius. First off, the interior of the cabin of the VW is very much like a real car Ok, very much like a small car. Both have very nice interiors with leather seats and quality trim pieces. Both, equipped the same, have nifty navigation computers, and stereo systems that have telephone bluetooth integration to automatically switch to speaker phones if a call comes in/goes out. But the Prius does it and makes you fell like (clearly my opinion) you are sitting in a dining room chair in front of a computer pin ball machine without any real road feel. To say the Prius is a fun or exciting car to drive (again my opinion) would be an outright lie. The Jetta TDI, on the other hand, handles very nicely and has an amazing amount of low end torque so it feels very peppy. Its actually fun to drive the Jetta TDI. And while it is a small car, it feels very substantial and grounded. Modern VWs are generally known for being heavy for their class, and while I didn't look up the weights on either the Prius or the Jetta it sure feels like you are in a much more substantial car in the Jetta. To me (again opinion inserted) the Prius felt very light, and while that is not necessarily bad, it did not inspire a lot of confidence in what would happen in a wreck; clearly that is just a perception on my part but going over bumps in a Prius versus going over bumps in a Jetta TDI are two different types of experiences. The Jetta TDI doesn't seem to bounce around like a wild pin-ball but seems to stay grounded better. My neighbor regularly bottoms out her Prius on our rough country roads here, but I've yet to do that in the new Jetta (perhaps I've not found the right bump yet?).
As it is, I've driven about 230 miles on just over 1/3rd of a tank of gas. In theory I will get, if I continue with a similar driving pattern, almost 600 miles out of roughly 13 gallons of fuel. With my Touareg I've got a fuel tank roughly double that size and I'm getting about 400 miles per tank of gas (or about 350 miles between refuels because I don't run it empty).
Seats in the Jetta, are very supportive. I'm 6' and gained a bit of weight so I'm currently tipping the scales at 200#. The seats have lateral support to hold in a driver and I suspect they would not be confining if the driver weight 20 to 30# more than I do. As it is, I'd actually like the seat bolsters a bit narrower to provide a bit more support. Seating surfaces in my car are a very nice perforated leather with a too slippery finish. Again, not great for driving aggressively if you combine a slippery finish with wide side bolsters, but then again this car is not a race car. From the appearance standpoint these are very nice seats, and for normal driving I can find no fault in them. Standard seats for this car are shaped and sized identically but have cloth covering. I suspect those would provide more grip and would probably be more suitable for sport driving.
A couple things I don't like about the Jetta TDI. No matter what configuration I tried, I could not order it with "automatic" headlamps. That is a simple convenience item that I have on my other cars and really like. Another feature not available is an auto-dimming mirror. I've contacted a custom shop and will be adding an aftermarket variant. My Touareg has auto-dimming mirrors inside and outside and with country drivers who often have their bright lights on, those are a great option.
I picked up my new 2010 Jetta TDI a couple days ago and am really impressed with this little car.
A couple observations, first the Jetta is considered an economy car, but this car priced out at something just north of $30,000 so its not cheap to buy. That said, when I looked at the dealer's inventory on Jettas, in various configurations of sedans and wagons, gas and diesels, not one other vehicle was within $4000 of what I paid and several were showing stickers almost $10K less than I paid. So clearly this is a car that can be economical, or it can be optioned up to a 'near' luxury compact car. My particular car is obviously optioned up with lots of goodies.
But what impresses me most about the car is not all the fancy doo-jiggies and thing-a-mabobs that I added to it, but rather the little diesel engine.
I've got just over 230 miles on the car. Picked it up with 9 miles on the odometer. The little computer read out on the dash board is telling me that my "average" fuel economy, as of this morning, is 40.4 miles per gallon. That is combined mileage. I drive a lot of rural 2 lane roads and a lot of suburban driving, but so far I've not driven anything that would be called 'city' driving.
Now I could probably get similar fuel economy with a Toyota Prius. And when I checked those the price, similarly equipped, was in the same ball park of $30-$32,000.
But there are some HUGE differences between the VW diesel and the Prius. First off, the interior of the cabin of the VW is very much like a real car Ok, very much like a small car. Both have very nice interiors with leather seats and quality trim pieces. Both, equipped the same, have nifty navigation computers, and stereo systems that have telephone bluetooth integration to automatically switch to speaker phones if a call comes in/goes out. But the Prius does it and makes you fell like (clearly my opinion) you are sitting in a dining room chair in front of a computer pin ball machine without any real road feel. To say the Prius is a fun or exciting car to drive (again my opinion) would be an outright lie. The Jetta TDI, on the other hand, handles very nicely and has an amazing amount of low end torque so it feels very peppy. Its actually fun to drive the Jetta TDI. And while it is a small car, it feels very substantial and grounded. Modern VWs are generally known for being heavy for their class, and while I didn't look up the weights on either the Prius or the Jetta it sure feels like you are in a much more substantial car in the Jetta. To me (again opinion inserted) the Prius felt very light, and while that is not necessarily bad, it did not inspire a lot of confidence in what would happen in a wreck; clearly that is just a perception on my part but going over bumps in a Prius versus going over bumps in a Jetta TDI are two different types of experiences. The Jetta TDI doesn't seem to bounce around like a wild pin-ball but seems to stay grounded better. My neighbor regularly bottoms out her Prius on our rough country roads here, but I've yet to do that in the new Jetta (perhaps I've not found the right bump yet?).
As it is, I've driven about 230 miles on just over 1/3rd of a tank of gas. In theory I will get, if I continue with a similar driving pattern, almost 600 miles out of roughly 13 gallons of fuel. With my Touareg I've got a fuel tank roughly double that size and I'm getting about 400 miles per tank of gas (or about 350 miles between refuels because I don't run it empty).
Seats in the Jetta, are very supportive. I'm 6' and gained a bit of weight so I'm currently tipping the scales at 200#. The seats have lateral support to hold in a driver and I suspect they would not be confining if the driver weight 20 to 30# more than I do. As it is, I'd actually like the seat bolsters a bit narrower to provide a bit more support. Seating surfaces in my car are a very nice perforated leather with a too slippery finish. Again, not great for driving aggressively if you combine a slippery finish with wide side bolsters, but then again this car is not a race car. From the appearance standpoint these are very nice seats, and for normal driving I can find no fault in them. Standard seats for this car are shaped and sized identically but have cloth covering. I suspect those would provide more grip and would probably be more suitable for sport driving.
A couple things I don't like about the Jetta TDI. No matter what configuration I tried, I could not order it with "automatic" headlamps. That is a simple convenience item that I have on my other cars and really like. Another feature not available is an auto-dimming mirror. I've contacted a custom shop and will be adding an aftermarket variant. My Touareg has auto-dimming mirrors inside and outside and with country drivers who often have their bright lights on, those are a great option.