Jetta Diesel Delayed

[The Dad]

You're not. You're getting a reskinned Dodge Grand Caravan. Sorry.

[SuperChief]

HD's don't add much more clearance - definitely not 2". I have Bilstein HD's on my 2000 Jetta TDI. Keeps about the same ride height, but much stiffer. Switched to GTI front springs and add a big rear sway bar and my car now handles awesome.

You can get the spacers you talk about for 1-2" of lift from www.metalnerd.com.

Hmm... was hoping there was at least an extra inch, of clearance from HD I thought I read out there it they were good for a 1.5" to 2". I'm not too sold on the spacers I just haven't found a spring that would lift it, Our TDI needs 2 inches of lift, especially with the Aluminium skid plate we put under it.

in the e-mail at the top of this thread there was mention of an "M-Van" model for 2008. My 5 minutes of searching produced nothing, any body got more details on this? Please tell me we're getting a 2008 VW Westy 4 motion.

As for a 4motion transporter...We'll never see one. I did see an article on a nice TDI Euro van that we'll never see in the US.

[uglymoney]

Good news concerning Subaru diesels coming to the US. It still seems to be on the drawing board. Just found this interview with Tomohiko Ikeda, chairman, president and CEO of Subaru of America Inc. Click the quote for the whole article. Five years from now my Outback will be ten years old. Hope they go through with this.

Q: Your company is high on diesels. Do you think the U.S. market will ever really embrace them?

A: It's surprising that our dealer people [are] requesting us to have diesels. The voices are getting stronger. In the U.S. and Japan, emissions regulations are quite tough. . . . Generally, American people and Japanese people do not like diesel cars because of [bad] experiences in the past, but Europe likes diesels. Half of the market share is now diesel engines. Now, European makers [are] trying to introduce many diesels in Europe and Japan. People's acceptance is different than the past. Because of these high energy prices, they can drive longer.

Q: When do you expect to sell more diesels in the United States?

A: The next five years. . . . I think that's conservative.

[SuperChief]

No. And it's not that simple, anyway.

Your right it's not simple and not aftermarket. Why can't the MFG's include this with all new vehicles, and why can't all over the road trucks be mandated with an aftermarket particulate filter? It doesn't seem to be that difficult a problem, but will still have to deal with the NOX emissions.

[Conundrum]

To the guy who likes his hybrid over his TDI, I'm curious why? The Prius seems to me to have a bigger environmental footprint - batteries aren't expected to have a very long life (not more than 100k miles or so) and the first few rounds of Prius have had some expensive drivetrain issues for some people. The batteries for those things pose a pretty significant environmental hazard and are going to be an issue to dispose of.

My TDI is incredibly reliable, gets 50 mpg on the highway (which beats most hybrids) and over 40 in the city (which is close to on par with most hybrids).

In the end the environmental cost of replacing a perfectly running gas or diesel car with a brand new hybrid is much higher than environmental advantage of a cleaner burning car. People should keep their cars longer rather than replace them. My TDI has almost 250,000 miles on it and my Jeep has over 100,000 at the moment and I have no plans on replacing either until it they are pretty much dead.

I'm that guy. I like the hybrid because it's taking car design in a new direction. You can only tweak a diesel to get so much. Imagine in a few years when there is regenerative hybrid turbo diesel squeaking out 250 mpg. It's not far off. But, if everyone says, why hybrids when we have diesels...well...I guess you're not a dreamer. Diesel is an old reliable tech. Hybrids are new. It could go somewhere.

Plus, I like the hatchback of the Prius because I can fit bikes or skis back there without a rack. That doesn't work so well in my wife's TDI sedan.

Plus, I didn't replace anything to get a hybrid. My wife has a TDI and I have a Tacoma. The Tacoma is getting higher in miles and I'm doing a lot of city driving for work so I bought a hybrid. My pickup still gets a lot of weekend stuff.

Plus, I'm all out of pluses.

[Keegan]

What a shame... One day they'll realize that there's a market for it. We have a diesel Suburban and it's great. Very reliable and is going to last for some time

[uglymoney]

Legacy Diesel Road Test direct from yurp:

http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do...leId=124553#19

Yummy...

[uglymoney]

Diesels make cents, but Detroit still slow to embrace them

Another good review of the new (Euro) Suby diesel. This article says to expect the Outback to come over here in 2010 with both auto and five speed availability Hope they aren't just blowing smoke.

[mrw]

My TDI is still running great with 254,000 miles as of today but... the price of diesel is getting ridiculous. $4.05 per gallon in Chester County, Pa. Gas was $3.10 so it's getting to where there is no advantage to driving a diesel if you can get a gaser that gets at least 30mpg.

My theory is that the oil companies see the wave of diesel cars coming our way and are raising diesel prices to negate any possible loss of profit through better mileage.


I just looked at A Toyota Corolla 5 spd stick that gets nearly 40mpg hwy. That may be my next move.

I am closing with a big to G.Bush and his oil buddies

[uglymoney]

My TDI is still running great with 254,000 miles as of today but... the price of diesel is getting ridiculous. $4.05 per gallon in Chester County, Pa. Gas was $3.10 so it's getting to where there is no advantage to driving a diesel if you can get a gaser that gets at least 30mpg.

My theory is that the oil companies see the wave of diesel cars coming our way and are raising diesel prices to negate any possible loss of profit through better mileage.


I just looked at A Toyota Corolla 5 spd stick that gets nearly 40mpg hwy. That may be my next move.

I am closing with a big to G.Bush and his oil buddies

I'll open the same way. George and cronies. What a bunch of tools.

$3.17 vs 3.79 here today. Last week I pumped a bunch of diesel at $3.75 The difference - which the last couple of years seems to vary from almost nothing to 20% does get ridiculous at times. I'm probably overly optimistic, but I think it will balance itself out over time. The gap always seems to spike and then slowly narrow.

[uglymoney]

I just looked at A Toyota Corolla 5 spd stick that gets nearly 40mpg hwy. That may be my next move.

The S with five speed is listed at 35 mpg highway on Toyota's website.

This article says the Outback will be available with only the auto in the states. Subaru referenced this article in a mailing I received yesterday. Seems more certain than ever that they are planning to import it. The uncertainty is now centered around tranny availability.

[bagtagley]

The S with five speed is listed at 35 mpg highway on Toyota's website.

This article says the Outback will be available with only the auto in the states. Subaru referenced this article in a mailing I received yesterday. Seems more certain than ever that they are planning to import it. The uncertainty is now centered around tranny availability.

So we'll be able to get the diesel, but only in an auto, and they're still only importing Outbacks? I'm quickly losing interest.

Guess my dream of a Legacy wagon w/ 5-speed and diesel will remain just that.

[uglymoney]

So we'll be able to get the diesel, but only in an auto, and they're still only importing Outbacks? I'm quickly losing interest.

Guess my dream of a Legacy wagon w/ 5-speed and diesel will remain just that.

Maybe, the other article I posted says that the five speed will be imported if I am reading it correctly, and that article is only a couple days old compared to the c&d article at a couple months.

Backing the turbodiesel in our testers was a new five-speed manual transmission, geared specifically for diesel applications. While Subaru is considering a six-speed manual, expect this and an automatic to be offered in the U.S.

I've seen nothing about just a Legacy wagon though. That with a diesel would seem to make cents though I'd think you could add a couple mpg to the epa numbers with the lower clearance.

The epa numbers they are claiming seem incredible though - 32.7-33.6/45.2-49.0 mpg (est). Close to fifty mpg seems too good to be true for an AWD outback, even with a diesel. I was thinking more along the lines of the upper 30's maybe 40 on a good day with a nice tailwind.

Sounds like the ratios are stretched on the five speed though. Maybe fifth gear is tall - like it should be - neither of the articles really says.

[frorider]

uglymoney, are you quoting from the UK article? their mpg figures are based on the bigger gallon.

in US mpg units, the suby diesel is supposed to get around 40 mpg combined city/hiway...low 40s hiway if you're not a leadfoot.

still damn good.

[stuckathuntermtn]

wtf is a "bigger gallon"?
legacy diesel would be hot. But this is Montana, I don't need low profile tires.

[uglymoney]

wtf is a "bigger gallon"?
.

British gallon is bigger. One US gallon is 83.267% of a British gallon. Article indicates that the numbers I quoted are EPA so I assume American gallons plus it seems to be written for an American audience. Is there a UK EPA as well? Who knows. It all becomes a clusterfuck of interpretation when an article is so unspecific.