The Deal Clincher - Passat TDi only $200 More!
Good article on the subject: :ride:
The Diesels are Coming
Kiplinger's Personal Finance
August, 2004
On a sunny and sultry Virginia morning, I was in a convoy of Volkswagen Touaregs speeding through the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. We drove on roads barely wide enough for two cars, some unpaved and pitted, past sprawling estates behind stone fences and ranch houses with rusting trucks in the yard.
The primary mission of this troop of auto journalists wasn't to test the limits of VW's urbane SUV, which was introduced about a year ago to mostly rave reviews. We were there to assess the Touareg's new five-liter, ten-cylinder, twin-turbo diesel engine and to put the Passat turbo-diesel engine through its paces.
Mission accomplished. The Touareg's powerful engine, which has a low, reassuring growl, definitely passed muster. It sprints to 60 miles per hour in 7.5 seconds, has a top speed (VW says) of 130 mph and can pull nearly 7,800 pounds. All that power comes with more fuel efficiency than big gasoline SUVs--17 miles per gallon in the city and 23 on the highway. Not spectacular, but on par with many smaller SUVs. But you pay a hefty premium. The Touareg TDI costs $58,415, about $15,000 more than the gasoline V8.
After lunch, I switched to VW's other new offering, the Passat diesel sedan (it's also available as a wagon). The 134 horsepower isn't impressive, but there's adequate acceleration, plenty of power when you want to pass and more than enough zoom-zoom to handle winding, hilly roads and to pass lollygaggers on the interstate. Mileage is a sweet 38 mph on the highway and 27 in the city (about the same as the tiny Mini Cooper). Best of all, with a sticker price of $23,060, it costs just $200 more than a comparable gasoline-engine model.
* VW's Touareg diesel: More power, better mileage, at a premium price.
Not your father's diesel. Nearly half of the vehicles on European roads are diesels, mostly because the engines are more efficient and the fuel is taxed less heavily than gasoline. But until recently, only VW offered diesel passenger cars in the U.S.: the $19,245 (base model) Jetta, the $17,775 Golf and the $18,205 New Beetle TDI models (TDI stands for "turbo-diesel direct injection"). But your choices are growing. In addition to the new Passat and Touareg from VW, Mercedes-Benz introduced the E320 CDI in April ($49,795, or $1,000 more than for the gasoline version). And a four-wheel-drive Jeep Liberty SUV diesel (which costs about $22,000 for the base model) will join the ranks this fall. A number of pickup trucks are also being offered in diesel models.
The technology has come a long way since the smoky, smelly, clattering vehicles of a generation ago. In the early 1990s, there was a switch from indirect to direct injection of fuel into the cylinders at high pressure. This development created more efficient engines with more torque--the power to tow and accelerate from low speeds--than gasoline engines of the same size. Then, a few years later, advancements in turbo-charging made diesels more fun to drive.
The new generation, called clean diesels, typically burn at least 30% less fuel than gasoline engines of similar power. Diesels also produce lower emissions of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. Government standards slated to phase in by 2007 will require even cleaner-burning engines. Until those standards are met, diesels can't be sold in California and in a cluster of northeastern states--Maine, Massachusetts, New York and Vermont.
One reason that clean diesels have been slow to catch on in the U.S. is that carmakers haven't had to be innovative to meet fuel-efficiency requirements. Carmakers will have a bigger challenge in 2006, when gas-mileage requirements for model-year-2007 light trucks (including SUVs and minivans) will be boosted.
Clean-diesel technology has pretty much been ignored as Toyota, Honda and now Ford have pushed gas-electric hybrids, the green vehicles du jour. Perception may also play a role. According to a J.D. Power and Associates study, consumer concerns about diesel focus on maintenance costs and the availability of repair shops and service stations. But you spend less on regular maintenance with diesel engines than with gasoline engines, and they are more durable.
Adding it all up. Although you pay a premium for a clean-diesel engine, the savings in fuel costs, plus higher resale values, can more than make up for the higher sticker price. Say you buy a Passat GL TDI sedan--paying a $200 premium over the price of a gasoline GL--and keep it for four years. Fuel costs for the gasoline model (which takes premium gas) would run about $5,280 over four years, assuming that you drive 15,000 miles a year and premium averages $2.20 a gallon. Diesel fuel costs 45 cents less a gallon than premium, so with the TDI you'd spend $4,120, or $1,160 less. If you traded the car in after four years, you could expect a resale value of 41% of the original sticker price, versus 38% for the gasoline version, which could garner another $700 or $800.
Note that the diesel Passat has less horsepower but more torque than the gas model, meaning you get good off-the-line acceleration and passing power but sacrifice a second or two getting from zero to 60. In my book, that's a second or two well spent. :aj:
Diesels have finally arrived!