Long-Term Road Test
With the exception of two model years, 2007 and 2008, Volkswagen has been selling diesel-powered cars in the U.S. since 1977. And yet, the 2009 Jetta TDI is the first VW diesel we’ve put through a long-term test.
In the past, we shied away from them because many of the old VW diesels made less than 100 horsepower (and some less than 60). Their engines sacrificed horsepower at the altar of economy. And aside from their ability to stretch a gallon of fuel, those diesels qualified as noisy, dirty, and slow automotive hair shirts.
Then, in 2007, the EPA’s new Tier 2 emissions laws required diesels to be as clean as their gasoline counterparts. Playing catch-up, VW spent ’07 and ’08 with a diesel hole in its U.S. lineup while engineers worked to meet the new rules with a heavily revised 16-valve, 2.0-liter turbo-diesel four-cylinder that came with a particulate trap and a catalyst to kill off oxides of nitrogen (NOx ). The Jetta TDI that emerged is clean enough to satisfy the emissions laws of all 50 states without resorting to urea injection, plus, it is powerful (140 horses) and quick enough (0 to 60 mph in 8.1 seconds) to satisfy us. In fact, our TDI proved to be as quick to 60 as a manual five-cylinder gas Jetta.
We praised the Jetta’s interior materials, but rattles and a few mysterious electrical gremlins annoyed us.
But the real draw of the diesel Jetta has always been, and remains, its fuel economy. Over our 39,678-mile test (VW snatched back its car just before we could hit the 40,000-mile mark), our Jetta TDI consumed diesel at a rate of 38 mpg. That number has only been bettered twice by C/D long-termers: A 2000 Honda Insight returned 48 mpg over 40,000 miles, and a 1992 Honda Civic VX got 41 mpg over 35,000 miles.
With its 14.5-gallon tank, our diesel Jetta easily made 500-mile runs without a fuel stop, so it found itself trolling the interstates a lot. A kidney strainer and bladder buster of the highest order, the little VW went more than 500 miles on a single tankful 26 times out of 100 fill-ups. Its most impressive distance was 616 miles during a 42.5-mpg cruise from Dulles, Virginia, to Dundee, Michigan. During its 13-month stay with us, there were no complaints about the availability of diesel fuel, but there were some gripes about the cost of it: While its price fluctuated, a gallon of diesel often cost a dollar more than regular gas.
Long treks on interstates elicited love sonnets to the Jetta’s silent and lazy demeanor, its GTI-grade handling, and the effortless whack of its 236 pound-feet of torque. They also revealed the folly of a speedo that promises 160 mph but, in reality, never reaches past a governed 125 mph; we also discovered (fortunately before the cops did) that the speedo read slow (a true speed of 82 mph was an indicated 80).
While the reviews on the open road were good, around town the Jetta’s transmission and the car’s turbo lag drew complaint after complaint. Instead of the three-pedal manual, we’d ordered the two-pedal, dual-clutch automated manual DSG, a $1100 option on our $24,190 test car.
From a stop, the DSG automatically engages a clutch when the driver toes the throttle. But the engagement is slow enough to allow the engine to rev up, and once the clutch does engage, the car lurches forward. Often the lurches were severe enough to break the traction of the front tires, which then summons the traction control into action, which, in turn, shuts down the power. Previous experience with a DSG in our long-term 2006 VW GTI [December 2007] did elicit complaints about slow clutch engagement, but some of the blame must attach to the lag of the TDI’s 2.0-liter turbo-diesel. At best, it’s an annoyance, but editor-at-large John Phillips did experience the car’s complete refusal to move when the Jetta acted as though it had slipped itself into neutral. “Turning against oncoming traffic, the Jetta refused to move. Full throttle and zero movement; happened twice . . . If this were my car, I’d sell it.” No other drivers had the same experience, so we chalked it up to an exaggeration about the slow-to-respond transmission.
No one complained about the scarcity of diesel, but we did occasionally have to mix it up with B.J. and the Bear and Large Marge.
