Officially Official: EPA rates 2009 Jetta TDI at 30/41mpg
The 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI is coming to VW dealers this summer as the first of the new batch of 50 state clean diesels and the official EPA fuel economy numbers are now out. The diesel has come in with ratings of 30mpg on the urban cycle and 41mpg on the highway cycle. Those numbers are a bit lower than expected, with Volkswagen having implied previously implied that 40mpg both city and highway were possible. More recently they have indicated that real world highway figures of up to 60mpg were possible.
Regardless of the expectations we might have had, these numbers are a huge improvement over the current 2.5L five cylinder and 2.0L turbo offerings. The 34mpg combined figure is a 41.7 percent improvement over the 2.5L and 36 percent boost over the 2.0L. The Prius is rated at 48/45mpg city/highway. We'll be looking forward to our chance to evaluate a new Jetta TDI to see how it does in the real world.
Update: We just talked to VW spokesman Keith Price about the EPA numbers and his response was that the VW TDIs typically do better in real world mileage performance than the official ratings. We'll reserve judgement until we get our hands on one in late June.
[Source: FuelEconomy.gov, thanks to Joseph for the tip]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
Ken Brunot 8:46AM (5/21/2008)
The economy numbers are very disappointing. 30/41 with diesel prices 20% higher than gasoline translates to 20/33. So what exactly has been accomplished here by VW?
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Ken S 10:50AM (8/24/2008)
I just purchased my 2009 TDI. I'm getting about 36mpg city and 51mpg highway (staying under 65 mph). Drive is smooth and acceleration is great
Snowdog 9:08AM (5/21/2008)
Glad to see we finally have realistic numbers. Random pulled from the nether regions BS numbers were getting tiresome.
Still decent mileage for a midsize car. Still probably better than a hybrid for those doing mainly longhaul highway commutes.
Personally I am hoping one of the new Honda Hybrids is half decent and lets me shift my own gears like the Insight did:
Three new Hybrids coming from Honda:
http://www.hondanews.com/categories/1097/releases/4510
1: New small hybrid hatch with Aero shape like the FCX.
2: CR-Z inspired hybrid.
2: Fit Hybrid (Fit already gets very good mileage).
Let me shift my own gears and I might be interested in any of these 3.
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Nozferat 3:07AM (7/23/2009)
The Fit gets good mileage but scores not too well in emissions ratings.
M1EK 10:10AM (5/21/2008)
What a surprise. Yet another supposed Prius-killer turns out to, uh, not.
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BrianM 9:55AM (5/21/2008)
Too bad those ratings are Complete BS. My 2001 Jetta TDI returned EXACTLY what the EPA rated... before they made their changes. My 80,000 mile AVERAGE is 48.2mpg, with a high of 56mpg and several other tanks in the 51~52 range, and low of 42 and most common lows in the 44~45 range. EPA claims 35 city for my exact car, though I've never seen a single tank, no matter HOW poorly I've driven, below 42mpg... That's nearly 20% off!! And the "average" is more than 20% off.
I expect we will see similar with the new Jetta.
I must note that I live in Wyoming, at nearly 6,000' in elevation.... less power, AND less economy up here. So my values are LOWER than someone who lives close to sea level.
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Victor 12:51PM (9/05/2008)
Hi, I hear you. Those numbers are VERY disappointing. However, in canada, they claim officially, 44 and 52 city/highway.
I have a 2001 as well. I have NEVER got under 42 as well. I have had a personal best of 71 MPG (US MPG) I got around 1120 miles on a tank. I only managed to replicate that 2-3 times. On average i've been getting 900 miles on a tank so about 56-58.
The 2009, I expect to get about 45 city 55 highway, let's see.
Mike Z 10:02AM (5/21/2008)
I believe that the new rating assume the that AC is on, so that would likely reduce MPG by a good 10-15%. I'm from Florida and it does reduce MPG quite a bit, though now I don't really have a choice.
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amg 10:49AM (5/21/2008)
@ BrianM
I believe you. Given what I've seen about the performance of diesels in Europe, that engine should do at least 2 to 3 mpg better than the EPA rating for the average driver. Maybe it the A/C assumption they are making or maybe they just don't know what they are doing. Maybe both.
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Karkus 10:51AM (5/21/2008)
Glad to see the numbers are finally out. Although some people who drank the 50-60MPG coolaid from VW might be disappointed, I think the numbers are pretty nice. This TDI will be a great option for lots of people.
These numbers are pretty much in line with what anyone could have figured out if they just looked at the European number, converted to US gallons, and subtracted a few MPGs to account for the tougher US tests.
Sure there will be lots of diesel fanatics who will have no problem exceeding these numbers (as is possible with just about any car), but the new EPA numbers are actually pretty consistent with what drivers get on average (see MPG databases, such as the ones for hybrids).
Mike Z - The new test still include the old city and highways cycles, but it also adds other tests, including with the AC on. Then they average all those tests somehow.
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Future Diesel Driver 10:47PM (7/09/2008)
Karkus wrote: "Sure there will be lots of diesel fanatics who will have no problem exceeding these numbers (as is possible with just about any car)..."
Not true. Diesels with their lack of a throttle always start the compression cycle with a high base pressure, which thermodynaically works out to improve efficiency (less waste heat, more power). That's why Diesels are so much more responsive to how they are driven. In my gasoline car I get 35 mpg at 75 mph and 39 mpg at 55 mph on the Hwy. Were it for drag only, consumption should be almost 50% lower at 55. Other drag that does not increase at the sqaure of speed would make that figure maybe 30%. Per the above, I see a little over 10% mileage improvement. The rest is 'eaten up' by reduced efficiency of the gasoline engine. Conversely, when driven at full throttle Diesel and gasoline engines have roughly the same thermodynamic efficiency.
Gary Reysa 11:14AM (5/21/2008)
Its also interesting to note the CO2 footprint comparison between the Jetta snd the Prius:
Jetta 6.2 tons/yr
Prius 4.0 tons/yr
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eliot 11:48AM (5/21/2008)
I was hoping for 35-39mpg in the city 45-50 highway. Still gonna go test it. I'm getting 17 city 23 in mixed 25 if i do all highway in my V6 Camry
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John 12:03PM (5/21/2008)
I think the EV1 is better than this car.
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Phil L. 12:30PM (5/21/2008)
The EV1 was a great car for what it did. But you can't buy one.
You will be able to buy Jetta TDI soon. Or, depending on what state you live in, find a used TDI model today.
You'll also be able to carry several friends, and go on long road trips in the TDI; things the EV1 couldn't do.
They're two totally different vehicles designed to solve different problems.
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steven 12:32PM (5/21/2008)
There's no other way to say it, those numbers are very disappointing.
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Charles S 1:38PM (5/21/2008)
Snowdog:
Are you sure that the current Honda Civic Hybrid doesn't have a stickshift? I know that the last generation has one. I have a CVT version of the 2001 Insight and while I do envy those who can get great mileage via the manual transmission, the CVT version is probably easier on the battery, especially during the 100% city driving that we do.
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Sasparilla 2:03PM (5/21/2008)
It's too bad VW went for a larger engine (2.0 Liter) for their new standard Deisel. What a dumb move. The old TDI was smaller (1.8 liter I think) and as we're seeing here, more fuel efficient. World to North American VW marketing - the reason people would get the deisel would be for efficiency...dumb VW, just dumb. Maybe it'll be able to run biodiesel.
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wxman 2:12PM (5/21/2008)
EPA has acknowledge that their test cycles UNDERESTIMATE diesel vehicle fuel mileage by 4.3% under the "old" rating (pre-2008), and nearly 20% under the "new" ratings (Final Technical Support Document -
Fuel Economy Labeling of Motor Vehicle Revisions to Improve Calculation of Fuel Economy Estimates).
The "old" rating OVERESTIMATED "High MPG Conventional Gasoline" vehicles by 1.7% and hybrids in general by 8.2%
It appears EPA should consider a correction factor for diesel vehicles based on this discrepancy.
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nopcbs 3:38AM (7/14/2008)
Those "real world" ORNL estimates that you and they refer to are from a small sample set and are the result of people estimating their own mileage and hence they are prone to lots of error. Nevertheless, as you say, the old EPA numbers matched the ORNL guesstimates quite well.
Anyway, I hope the new EPA numbers really are 18% low as this would make for a pleasant surprise.