Jetta TDI spotted doing taxi service in New York City
An alert reader in Manhattan recently noticed an unusual new vehicle decked in the yellow paint scheme of a New York cab. This is the first known example of a Volkswagen Jetta TDI doing livery service in the Big Apple. Much has been made of the city's taxi and limousine commission requiring new cab vehicles to get a minimum of 25 mpg and the assumption that this would mean hybrids only. In fact most of the vehicles approved for use in the city are hybrids, with the exception of the old Ford Crown Victoria, wheel chair accessible vans and the diesel Jetta. It's not known how many Jettas are operating in Gotham right now but there is at least this one. Thanks to Nate for the tip!
[Source: GolfMKV.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
why not the LS2LS7? 12:50PM (2/22/2009)
That doesn't make a ton of sense. In city driving, the hybrid will destroy this thing on efficiency. This guy made a short-term smart, long-term dumb decision.
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Michael 2:23AM (2/23/2009)
Seeing how this is an '05-'06 Jetta TDI, it's probably one of the cheaper vehicles available that exceeds 25 mpg in the city.
Mayur 1:08PM (2/22/2009)
Gotham is Chicago, not New York City :P
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ebow 5:56PM (2/22/2009)
Er, never heard that before. Just because the recent Batman movies were film in part in Chicago doesn't mean the 200 year old nickname gets transferred from New York. Washington Irving used the nickname "Gotham" for NYC back in 1807 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salmagundi_Papers).
Arno 1:50PM (2/22/2009)
Hopefully this makes diesel availability in the city a bit more common than it is now.
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Chris 2:13PM (2/22/2009)
The cities really need 100% EV, thats the only thing efficient for all the stop and go required. And a revamp of mass transportation would be nice. Meanwhile I'm looking forward to getting my TDI since I live in the country and will benefit greatly from it.
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jharlan 2:31PM (2/22/2009)
Holy diesels, Batman, this guy made a rational decision based on how to maximize his profits in the interim before the jackasses mandate EVs.
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ale 3:31PM (2/22/2009)
Nice to see a diesel infiltration in the Big Apple, I'm sure the gobs of torque is nice, not too diff than what they were used to.
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alexacoon 5:11PM (2/22/2009)
Just wish him luck that it survives the citys brutal roads, Taxi companies would use minivans over CrownVic's for their room and better MPG but front wheel drive doesnt take to potholes and curb hits so well. Heavy stoneage battlewagons they may be but there is nothing tougher than a Crown Vic.
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Killroy 10:41PM (2/22/2009)
Diesel is a cheater fuel to beat 25 mpg because a gallon of diesel is 15% more dense in energy and takes more oil than a gallon of gas. I wonder if they take energy equivalence into account?
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Sam Abuelsamid 7:13AM (2/23/2009)
Actually it takes about the same amount of crude to produce a gallon of diesel or a gallon of gas and it takes less energy to refine diesel. Diesel does contain 15% more carbon than gasoline but the diesel combustion cycle is 30% percent more efficient for a net CO2 reduction of 25%
Killroy 3:22PM (2/23/2009)
Sam Abuelsamid,
The U.S. Department of Energy, GREET Model, Argonne National Laboratory the authority for well to wheel analysis, and by GREET, a gallon of Diesel takes 14.7% more crude oil. Check it out at fueleconomy.gov. They use the GREET model and you can compare one cars crude oil use to another. You will find that there is a hand full of conventional, non-hybrids that burn a lot less oil than the Jetta TDI. The same goes for CO2 emitted, about 15% or more.
I think it is important for ABG to know this because, the blog has been pumping diesels left and right, and the truth is a little bit skewed if a gallon on diesel is not explained.
I have nothing against diesels, I just think that diesels can be better than the Jetta TDI in terms of using foreign oil, pollution and GHG. The good news is that EPA sucks at rating diesel fuel economy, so in the real world they are better. So in the real world, the crude oil used and GHG of the Jetta may be on par with the for mentioned conventional petrol cars, but you paid a lot more from your pocket to get the diesel engine, and the fuel.
Michael Hippenhammer 12:41PM (2/23/2009)
I drove a hybrid in the city and with such slow speeds the regenerative braking didn't do much to collect the wasted energy and the mileage wasn't so great. I would rather ride in a Jetta than most other taxis. And you don't think that a VW can handle potholes? Check out my youtube video "Exploring with a Beetle TDI", "Sport Utility Beetle SUB" and "Wood Cutting with a Beetle TDI"and see what I put my 2000 TDI Beetle through. I can garantee you that my Beetle has seen more off road than most sissy drivers and their SUV's and I am more than sure the Jetta can take a few potholes!
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pooponaim2009 9:34AM (2/23/2009)
They have been around New York for about a year now. I saw one back in March of 2008
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Carney 10:42AM (2/23/2009)
Unless it's burning dimethyl ether, which is clean-burning, mandating this diesel car for environmental reasons is an example of CO2 monomania, the over-focus on CO2 that ignores other pressing environmental concerns such as air pollution, toxic spills, cancer, etc.
Petro diesel is a much more dirty burning fuel, which you can easily see by looking at the tailpipes, perhaps better called smokestacks, of large trucks on the freeway, belching clouds of gray and even black, filled with smoke, soot, and particulate matter, which the EPA says costs 40,000 lives a year. Not to mention acid rain causing sulfur, etc etc.
DME diesel avoids these problems at the cost of mileage (about 50%), but if you're a fleet vehicle, that's not as big of a deal and again clean with low mileage vs. dirty with high mileage should be an easy choice.
And if it's derived from biomass-sourced methanol, DME is also carbon neutral.
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pgrt 12:04PM (2/23/2009)
Here at finland our petrol and diesel has been sulfur free for most of this decade. Also most of the Diesel Jettas sold here are fitted with particle filters. All of our trucks use Diesel and those smoke clouds you talk about, are a thing in the past. Old info and (bad) habits shouldn't be applied to new rules and technologies.
Carney 4:05PM (2/23/2009)
Interesting claims, pgrt.
How much do these changes cost consumers?
How effective are they? Alcohol fuels have ZERO sulfur and ZERO particulate emissions. Can these diesels make that claim?
Is there no black snow at Finnish roadsides anymore, no film of black dust on diesel vehicles? Alcohol fueled vehicles would solve these problems.
Also, burning ethanol and biomass-derived methanol is carbon neutral, making diesel's boast of a bit less new and extra CO2 shoved into the air less attractive
Moreoever, if one's alcohol compatible FFV is low on fuel and can't find alcohol, it can always fill up on gasoline. A diesel car is locked in to diesel only; if it can't find diesel, it grinds to a halt, even if there are loads of gasoline stations around. Makes for a tougher transition, requiring bothersome planning, awkward routes, etc.
Finally, alcohol fuels, when leaked, dissolve readily in water (rather than remaining concentrated and floating as petro-diesel does) and are readily biodegradable within days if not hours (rather than requiring enormous expensive cleanup as all petroleum products do).
Killroy 3:27PM (2/23/2009)
I think that if you look up the GHG of the older TDI Beetle, you will find that it was worse than the Hummer H2 because theire was little or no emission controls.
Deisel is much cleaner in 2009 cars, but still not as clean as the cleanest gas cars.
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Sam Abuelsamid 3:55PM (2/23/2009)
The emission controls have nothing to do with GHG. That is directly related to fuel burn. The aftertreatment systems on modern diesels reduce particulates and NOx. The CO2 output of a Beetle TDI is in the same ball-park as the Jetta.
zeroEV 6:09AM (3/02/2009)
Carney, Carney!
...and do you commenting to auto-related sites? Where is sulfur in the diesel nowadays? Maybe in the 3rd world... not in NY and not in Europe! "...no film of black dust on diesel vehicles?". No, there is'nt. No black dust from a modern diesel. Welcome to 2009!
Just for the EV fans: how many miles a Prius can archieve only in urban mode on battery? A taxi maybe could do it 1-2 hour of work on battery, but after then the 1.5L gasoline kicks in. That's not much cleaner (also needs to recharge the batteries:consuming more fuel) than a modern diesel car equipped with particulate filter. All diesel is equipped with it here in Europe to get "Euro V" badge.
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