CAR GAZING
VW diesel is clean, quiet, efficient
Jetta TDI offers great gas mileage, plenty of torque
By Derek Price
It's hard to believe modern diesel cars aren't more popular.
That's probably because they have a reputation for being stinky, dirty and noisy. Back in the 1980s, they used to sound like machine guns, smell like gas stations and belch smoke like locomotives in an old Western.
Today's newest diesels, though, are nothing like that. Modern engineering has made them nearly as silent as gasoline-powered cars, with only a hint of metallic clang. They're even clean enough to meet today's tough emission standards, so you don't have to worry about smelly smoke.
And after spending a week driving Volkswagen's diesel-powered Jetta, I discovered another huge advantage: fuel economy.
The Jetta TDI, which is what VW calls its diesel-powered cars, gets an amazing 41 miles per gallon on the highway. It's the most efficient non-hybrid car you can buy today, with gas mileage that's even better than hybrid versions of the Nissan Altima and Toyota Camry.
It's also a lot more fun to drive than any hybrid.
While it only makes 140 horsepower, the diesel engine produces a muscular 236 pound-feet of torque, an enormous amount for such a small vehicle. With this much low-end grunt, the Jetta TDI accelerates from a complete stop better than most gas-powered cars, even ones that produce a lot more horsepower.
All that power is also extremely usable in everyday driving, with plenty of torquey thrust at low RPMs. With the Jetta's signature sporty suspension and grippy tires, it's a blast to drive – far more so than the Honda Civic Hybrid and Toyota Prius.
Yet another plus is that the federal government gives you an incentive to buy it. The Internal Revenue Service recently sent a letter to Volkswagen certifying the Jetta TDI as an "Advanced Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicle."
What does that mean? You can get up to a $1,300 tax credit for buying it. On the downside, Volkswagen charges a premium price for the Jetta TDI. It starts around $22,000, which is quite a bit for a compact car.
For that price, you get a lot of safety features, including six airbags and standard stability control. You also get a car that, in the grand Jetta tradition, feels extremely German. There's no other way to describe it.
The controls are a bit quirky, in a good way. Doors slam with a Teutonic thud, and switches move with the precision of a luxury car.
Really, though, the TDI is proof that it's easy being green.
Volkswagen claims that if America switches all its cars to the TDI clean diesel technology, it would save 1.4 million barrels of oil per day – the same amount we import from Saudi Arabia.
If that happened – and all cars got this clean, quiet, fun-to-drive diesel engine – I wouldn't complain one bit.
(Derek Price is a newspaper editor and freelance writer living in Texas.)
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