2009 VW Jetta Mileage Revised to 38/44 MPG. Price? $21,990
2009 Jetta TDI Clean Diesel Sedan
VW announced the pricing of the 2009 Jetta and SportWagen yesterday, along with a new fuel economy certification from the third-party certifier AMCI. It seems that VW wasn’t particularly impressed with the EPA’s 29 mpg city / 40 mpg hwy estimation, and wanted a second opinion.
There has been some general confusion circulating about fuel economy estimates for the new Jetta (which will be available in August) ever since VW’s Director of Powertrain Development announced the car could get up to 60 mpg.
With the right driving style, I’m sure it could, but AMCI came up with what seems like a more reasonable estimate of fuel economy under “real world driving conditions:” 38 mpg city and 44 mpg hwy.
I can tell you after driving the new Jetta last week that it has more power than any car I’ve driven that even approaches a 30 mpg city rating. If you can afford the $21,990 sticker price you might give this car some serious consideration.
Amendment: While it probably won’t assuage all concerns over VW reliability, this is certainly a perk:
Also standard for 2009 is Volkswagen’s carefree maintenance program, with this program there are no charges for the scheduled maintenance described in the vehicle’s maintenance booklet for the length of the New Vehicle Limited Warranty—three years or 36,000 miles, whichever occurs first.
More Posts on the 2009 Jetta TDI Sedan / SportWagen:
- VW Debuts Tiguan HyMotion Fuel-Cell Vehicle and 2009 Clean Diesel Jetta
- 2009 Jetta BlueTDI Comes to US This Summer, Sports 60 MPG and Cleaner Emissions
- Clean Diesel Cars Coming to US This Fall: 2008-2010 Timeline
See VW’s press release on the 2009 Jetta.
Toyota currently lists the Prius as starting at 21,500. So, not only is it cheaper, but at 48/45 MPG, gets better mileage. Not only that, but over the last month, diesel has been 20% more than gasoline in terms of retail cost: http://www.fuelgaugereport.com/
I can’t comment much on emissions, but the prius shuts off the ICE at idle, which is when diesels pollute most.
Ben has a good point here. I think the only way VW can win out over the Prius would be
a) a federal tax rebate, which the new clean diesels may get or
b) supporting higher blends of biodiesel, which VW seems to have no intention of doing.
These new diesels do have to meet the same emissions standards as gas engines, at least in 5 US states (the Lev II standards):
http://gas2.org/2008/06/19/2008/05/21/clean-diesel-cars-coming-to-us-this-fall-2008-2010-timeline/
Still how many people drive a prius? The jetta is way more stylish and unlike the prius can actually go up to the max speed on its spedometer. I personally would believe that it gets 60 mpg because the older tdi jettas get around 55/58 and although they have increased the engine size i bet it could still get that if driven correctly. Plus with many people leasing cars these days, you can lease a jetta for under 200 a month which is very cheap for what you get.
On a visit to Europe this year, I drove a colleagues’ diesel Audi A4. On the German autobahn we cruised at 160km/h (100 mph) and according to the car’s computer we got 6l/100km or 39mpg. At 130km/h we were getting 5l/100km or 47mpg and slower still it was down to 4l/100km or less (59mpg). It was a 140hp engine and was great to drive, fast and powerful. My colleague claimed about 1000km/600mile per tank. I was amazed at these figures and immediately checked the availability of the car when I returned to the US - it’s not for sale here.
Hearing about the 09 Jetta and the fact VW owns Audi, I assumed that the same or similar poweplant would be used but it looks like there is a significant drop in performance with the American market model. It must be the Bluetec and maybe other emissions restrictions causing this.
Revised by some company that VW *paid* to measure its fuel economy. Its EPA rating stays unchanged at 29/40. Given that the Prius gets 48/45 EPA (and is $500 cheaper than the Jetta), imagine what its mileage would be if they shopped the rating out to some “independent” measurement group.
Who said toyota did’nt pay the EPA to publish their numbers, or publish lower numbers for VW. All you can do is judge by people who actually drive these cars themselves. Much like reliability, corporate stats are a good estimate of how the car will be, but money dictates everything and everybody is for sale.
The EPA gets in wrong sometimes.
I drive a 2006 Jetta TDI, rated at 37 mpg highway (http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/2008car1tablef.jsp?id=21892)
It actually achieves 54 mpg highway.
Consumer Report , sometime in 2007, reported that the hybrid vehicles, especially the Prius, were not achieving their indicated EPA ratings. It’s nice to hear owners of VW diesels are getting higher fuel economy figures than their EPA ratings. Nice because the VWs are far better looking and better driving vehicles, and also because the Japanese are thieves, stealing technology and styling from American and mostly German auto manufacturers for the past 35 years. Regarding styling, their first biggest rip off was of the rear end of the Mercedes E class sedan, and more recently, of Bangels rear end of the BMW 7 Series sedan. To quote a man who wrote a letter to Automobile Magazine about 20 years ago, “The Japanese couldn’t design a timeless automobile if you gave them a disassembled 911.”
I own a 2005 TDI Jetta, It’s a real car, not an appliance like the Prius. That said, I do like the Prius to and think the two can coexist quite well giving nice options to the fuel efficient customer.
P.S. - I intend to drive the car 200,000 miles as a diesel should. Not sure how long a prius lasts. If so long may need three battery pack replacements ($$$)
The EPA seems determined to make their numbers meaningless. In 2006, they critiqued their own fuel economy estimates as being as much as 20% too low on diesels (http://www.epa.gov/fueleconomy/420r06017.pdf). Then they updated their system. We know they corrected the errors they made with hybrids, but what did they do with diesels? Mutter, mutter. I feel the only thing I KNOW about the EPA estimates on diesels is “your actual results may vary”. So I will wait a year to and watch the blogs for “actual fuel economy” reports. Thanks guys.