Thoughts on this?

Definitely in the early stages of picking out a car but I was looking at the Jetta diesel ('05 model on-wards).
Wants:
Moderately practical (as in, small sedan and not a teeny compact car or something)
Cheap (~<13k)
Reliable
Fuel efficient ('11 Jetta gets a combined 34)

So. I like the Jetta for all of the above. Does anybody have any dirt?
I currently drive an '05 F-150 and my dad is overseas. When he gets back he'll be buying the truck and helping me buy another car. I pay for gas so going from ~14-15 in my truck to a combined 34 in a small sedan sounds pretty good for me.

Oh, and pics to make it interesting:

Does it HAVE to be a diesel?

Why not a Mk4 (1999-2004) GTI 1.8t? With that car, and some minor mods, you'll not only have decent power at a push of the fun-pedal, but decent MPG, too. You might even be able to get an early Mk5 GTI for that $$, too. Even better with the 2.0t.

It doesn't HAVE to be diesel. Throw out some
Mpg #s and convince me

In my MkIV (2002) GTI I've been averaging 26 MPG with light city driving and a mix of short stints on the interstate. Granted, "city driving" for me is in small Iowa City with a few stop lights and speed limits under 40, mostly under 30.

Don't get me wrong, I love my GTI. But, there are better options out there with higher MPGs.

Also, (side note) I hate driving in Iowa. The roads are awful and everyone drives like it is winter all year long. I can't wait to move out of this state.

So, is the diesel looking good, or....?

My 2010 GTI has seen 41mpg on hwy driving with non-ethanol gas. Normally, with ethanol, I see 35-37mpg hwy.

Mixed, it's normally mid-to-high 20's. But, I treat every stoplight like it's a "christmas tree", so you have to take that into account, too.

*Edit*: I think the Jetta Diesel will do you fine, but there's a lot lacking in the performance of them when you consider fun factor.

[This message has been edited by BigRobSA (edited 11/7/2011 11:04a).]

Rob,

I'm 20. I'll consider fun when I have a professional job.

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But, I treat every stoplight like it's a "christmas tree", so you have to take that into account, too.

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Now that I'm realizing how close winter driving is, I'm beginning to get all of my fast & aggressive driving out of my system before snow falls.

What kind of mileage do you think I should cap off at? I mean, it's a diesel so can it take more beating than a regular gasoline?

34 for a '11 Jetta TDI is extremely low. I get 45mpg in a "11 Golf. The Golf is more fun to drive. Also have an '02 Jetta. It gets 54mpg.

Good luck

Want to expand on those figures?
The 34 was a rough estimate. I'll be doing about 30/70 city/hwy. Any idea what I can expect?

Thanks

I bet the 54 for an 02 jetta is a manual on open hwy at moderate speeds . I had an auto and was lucky to get 45 on the hwy. 40-42 mixed.

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My 2010 GTI has seen 41mpg on hwy driving with non-ethanol gas. Normally, with ethanol, I see 35-37mpg hwy.

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What percentage of ethanol is in the gas up there? There is no way that you are dropping 10-15% of your fuel economy.

In order to have that kind of drop you would need to look at this equation.

35/41 = 1(1-x) + 24/34.2(x)

x = volumetric fraction of your gasoline that is ethanol.

The answer is 49% which is BS, so there are other factors in play or you are imagining things.

I am willing to explain the math to folks who arent so keen on these things.

Hell to be fair and that my TI-89 solve function is really fast, I went ahead and solved the 37mpg assertion as well. Still solves out to be 33% ethanol by volume, now I know I havent been to the states in a while .. but I dont think there is any normal gas that is E33.

As a side note, they attempted to introduce E10 here in Germany and people refused to buy it, so much so that Exxon, BP, Aral and Shell lost so much money that they ended up pulling it from the gas stations. Germans were willing to pay for super premium or whatever in order to avoid any ethanol at all ..

It's Iowa. There's corn in EVERYTHING up here. Duh.

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It's Iowa. There's corn in EVERYTHING up here. Duh.

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Including the cheerleaders.

As for the Jetta, don't get one made in Mexico. Sure they say they've solved the problems, but who do you believe.

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I am willing to explain the math to folks who arent so keen on these things.

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What's wrong with you Randy? Don't you know that ethanol is da Devil, and it is so evil it not only has zero energy content, but it steals energy from the rest of the gasoline.

Randy you are assuming the world is run by neat linear equations.

I have an 03 Jetta TDI, average around 50 MPG mixed 50/50 city highway. Best tank ever was at ~62MPG. That is with a couple of slight mods like bigger injectors, tune and straight 3" exhaust with no cat or muffler.

They are about 90HP stock but still fun cars to drive. Things to look for though are the MKIV (non PD engine) 1999.5-2003 has some of the easiest and cheapest mods. The automatic tranny's in all of the TDI's usually don't live past 100k (at least on the MKIV and MKV's)

Heres a pic of mine
http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h16/rsyerigan/1320783273.jpg

Guess rooks can't post photos?

[This message has been edited by rsyerigan (edited 11/8/2011 2:17p).]

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robertf03 posted 2:13p, 11/08/11

Randy you are assuming the world is run by neat linear equations.

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My equation corresponds to the energy content per liter of the gasoline/ethanol mixture. I dont know about you, but there is nothing non-linear about the combination of those two liquids in a tank.

Its quite possible that the burning of the mixture equates to less energy than the pure gasoline, but you certainly arent going to lose 10-15% of your energy throughput via 15% ethanol content.

Unless of course its like Canyon said and ethanol is in fact the devil and has negative energy content .. you know like those magical diets where there is some food that takes more energy to digest than they have .. lol ..

[This message has been edited by Randy03 (edited 11/8/2011 3:08p).]

Great info guys. Thanks


Nice looking car