German Car Zone

Statistically, if you’re the owner of a Volkswagen diesel, you’re 189 percent more likely to have passed out at a Grateful Dead concert than the rest of the population, 92 percent more likely to have yelled, “Kind veggie burrito!” at one point in your life, and 61 percent more likely to have slept in a Volkswagen bus, or under one. Okay, maybe the numbers are a hair off.

Until recent gas prices awakened drivers to the whole finiteness of finite resources, Volkswagen diesel owners were a unique breed who put up with tepid acceleration in order to go farther on a gallon of fuel. Their diesel interest stemmed from a mix of stick-it-to-the-man frugality born of diesel’s ability to burn a variety of fuels and an iconoclastic resistance to the latest yuppie icon, the hybrid Toyota Prius. But now that frugality has reached the mainstream, the Jetta TDI may have what it takes to appeal to buyers who might confuse Jerry Garcia with a flavor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

The frugalistas were out of luck for ’07 and ’08 as Volkswagen had to sit out the diesel game because it couldn’t meet the more stringent Tier 2 emissions laws that were imposed on all vehicles in 2007. While potential buyers resorted to scouring used-car listings for the VW diesel of their dreams, engineers were busy cleaning up the emissions of a thoroughly reworked 2.0-liter, turbo-diesel four-cylinder engine.


Full Story: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI - Short Take Road Test/VW/Audi Central/High Performance/Hot Lists/Reviews/Car and Driver - Car And Driver


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