2005 Volkswagen Jetta TDI: Why the Europeans Like Small, Diesel Cars

"It might be the best low-cost, four-cylinder solution to commuter transportation I've ever driven"

Or you could just drive a Civic with an Automatic.

But I don't want an automatic.

Hi Erin,

I think almost every clutch nowadays is self-adjusting, thereby eliminating the ability to feel pedal travel for clutch life. Maybe the Jetta is different....after 46.5k in my 06 Civic SI, the engagement point is still at the same point (and just as abrupt) as when it had 10k. And I drive my car fairly hard.

I find my car supremely easy to drive in traffic in the sense that it's easy shifter, notable engine sounds, and ample off-idle power make it a breeze. The terrible drive-by-wire programming, on the other hand, makes it a jerky experience.

Just for comparison purposes, my 2.0 liter naturally aspirated engine pulls cleanly from the following speeds in the following gears:

1st gear - The car will maintain 3-4mph with no throttle if left in first
2nd gear - Will pull cleanly from 4-5mph
3rd gear - Will pull cleanly from 8-10mph
4th gear - Will pull cleanly from 12mph
5th gear - Will pull cleanly from 20mph
6th gear - Will pull cleanly from 30mph

In heavy traffic, I can leave it in 2nd down to 4-5mph without any lugging. In modest traffic, 3rd gear will suffice from 8-10mph up to 40mph. 4th gear is the real mojo as long as you are over 10mph...as you can easily take it to 55mph before feeling the need to shift.

By comparison, my wife's 08 Subaru Legacy GT is unfriendly in 2nd below 10mph....thereby making it hard to "crawl" in any gear but first.

Joe

An automatic Civic won't come close to attaining the fuel economy of a diesel Jetta with a manual. Won't be as fun to drive, or have as much room either.

plus haven't there been a bunch of posts showing that auto trans in Hondas do not last too long? This was mentioned a bunch of times in the Chevy transmission blog.

"By comparison, my wife's 08 Subaru Legacy GT is unfriendly in 2nd below 10mph....thereby making it hard to "crawl" in any gear but first."

Hey Joe,

I'm glad to see you're calling the Leggy your wife's car now. :o) My 2.0L 2004 WRX 5MT also doesn't like to drop below 10 mph in 2nd gear, either. This phenomenon often necessitates a double-clutched downshift (MY2002-2005 Impreza/Forester 5MTs only have one synchro for 1st gear) into 1st gear *many* times for me everyday I'm trudging along the Santa Monica freeway into the Edmunds office. I think that "unfriendliness" may also be attributed to the all-wheel drive powertrain. The cause of this may be similar to the "bog" off the line people often experience when getting a Scooby going from a standstill.

Hope all is well out there! :o)

Regards,
Loren

How the heck did you get the Jetta?
Don't you know it belongs to Laura (it's freezing in here!) B.
It's her fav car. Really.

btw: C'mon - Jetta in front of the Vegan Co-op? How cliche'.

Joe: In my mind I'm comparing it to '99 VW Passat we once had in the fleet, which had a high clutch engagement for the 30K miles we owned it (20K to 50K). But you're right, things might have changed in the last decade.

Perhaps, given the size of the new models, the Jetta seems small inthe US, but in Europe its considered a big car among daily city drivers...

"Perhaps, given the size of the new models, the Jetta seems small inthe US, but in Europe its considered a big car among daily city drivers..."

That is funny. We lose prospective here where the small cars are as big as the midsized cars were a couple years ago. Compare a new Civic to an older Accord or a new Tacoma to an prior generation Tundra.

How do they advertise new cars there if they can't say "The all new, larger, more powerfull..."

It would be cool to have new cars that were better rather than bigger.

European car prices and gas are also prohibitively high.
Diesel in the UK is 132.9 p per liter. Which is $9.95/gallon. Which creates less drivers. Which allows Europeans to drive these heavily polluting diesels.

In America where we sell the average car $10,000 USD cheaper than Europe, every one can drive a car... it just has to be a cleaner gasoline car.

The 2005 VW Jetta is BIN10, which produces 8 times as much particulate matter as today's average BIN 5 car. That's 700% as much crap coming out the crap as a normal gasoline car.

I meant to say "700% more", which is "800% as much". Surely it was a typo.

I hear what you're saying, billt9, but I have trouble getting worried about the tailpipe emissions of one Jetta TDI when I think about the much larger volume of emissions coming from ship and truck traffic at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

But I suppose if 90% of SoCal residents were driving diesel cars, particulate pollution would be worse. Still, if we could replace all the old 240Ds that just won't die with Jetta TDIs, that would be an improvement.

... And the point that I was at pains to make in the original blog entry was this: If torque-rich diesels were more widely available in U.S. market compact cars, maybe we wouldn't all feel like we had to have an automatic transmission to deal with traffic.

But as noted, I didn't take into account fuel prices, car prices or emissions.

"Our long-term TDI isn't just an old, crumb-filled Jetta to me anymore. It might be the best low-cost, four-cylinder solution to commuter transportation I've ever driven."

This car is only 3 three years old and has 60k miles. It is not an old car in any sense. To me, and many of my friends, it would still be a new car. Many Americans would probably agree, as more than 50% of cars on the road are more than 10 years old. To call this an "old car" seems very materialistic and makes cars seem disposible.

Plus this car was not a "low-cost" solution. It was $17k from Timmons VW. That's more than a new Fit, Yaris, Aveo, Accent, Elantra, or Corolla. Plus all these cars have better warranties, new car smell, and a better reliability record than VW.

Point taken, but this Jetta feels older than past/present long-term cars of similar vintage, because its previous owner was not very fastidious.

"The 2005 VW Jetta is BIN10, which produces 8 times as much particulate matter as today's average BIN 5 car. That's 700% as much crap coming out the crap as a normal gasoline car."

That's a bit misleading. It's not that modern diesels are that dirty, it's just that modern gas engines are that clean. Particle matter from the tail pipe on a modern car is almost zero.

That's why enviromental groups concentrate on CO2 emmisions these days. Cars are incredibly clean but the green movement will never admit that. So they picked a type of "pollution" that's almost impossible to clean up because it's a normal by-product of almost everything.

BIN10 particulate matter is 0.08 grams per mile. Which works out to an ounce every 350 miles. A little over two pounds a year for the average 12K driver.

On a one car level that that's trivial. But consider the millions of cars on the road every day in the megapolises and just an ounce a week quickly adds up to thousands of tons.

The air in a place like DC or LA is pretty terrible a lot of days as it is. Dirtier cars aren't what the doctor ordered, even if that's only slightly dirtier.

So true... people tend to forget about air quality ramifications if diesel was widespread in the US. Even "clean diesel" isn't very good compared to unleaded, IIRC. Plus, $17k is a LOT to pay for an old VW. At current prices, several NEW subcompacts that achieve mid-30's mileage are a better buy.

Subytrojan -

My wife almost never bogs down in her 08 LGT...why? Because she revs that puppy up to 2000-2500 and then lets loose the dogs of war. At almost every stoplight.

Yeah, I don't expect that clutch to last beyond 60k. But damn she has fun with it :)

FYI - I just picked up a slightly used Cobb Short Shifter. I'll be installing it, hopefully this weekend.

In a few months, we'll pick up a set of Cobb Sway Bars. I'm going to get them installed (I'm a cheapass, but I can use Subaru Bucks anyway) along with some reinforced mounts. I'm going to get the trans and diff fluid swapped our with Subaru "Extra-S" (I swear that sounds sexual) synthetic fluid at the same time.

Then it'll be time to save up for some Stage 2 tuning, at which point I'll tell her to start taking on late-model Porsches and M3s :)

In a straight-line at least.

Joe

regarding the torque, all VW engines are like that, Even the old 115HP 2.0L 4 reaches peak torque at 2600 RPM making it much more drivable and responsive than its performance numbers might suggest.

"more than 50% of cars on the road are more than 10 years old." Is this true? Granted, I see a lot of '90s cars on the road, but I'm not sure if I believe this.

It probably depends on where you live, greenpony.

In Southern California, I would say it's much less than 50%.

"more than 50% of cars on the road are more than 10 years old." Is this true? Granted, I see a lot of '90s cars on the road, but I'm not sure if I believe this."

This was according to a recent survey on cars.com. Like Subytrojan said, it's probably not the case in SoCal, but in most rural areas and smaller cities could be

festiboi1, what are you doing looking at cars.com?! It's Edmunds/Inside Line or nothing!!! Go big or go home! j/k :o)

everytime i see the new Jetta, I regret not getting one of these older gems.
it actually looks like a small european sedan, imagine that!

enjoy all the TDI updates