Given that biodiesel hurts fuel economy, Senior Consumer Advice Editor Phil Reed and I were curious as to whether it noticeably hurts performance, too. So we headed for the canyons to put our biodieseled long-term Jetta through its paces. If I had to guess, I'd say the Jetta's a smidge slower now than it used to be, but maybe that's just because I haven't driven the car in awhile. I also appreciated anew the Jetta's communicative steering and pleasant shifter, though body roll seems excessive given the relative firmness of its ride.
Note: If you don't trust my butt-dyno, a comprehensive track test is in the offing.
Josh Sadlier, Associate Editor, Edmunds.com @ 61,192 miles
Albert Austria says:
09:47 AM, 09/10/08
What the heck is Rotten Robbie?
What'd you end up getting in fuel economy with the B90?
cartester16 says:
01:50 PM, 09/10/08
As far as the soggy handling, you may want to look into new struts/shocks. The ones on my MkIV Golf were pretty much shot at 50k miles.
jahfakin says:
12:32 PM, 09/11/08
biodiesel has less btu than regular btu
jahfakin says:
12:32 PM, 09/11/08
correction:
biodiesel has less btu than regular diesel
ddoouugg says:
03:33 PM, 09/11/08
Where do you take the car when you say "the canyons" and how do you avoid the cops?
SadButTrue says:
09:29 AM, 09/12/08
ddoouugg,
There are countless twisty canyon roads in the hills north of L.A. As for five-oh avoidance, the Jetta has a built-in cop deterrent, namely being really slow.
-Sadlier
ddoouugg says:
06:50 PM, 09/12/08
lol. Thanks for the info. I've found some nice roads in the Malibu Canyon area and i hear Glendora Mountain Road is good but haven't checked it out yet.
warren_w says:
09:20 AM, 09/22/08
Any updates on this or are you guys trying to geta newer TDI to test?
matt_a says:
04:01 PM, 09/22/08
They aren't slow enough to NOT get in trouble. I live near the mountains in CO, and I have a hard time keeping the TDI within the posted speed limit. The torque of that engine is great for mountain driving.