[Arroyo]

In today's LA CAR: "The 45-State Alternative to the Toyota Prius"

 

[beerbecue]

So, what 5 states don't allow diesel cars?

 

[hoypinoy1234]

CA, NY, MA, ??, ??

 

[adamwilk]

After reading the article I have one question: would a TDI un-modded smoke my 1.8T un-modded in acceleration, etc? If so, wow, with the great gas mileage.

 

[ShrinerMonkey]

After reading the article I have one question: would a TDI un-modded smoke my 1.8T un-modded in acceleration, etc? If so, wow, with the great gas mileage.

No, it will not. It will feel peppier coming off the line because of its superior torque, but the HP is lacking and the 0-60 for the Passat TDI is 10.8 seconds, which is barely acceptable these days but comparable to the Prius.

The TDI seems appealing until you start to think about it:

1) Based on a platform that is now defunct (8yrs old), the diesel will only be offered this year in limited #s.
2) Harder to find fuel.
3) Slow 0-60.
4) Lacks a lot of gee-wiz technologies of the Prius.
5) Reasale value is very questionable because of #1.
6) Lower reliability than the Prius.
7) Noisier than the Prius.

However, if I were to buy a B5.5 in its last year of production, I would get a TDI because these models will hold their resale value better than any other Passat model. I think diesels can have a future in this country but the automotive industry and regulators are slow to buy in. We will have to see what happens when low sulfer diesel becomes more widely available in 2006.

 

[l5gcw0b]

After reading the article I have one question: would a TDI un-modded smoke my 1.8T un-modded in acceleration, etc? If so, wow, with the great gas mileage.

No, it will not. It will feel peppier coming off the line because of its superior torque, but the HP is lacking and the 0-60 for the Passat TDI is 10.8 seconds, which is barely acceptable these days but comparable to the Prius.

The TDI seems appealing until you start to think about it:

1) Based on a platform that is now defunct (8yrs old), the diesel will only be offered this year in limited #s.
2) Harder to find fuel.
3) Slow 0-60.
4) Lacks a lot of gee-wiz technologies of the Prius.
5) Reasale value is very questionable because of #1.
6) Lower reliability than the Prius.
7) Noisier than the Prius.

However, if I were to buy a B5.5 in its last year of production, I would get a TDI because these models will hold their resale value better than any other Passat model. I think diesels can have a future in this country but the automotive industry and regulators are slow to buy in. We will have to see what happens when low sulfer diesel becomes more widely available in 2006.

I think resale will be fine. It certainly did not hurt B4 TDI's when the B5 was introduced.

Also, no matter what the numbers say, A Passat is much roomier than a Prius, and our "defunct" chassis seems to be holding up well :wink:

 

[ShrinerMonkey]

For one thing the B4 didn't sell enough to begin with to make a blip on the radar, so I think its resale value was affected more by rarity of the breed as a whole not just the powertrain.

It doesn't matter if it is holding up well. In the public's eye it will always be the "old" design and reasale value will be hurt because of that perception. Not to mention all the bad press VW has been getting and their dismally low overall quality scores. I know a Passat is much roomier than a Prius, and their are many other advantages, but not enough in my opinion to justify a TDI....for now.

 

[drive]

Not sure how you can say the prius is more reliable. It hasn’t been out on the market long enough to tell. what’s maintenance like? Cost of a repair? VW tdi’s are about the only vw’s that holds any resale value.