Yesterday, Volkswagen of America announced the pricing of the new common rail turbo direct injection Jetta diesel. At the same time, EPA mileage figures were also released. Both items are good news for American consumers.
Coming soon to your local VW dealer
Here at LotPro.com, there has been a great deal of anticipation concerning the latest compression ignition Jetta variant due, in part, to the fact that Volkswagen moved the intro date back at least twice – from last summer to late in the fall and again from last fall to sometime this summer. We have even been chastised for excluding the TDI from an article on fuel economy, even though we explained that it was hardly fair to list a car that wasn’t even on sale yet in the U.S.
That was then, this is now
Hopefully, those days are behind us. According to our friends at Fox Volkswagen, dealers should have a vehicle to test drive by the end of June, while deliveries are expected to begin sometime in late July or early August for those fortunate enough to be high on the waiting lists.
Pricing and mileage estimates
According to VW, prices start at $21,990 for the sedan and $23,590 for the SportWagen (plus destination charges). Based on current pricing, this prices the sedan at a $2,140 premium over the gasoline-fueled Jetta SE.
EPA numbers are also in, and they look very good. While the Jetta SE is rated at 21 city/29 highway, the TDI comes in at 29 city/40 highway (for the automatic). That sounds good, but diesel fuel is currently selling at $4.80 per gallon, while regular gas is currently $4.09 a gallon (both figures are for the Detroit metro area). Given this discrepancy, does it really make sense to spend the extra money on the TDI?
Crunching the numbers
Using the EPA as guidance, we’ll use their 15,000 mile per year baseline with 55% city and 45% highway driving. This works out to 8250 city miles and 6750 highway miles. Based on their respective mpg ratings, the Jetta SE would use 625.6 gallons of gas, while the TDI would need 453.5 gallons of diesel fuel. Based on current fuel costs, even considering the higher cost of diesel fuel, you would still save $383 per year with the TDI. Factor in the difference in retail price between the two, and you would recoup the difference in price in about 67 months – about 7 months longer than a Prius (using the same formula and a Prius MSRP of $26,000).
The Bottom Line
A typical Volkswagen, the Jetta is blessed with responsive handling and a long list of standard safety features (including electronic stability control). While it may take longer to pay off the difference, the Jetta TDI is sure to entertain you a lot more than the Prius (or any hybrid, for that matter) along the way.
Tags: EPA, jetta, prius, tdi, Volkswagen
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