You'll need the tax break for all the maintenance you'll be doing on a VW.

I feel sorry for the schmoe who buys one of these out of warranty.

So who hear is gonna sign up for the beta test and actually buy one of these?

And since the US is only getting 15000, who believes the dealers will actually let things things go at a reasonable price?

@aNoya

yeah, bought a 1915 Ford. Only came in black. I'll never buy Ford again!

@ doh and noya,
Ok, you people probably don't even know what your talking about, these cars have been tested for YEARS and have already been running in europe.Its the US with its strict anti-pollution laws that made VW stop producing these in the US.
Mercedes Benz and VW had to work together to make a new diesel engine that has LESS emissions than a normal Gas car. PLUS it performs it most cases better.
Plus I can't believe people still think that VW are always spending their time in the garage.
ALL manufacturers have issues with their cars,

Heres a little read for people that make comments when they don't know a thing of what they are talking about...

To help promote the popularity of diesel fueled cars in the US, Germany’s Audi brand will back clean diesel under the Bluetec name together with Volkswagen and DaimlerChrysler. By working together, the three companies believe there’ll be a greater spread of the technology, which is likely to speed up the adoption rate of diesels in America.

Diesels not only produce much more torque than gasoline engines of the same displacement, the latest models also consume less fuel and produce less emissions overall. Audi’s Bluetec diesel range will meet stringent US emissions standards when it’s launched in 2008, meaning that the cars can be marketed in all 50 US states. To achieve this, Audi is using its very own emissions control technology, with cars remaining as TDIs.

Audi/VW is already a leader in diesel technology, having produced some of the most efficient and powerful diesel engines around. Who could forget their Le Mans winning R10 car powered by a 650hp V12 TDI?

Of course the current avg. U.S. price of diesel is $4.77/gal, while gas is $4.01. At those prices a gas car would only have to be rated at 24.4/33.6 in order to match the 29/40 rating of the Jetta TDI.

Having said that I still look forward to some good diesel cars in the U.S.

The car itself is fine, but with the price of diesel your going to need 55+mpg just to break even.

Average US price of diesel - $4.68
Average US price of Gasoline - $4.05
(these are the country wide average June 08)

At 63c a gallon extra, + the premium price I am sure this car is going to have, you will probably have to drive it for 20 years to see a savings.
(if ever, it will probably just cost more in the end, As you can buy gasoline non-hybrid vehicles that get 40mpg these days(xD,Yaris,Aveo,etc))

Good luck with that.

As an owner of an 03 JettaTDI wagon, the only thing keeping me from buying a new one will be the dealer markups for the first year. I just clicked 136000 miles, with 0 problems.... even has the original clutch (with only 90hp I guess that is not really that great a feat tho). I easily exceeded the given EPA rating in LA stop and go traffic, averaging 43MPG, and that is with a lead foot (as lead as 90hp will allow). The only gripe I have is having to replace the timing belt every 70k~100k miles, and that can cost quite a bit.

While in some circumstances the Prius may be cheaper to drive, under all circumstances, the TDI wagon will have more room, and be more comfortable to drive... and with the 2009 have substantially more power.

Why are United States taxpayers giving VW a 19.5 million dollar subsidy? I wonder how many lobbyists it took to pull that off.

15,000*1,300=19,500,000

A tax credit lowers your tax payment, not your adjusted gross income.

This amounts to a subsidy.

Why are United States taxpayers giving VW a 19.5 million dollar subsidy? I wonder how many lobbyists it took to pull that off.

15,000*1,300=19,500,000

A tax credit lowers your tax payment, not your adjusted gross income.

This amounts to a subsidy.

The VW TDI has been a very dependable engine. However, it is incumbent on the owner to make sure that fuel filters are replaced in a timely manner as diesel is pressurized much higher than gas in these applications and any debris will clog these filters quite easily. Hopefully VW has used an alternative to the EGR systems of previous TDI's. This allowed exhaust to recirculate into the intake but in the process will eventually clog the intake with carbon deposits. (Take intake manifold off, spray liberally with intake cleaner and replace) Owners are unaware of any problem until the vehicle struggles to get up a hill, etc because of the gradual nature of this problem.

Given Volkswagen's tendency to exaggerate the numbers in their press releases, the actual Tax Credit may be more like $27.50

@blanco

The tax credit lowers the taxes that the individual buyer pays, not VW. They won't see any of this money but probably did still lobby hard since it makes the TDI version more appealing.

I guess yall that gripe about the maintenance costs being so high have actually OWNED one before. More air chair critics on this list than Carter has little liver pills. Don't get me wrong, its entertaining. Sometimes I even agree with you that the interiors suck.

My 02 Jetta TDI only popped me for the timing belt change at 60K miles to the tune of $700. Other than that, oil change every 10K, fuel filter change every 30K, just throw diesel to it and let it run. Mid 40mpg on the hwy. Had that EGR b.s. on it, muckied up the intercooler around 50K, but a couple of hours cleaning it on my own time and I got it back to normal. The VW dealer (and I use that term loosely) that did the timing belt so pissed me off, I went and traded it in on a 2005 X-type Jag...from the frying pan straight into f*n hell. Let me get 1 year into the lease before it turned sour. Live and learn.

This Jetta looks nice to me. Don't see me trading my 350Z in on it though.

>Average US price of diesel - $4.68
>Average US price of Gasoline - $4.05
>(these are the country wide average June 08)

Ever wonder why diesel has gotten so expensive over gasoline the last few years? Could it be Big Oil, knowing the diesel technology in the long term will result in us comsuming LESS of their product, so they lobby and with a son of an oil man in the White House, they jack up the price, make it look like some global problem that has no root cause, to make diesel less desireable??? Guess that's what I get for thinking.

I know diesel is inherently dirty and doesn't play nice with the environment.

I know its lazy and underperforms and the only way to fix that is put ten turbos on it which ends up costing tons in constant maintenance.

I also know VW is consistently some of the lowest ranked vehicles in quality across all measures. Hell VW does good to come close to US auto makers, but still ends up competing in quality with Mini and Kia.

nevermind, im just a moron babbling on about nothing. Im such a moron that I actually lease vehicles which I can never own and end up looking like a sucker paying for someone elses future discount vehicle.

@WVO

Either you don't live in America, or you are a sucker.

Unlike most other countries, America is figgin' huge. Sure you have major cities, but a lot of area is just farm land and forest. Ever wonder how the grain produced in the midwest, gets to the factory, that then gets to the store that you buy? Trucks people, and they take diesel. I'm sure right now, industry/business uses more diesel than all of the consumer cars. That's why it cost so much, it has nothing to do with Big Oil screwing you.

I'm not saying Big Oil doesn't turn a profit, but at the same time it is about economy of scales. Frankly if the government wants to help us, then how about actually spending money in a positive direction. How about building a refinery and then selling it to the highest bidder? Or use it just for government usage (I mean how big is our military fuel reserve?)

Why subsidize diesel? Because it's more expensive than gasoline and the oil companies make more off of it. If anyone ever needs to know why the Neo Cons do something, just figure out if it's more profitable for oil companies and you'll know why they do it.

@Brian:

Our military uses more fuel than all of Massachusetts on a daily basis.

@Jeff

I hate to break it to you, but cars sell for what the market will bear. If you give $1300 to a purchaser contingent upon the purchase of a specific vehicle, then what the market bears for that vehicle shifts upward.

One only has to look at what happen to the selling price of new Priuses [Prii ?] when the credit was introduced.

The tax credit does influence the price, and as such does subsidizes VW.

Doing this will void your car's warranty, thats why I only bought used diesels. But a diesel can run on:
*diesel - of course ( include bio-diesel, off road diesel..)
*motor oil or used motor oil - will stink bad and better filter that used oil well
*transmission fluid - can get in trouble with the DOT due to color test
*SVO - also known as virgin veggy oil
*WVO- also know as used veggy oil, filter well and dewater.
*Carbon dusts - just joking, may be only a few such as a Lister diesel can run on these.

A Gasoline engine can be powered by:
*RUG - Regular unleaded gasoline
*Ethanol - an underdog source of energy, harder to produce compare to SVO or bio-diesel, considerably less BTU rating compare to RUG

A real life event: the Houston 2006 Hurricane Evacuation created hundred of miles of stranded motorists, whose engines were either out of gas or broken down. And to make the matter worse, most gas stations around the area were also out of gas...but they still have plenty of diesel left. Oh, and the friendly neighborhood walmart also did have plenty of veggy oil, motor oil, trans fluid on the shelves.

Most diesel cars can do from 600 to 800 miles on a full tank of gas; Gasoline car owners would be happy if theirs can do 400 on a tank.

So yeah, it's fun to be different; drive a diesel and stand above the crowds.

Whoever is doing my posting for me, could you pay my bills, too?

And I own one of the vehicles I leased....a 2006 S-type jag.

I have a 2001 Jetta diesel and get 49mpg. It's been very dependable so far. I've owned it for 2.5 years and 45K miles.

I plan on waiting for the dealer markups and MSRP selling to die down and may look at buying a new Jetta wagon next year. Or I may look at one of the 2006 models that should come down in price.

I have 127K miles on my car and even tho it has 90hp it has a TON of torque. Timing belt changes are expensive but I found a local VW specialist that does a great job and put on a 100K timing belt for me. I do my own oil changes and fuel filter changes (easy since the filters are right on top of the engine).

SOAPBOX:
From what I have heard, it is not the govenment or big oil jacking the price of diesel just to stick it to you, it is the cost of the additional refining diesel to meet the stricter sulfur regulations. Also, the rising prices of oil are based on GLOBAL MARKET DEMAND. China is growing by leaps and bounds, and they have become one of the largest consumers of oil in the world. The US used to account for over 60% of global sales, now we are down to about 25% of the market, but continually growing. Boycotting gas stations wont even make a dent, PLUS it will only hurt the station's owner. Big oil makes a big profit because of big sales. Their profit margin is comparable to any other goods on the market today, the just deal enough volume to make a killing (and demand just keeps going up). Odd thing is: if you look at where we get the majority of our oil, the #1 and #2 suppliers to the US are Canada and Mexico. My questions is what the hell are we doing fighting in the middleast? And if the oil is so precious from the middleast, then why do we have stupid laws barring us from drilling off our own coasts, YET OTHER COUNTRIES ARE JUST OUTSIDE OF US WATERS DRILLING OUR OIL AND MAKING MONEY!

just my $0.02
-Andy

"Why subsidize diesel? Because it's more expensive than gasoline and the oil companies make more off of it. If anyone ever needs to know why the Neo Cons do something, just figure out if it's more profitable for oil companies and you'll know why they do it."

LIsten, jackleg. You can grouch about your Neo-Cons all you want, but the fact of the matter is that this is because fruitcake LIBERAL democrats voted:

1) to increase TAXES on diesel (despite the fact that our trucking fleets need the stuff to deliver goods to the country)

2) demanded extra refining to make a low sulfur product despite teh fact that diesels already get better fuel economy

*And that's why you see off-road diesel being sold in certain areas. It runs just fine in diesel cars but is dyed red. Used mostly for farm equpment and snowmobiles.