Posted By RichC on November 7, 2008
While driving home on Friday night its hard not to notice that gasoline prices continue to inch lower, but being a diesel advocate (biodiesel), its hard not to grimmice when noticing the $1.42 spread. Ouch.
Posted By RichC on November 7, 2008
The Auto Channel posted one of their video road trips with Norbert Krause the Director of Volkswagen’s Engineering and Environmental Office in California while taking a drive the 2009 VW Jetta TDI. Although the video has some pretty annoying music in the background, some of the information being shared will be of interest to those considering a new clean diesel car — minus the “babe magnet” comments.
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In this episode of ROAD TRIP, Mark Fulmer rides along with Norbert Krause, Director of Volkswagen’s Engineering and Environmental Office, in the new 2009 Jetta TDI.
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This past April, Mark Fulmer talked with VW’s Keith Price, the self-professed “Diesel Dork,” about the forthcoming clean diesel Volkswagen Jetta TDI and the reasons why a VW diesel car had been absent from the American landscape for so long. Well, the long awaited Jetta TDI is now here so Mark Fulmer and The Auto Channel traveled down to Southern California to get the complete story and test drive the sedan.
THE WAIT IS OVER
The highly anticipated 50-state compliant clean diesel Jetta TDI sedan and SportWagen are now available for customer delivery.
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“We’re proud to be the first manufacturer to offer a clean diesel vehicle for sale in all fifty states,” said Stefan Jacoby, CEO/President, Volkswagen of America, Inc. “We believe our Jetta TDI’s truly offer a no compromise alternative fuel driving experience, that provides the customer the best of both worlds—excellent fuel efficiency combined with a dynamic driving experience.”
The Environmental Protection Agency estimates the Jetta TDI at an economical 29 mpg City and 40 mpg Highway. Volkswagen went a step further to evaluate the real world fuel economy of the Jetta TDI. Leading third-party certifier, AMCI, tested the Jetta TDI and found it performed 24 percent better in real world conditions, achieving 38 mpg in the City and 44 mpg on the Highway.*
EPA research has concluded that if diesels were to power one third of all light duty vehicles in the United States, the shift would save approximately 1.4 million barrels of oil a day—equal to the daily shipments from Saudi Arabia to the U.S. Providing even more value to the Jetta TDI sedan and SportWagen, a $1300 Federal Income Tax Credit was recently announced. The Internal Revenue Service issued a certification letter affirming that both vehicles qualify for an Advanced Lean Burn Technology Motor Vehicle income tax credit.
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The Jetta TDI’s come standard with Volkswagen’s Prevent and Preserve Safety System, consisting of numerous standard safety features. Jetta TDI’s include six airbags, with optional rear side airbags, and like all 2009 model yea Volkswagens, Jetta TDI’s also feature standard Electronic Stabilization Program (ESP) for added safety. Also standard for 2009 is Volkswagen’s carefree maintenance program, with this program there are no charges for the scheduled maintenance described in the vehicle’s maintenance booklet for the length of the New Vehicle Limited Warranty—three years or 36,000 miles, whichever occurs first.
Recently Volkswagen announced pricing for their Jetta TDI sedan and SportWagen would start at $21,990 and $23,590, respectively.
Electronic Stability Program
Volkswagen of America, Inc. recently announced Electronic Stability Program (ESP) as standard equipment on all its 2009 vehicles. As a result, Volkswagen is one of the only original equipment manufacturers to offer an electronic stablity contro system on their entire product line – ahead of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) deadline requiring vehicles in the 2012 model year to include stability control systems. Volkswagen’s ESP technology works in conjunction with antilock brakes and helps reduce loss of control and rollovers to avoid crashes. NHTSA predicts nearly 10,000 lives could be saved each year if automakers included stability systems as standard equipment.
Posted By RichC on November 7, 2008
The engineers at Volkswagen are working on a smaller version of their “UP!” which intends to be marketed against the Smart ForTwo mentioned in yesterday’s post — the single gas entry for 2009’s Greeen Car of the Year at the LA Auto Show. The new up will be the smallest VW model and will seat 2 people and is being called the ‘2-Liter’ and be based on the UP! platform. They plan on equiping the small fry with a 50 horsepower 1.0L three cylinder diesel. Reports have suggested that this small vehicle will return over 100 mpg, in fact VW is targeting 117 mpg. This should be interesting!
Posted By RichC on November 6, 2008
With two of the five cars competing for the “2009 Green Car of the Year” award at this years Los Angeles Auto Show, things are getting pretty interesting. The three competing technologies nominated include two gasoline hybrid vehicles — the Saturn Vue two-mode hybrid and the Ford Fusion hybrid, two clean diesel models — the BMW 335d and Volkswagen Jetta TDI, and a small gasoline powered Smart ForTwo entry. As I contemplate the list of judges who will be deciding the winner, I see diesel entries having a reasonable chance, but then again this is California.The judges include Carl Pope, executive director of the Sierra Club; Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council; Jean-Michel Cousteau, president of the Ocean Futures Society; auto enthusiast and “Tonight Show” host Jay Leno, and automotive icon Carroll Shelby. There are also four Green Car Journal editors who round out the jury. They will make their announcement on November 20th.
Of course having driven only one of the above vehicles, I’m probably bias towards the “more affordable” Volkswagen Jetta TDI, but see the new 2009 BMW 335d Sedan as “my” green car choice. I’m saving my pennies!
Snippet from the CarConnection Blog
BMW’s diesel thrust starts this fall with a 335d sedan and an X5 xDrive 35d sport-ute. And now that BMW’s joined its German compadres in switching on diesel power in its most popular vehicle, it’s hard to see how diesel won’t win more friends and influence more people, since the new 335d performs nearly identically to the 335i sedan with highway mileage solidly at 36 mpg–with real-world numbers likely to hit much higher.
It’s amazing what little difference a diesel makes in the 2009 BMW 3 Series sedan, as I found out on a test drive of the newest 3 Series in the Dolomites to steer the new 335d through 8,000-foot mountain passes after an Oktoberfest evening. Even in the fog, it was plain to see the 335d is a high-mileage delight that cements the German automakers’ position as diesel leaders.
The basics sound fitting for the BMW lineup. The 3.0-liter twin-turbo diesel in the 335d is an all-new in-line six-cylinder design, with common-rail direct fuel injection, two-stage turbocharging, a particulate filter, and an AdBlue system to purge more emissions from its exhaust. The 3.0-liter turbodiesel makes 265 horsepower and 425 pound-feet of torque, which compares well to the 335i twin-turbo gas engine’s 300 hp and 300 pound-feet of torque.
BMW promises a 0-60 mph of 6.0 seconds with a standard six-speed automatic transmission. On the road, the diesel makes up for its horsepower deficit with all that extra torque, which makes it really well suited for the type of hairpin, tight-radius turns through the Italian Alps. There’s no difference in tire and suspension tuning in the diesel, so all the usual 3 Series handling charm remains intact. There is no manual-transmission option, but with the Sport package, the automatic gains useful paddle shifters that up the entertainment value of the 5,000-rpm diesel to its maximum potential. It won’t spin to the stratospheric heights of a Honda engine, but the diesel will steam along to a 130-mph top speed.
Other than fuel and fuel economy, the differences with the diesel 3 Series are slight. You notice the diesel buzz particular to all oil burners and noticeably more powertrain noise that’s still pretty remote. There’s more vibration, but it’s not objectionable.
The remaining changes to the 2009 3 Series are more substantial. A mild exterior makeover adds some ribs to the hood that recall BMW’s GINA concept car; new taillamps and side sills add more complexity to the spare shape. A spiffier interior sports more wood interior trim, new steering-wheel designs, and some relocated controls.
The biggest change comes to the revised joystick shifter, which looks a little out of place, and to BMW’s iDrive controller. This year’s version gets revised programming, more preset keys, a set of direct-select keys for major functions like audio and climate control. A temptingly high-resolution screen is larger than last year’s readout, too. And for this year, BMW owners will be able to click on Google Maps at home and send their car a destination, to avoid iDrive’s improved but still convoluted address-entry haptics.
The 3 Series is BMW’s volume cow in the United States, accounting for almost half of its total sales. It comes in sedan, coupe/convertible or wagon form, with rear- or all-wheel drive, with super M-car performance or now, with refined, powerful diesel frugality. The diesel will have special appeal now that gas prices are leveling out to nearly the same value as some 401(k) plans.
BMW’s putting it on sale in December for about $40,000, which it claims will be a smaller price premium than a comparable hybrid vehicle. Final prices will be announced for the sedan and the X5 diesel at November’s Los Angeles Auto Show.
Posted By RichC on November 5, 2008
I’m glad the election is over and in the routine of living life rather than worrying about something that I have very little control over — my vote is pretty small in relation to let’s say someone living in Wyoming (see “How Much Is Your Vote Worth“). 
Anyway, in traveling today I notice gas prices in part of Ohio a bit lower still as I filled up with unleaded regular today for 1.84. Amazingly a few hours later in the day my wife called and filled up for $1.69 at a Shell station! How low will it go?
Since I had my camera out and enjoy sailing and sailboats, I spotting this one “sailing” along the interstate next to me … I was oggling with envy.
Posted By RichC on November 4, 2008
According to FoxNews at 9:15 PM, they have announced that Ohio has gone to Obama with 9% of the vote counted. The projection is early, but after watching a significant number of other states fall, the election looks to be over. Unless something freaky happens, the next President of the United States is Barack Obama. (time to take an Advil)
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Posted By RichC on November 4, 2008
I found this interesting while I was scanning the cable news channels and eyeballing the exit polls. I knew FoxNews has a strong lineup of shows, but didn’t realize just how much they were leading the other cable affiliates — FNC was almost twice that of CNN and MSNBC during primetime.
Tuesday, Nov 04 — Scoreboard at Mediabistro
| 5p: | 6p: | 7p: | 8p: | 9p: | 10p: | 11p: | |
| FNC | ElectionHQ: | Hume: | Shep: | O’Reilly: | H&C: | Greta: | O’Reilly: |
| 2176 | 2821 | 2849 | 4647 | 3758 | 2855 | 1815 | |
| CNN | Blitzer: | Blitzer: | Dobbs: | Brown: | King: | Cooper: | Cooper: |
| 1587 | 1786 | 1494 | 1441 | 1873 | 2231 | 1798 | |
| MSNBC | Hardball: | Gregory: | Hardball: | Countdown: | Maddow: | Countdown: | Maddow: |
| 1400 | 1337 | 2134 | 2653 | 2012 | 1155 | 975 | |
| HLN | Prime: | Prime: | VMitchell: | Grace: | Dobbs: | Grace: | Showbiz: |
| 296 | 343 | 417 | 1082 | 495 | 453 | 361 |
Data by Nielsen Media Research. Live and same day (DVR) data.
Posted By RichC on November 4, 2008
Halfway through election day, with record turnout across the U.S., it looks as if everything is moving Barack Obama’s way. From the Democrats early work in “get out the vote” efforts in registering first time voters, to mistakes made by the Bush administration in handling foreign policy, to the 6 years that the Republican controlled congress failed to focus on fiscally responsibility — it all fit the the key slogan of “change” for Senator Obama. 
This Bush administration legacy has created an uphill battle for every Republican candidate, including the realistically moderate Republican John McCain. Unfortunately the last 8 years have made it nearly impossible for a good man like John McCain to be seen without the baggage, even though he has spent his life focused on cutting government waste, its inefficiencies and the corrupt lobbyist driven Washington DC insiders. Unfortunately for Senator McCain, the final hurdles of high energy prices zapping money from consumers this past summer and the years of excessive borrowing by Americans (encourage by both Democrats in congress and Republicans fatcats on Wall Street) have combine to rock the world into an economic crisis. Republicans have received much of the blame and they are tainted with the public’s disgust, leaving the road far easier to travel for an unknown and untested Democrat Barack Obama. I’m not sure all the votes being cast for him are in favor of Senator Obamas’ positions on foriegn policy, or his more government and income redistribution approach, or more a loss in confidence the Republican administration that, besides national security, did little to prevent the recent economic collapse or improve life for the average American — and the poll have been pretty reflective.
(Here’s a 11/4/2008 image of four major tracking polls throughout the Presidential campaign — click for larger)
Posted By RichC on November 4, 2008
Early voting problems are already being noticed in Ohio, at least in my precinct — or perhaps I’m just being hypersensitive? I haven’t cast my ballot yet (waiting for line to shorten), but my wife needed to arrive at the polls early this morning before work — 7:00 AM. She stood in line for a little longer than an hour and noticed that their was a shortage of access cards and that three of the electronic voting machine were down. Poll workers have already made calls to get them back and running and also commented that the line was already formed at the door about 5:30 AM when they arrived. It could get testy if the vote is close in Ohio; expect to hear “voter suppression” comments due to issues at the polls.
Posted By RichC on November 3, 2008
One of the advantages to carrying a full featured PDA Smartphone (eg. Treo 700p) is that messages are sorted into threads. This makes receiving them a bit more welcoming, although I still respond like Pavlov’s dog to the beeps or vibrations. This ‘thread sorting feature’ is helpful when subscribing to information sites on the cell phone which offer news feeds, Twitter updates or tidbits of information sites like History.com. Today’s “This Day in History” mentioned that the first time Washington D.C. residents could vote for a Presidential candidate was1964. (probably just something that didn’t stick during “Civics” class — probably the teachers fault!)
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NOVEMBER 03
D.C. residents cast first presidential votes
On this day in 1964, residents of the District of Columbia cast their ballots in a presidential election for the first time. The passage of the 23rd Amendment in 1961 gave citizens of the nation’s capital the right to vote for a commander in chief and vice president. They went on to help Democrat Lyndon Johnson defeat Republican Barry Goldwater in 1964, the next presidential election.
Between 1776 and 1800, New York and then Philadelphia served as the temporary center of government for the newly formed United States. The capital’s location was a source of much controversy and debate, especially for Southern politicians, who didn’t want it located too far north. In 1790, Congress passed a law allowing President George Washington to choose the permanent site. As a compromise, he selected a tract of undeveloped swampland on the Potomac River, between Maryland and Virginia, and began to refer to it as Federal City. The commissioners overseeing the development of the new city picked its permanent name–Washington–to honor the president. Congress met for the first time in Washington, D.C., on November 17, 1800.
The District was put under the jurisdiction of Congress, which terminated D.C. residents’ voting rights in 1801. In 1961, the 23rd Amendment restored these rights, allowing D.C. voters to choose electors for the Electoral College based on population, with a maximum of as many electors as the least populated state. With a current population of over 550,000 residents, 61-square-mile D.C. has three electoral votes, just like Wyoming, America’s smallest state, population-wise. The majority of D.C.’s residents are African Americans and they have voted overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates in past presidential elections.
In 1970, Congress gave Washington, D.C., one non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives and with the passage of 1973’s Home Rule Act, Washingtonians got their first elected mayor and city council. In 1978, a proposed amendment would have given D.C. the right to select electors, representatives and senators, just like a state, but it failed to pass, as have subsequent calls for D.C. statehood.