Will VW TDI drivers be “dancing the oily polka?”
Posted By RichC on December 26, 2007
Although Car and Driver teases TDI drivers with a few MPG one-liners, the fever to get a new TDI is growing. Check out the list of 10 in December’s Car and Driver article:
2008 Volkswagen Jetta TDI
31 mpg city/39 mpg highway (est)
Vee-Dub diesel die-hards, particularly those who live in the states tied to California emissions standards, are dancing an oily polka, because their diesel messiah returns in the form of the 50 state legal, state-of-the-art Jetta TDI. The rest of us are just excited about a car that should regularly return more than 50 mpg. Official fuel-economy figures aren’t out yet, but we expect to see something like low 30s in the city and high 30s on the highway from normal use, although we’re sure diesel-huffing fanboys (and -girls)—the sort of people who debate the optimal drafting distances for differently shaped “tow vehiclesâ€â€”will employ their favorite mileage-stretching strategies to crush the Prius’s 45-mpg highway figure.
An expected jog to 60 mph in 8.0 to 8.5 seconds, although not embarrassing, does fail to express how well this car will dispatch day-to-day driving duties. With torque available from idle to redline, the stress of sphincter-clenching maneuvers such as country-road passing and sprints across busy intersections is much mitigated.
The federal mandate for ultra-low-sulfur diesel fuel, long available in other parts of the world, facilitates the use of emissions-control technologies developed with Mercedes and others under the BlueTec label, although Volkswagen will continue to use its TDI moniker. Unlike the Mercedes-Benz E320, the Jetta TDI makes do without urea injection, instead employing a storage catalyst that traps nitrogen oxides until enough have built up to be burned off. No word yet on the rumored Grateful Dead–edition TDI equipped with an NOx-to-nitrous-oxide converter with dashboard-mounted balloon inflator.
Last night my wife and I enjoyed reading the small Max Lucado coffee table book “
The timing belt replacement is the bane of Volkswagen TDI ownership — partially due to the complexity and cost of servicing, yet it needs to be taken seriously as in any zero-clearance engine. Understanding what’s included in changing timing belts of any car can help one better understand what should be included in this service. 
To promote biodiesel as an alternative to petroleum diesel, the Earthrace boat will run on 100% biodiesel made from a variety of feedstocks, including about 2-1/2 gallons of human fat donated by the captain himself and two other volunteers through liposuction. (a bit over the top, if you ask me?)
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 by a 314-100 margin which is the same legislation that the Senate passed last week. It now moves to the desk of President Bush who has indicated that he will sign it. The promising legislation looks good for the expansion of alternative renewable fuels such as biodiesel. According to Joe Jobe of the 
The bill expands the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) that will legislate a larger renewable requirement be included in the diesel fuel pool. It increases the minimum requirement from 500 million gallons in 2009 to 1 billion gallons in 2012. These aggressive numbers will create a solid market for the business of biodiesel and better secure the investment risk in infrastructure required to produce these millions of more gallons of biodiesel. The bill also includes a requirement for fuel labeling which increase both consumer awareness and bolster their confidence in the quality of U.S. renewable fuels.
Winter weather has arrived and many drivers ‘new and old’ are remembering how to drive on slippery road again. Having a teenage driver who is still learning to manage rain, ice and snow is a recipe for car repairs — few escape unscathed, from what I can tell?