3 year comparison, 2006 TDI Jetta -vs- 2006 Prius

Rod Bearing

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 18, 2007
Location
Fort Worth
TDI
Several
My very best friend in the world has a 2006 Prius, bought 4 months before my 2006 TDI Jetta.

He has kept meticulous record of his Hybrid Prius fuel economy as have I in my Jetta TDI.

His car has 107,902 miles as of today, and has a lifetime average fuel economy combined of 38.56 MPG.

My Jetta has 91,412 miles and a lifetime average of 40.07 MPG.
 

roadhard1960

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2004
Location
Covington, Ga.
TDI
2003 Jetta wagon GLS 5 speed
My friend replaced the battery pack in his first generation a few months ago, actually first model year Prius. I think he spent close to $5,000. He has about the same amount of miles as my car. So far I have done timing belts, maf and egr as engine related service. Fuel milage is similar.
 

soldierguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Location
California
TDI
'15 Jetta TDI S DSG
Rod Bearing said:
My very best friend in the world has a 2006 Prius, bought 4 months before my 2006 TDI Jetta.
He has kept meticulous record of his Hybrid Prius fuel economy as have I in my Jetta TDI.
His car has 107,902 miles as of today, and has a lifetime average fuel economy combined of 38.56 MPG.
My Jetta has 91,412 miles and a lifetime average of 40.07 MPG.
Your friend seems to be an ideal candidate for a diesel, having averaged nearly 36,000 miles per year. I'm assuming that he does mostly highway driving because of the high average miles per year. Hybrids get stellar mileage in the city (assuming the driver is not hot-rodding around), but with extended highway miles, their mileage tends to be quite a bit off their EPA ratings. Even so, 38+ mpg average over 100,000+ miles is pretty darn economical regardless of what you're driving.

Speaking of the EPA ratings...an 06 Prius's window sticker would have shown 60 mpg city, 51 highway, 55, combined. The new lower estimates ('08 and later) would put the 06 Prius at 48 city, 45 highway, 46 combined. An 06 Jetta TDI: 36/41/48 (old sticker), 30/37/33 (new formula). So who is getting closer to their advertised fuel economy? Hmmm...

EPA ratings were taken from the fueleconomy.gov website that allows you to compare the old vs new ratings for a given car produced before the new ratings went into effect.
 

DZL4LYFE

Active member
Joined
Mar 7, 2009
Location
Marrero, LA
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
To be perfectly honest, even the new ratings for the 06 TDI are out of whack. 30 city? are you serious? I won't say I drive all stop and go traffic, but i've never averaged lower then 37.5 over an entire tank doing heavy city driving. On the other hand....37 highway is just ridiculous. I took a 3500 mile round trip to northern minnesota over the summer and had the cruise set to 65 all the way there. I never averaged under 50 mpg per tank with the best being 55.3 mpg. I could have roared down the highway at 80+ and still got better then 37 lol.
 

coalminer16

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Dec 11, 2008
Location
Central Wisconsin
TDI
Golf 2004
To be fair it is possible being fully loaded with a trailer doing 80 in the summer heat with the AC fully on to get 23 mpg. It is the same car that has gotten me 58 mpg. That was hauling my father home after a very bad bike wreck and him telling me he was too hot and to drive faster (1500 miles to get him home). But other then that we have always been mid 30's or higher.
 

RalphVa

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 17, 2009
Location
Virginia
TDI
Jetta
Automobile magazine pitted a Jetta TDI against a Prius in about 2006. The TDI won on mpg.

Think it also won on overall rating of the driving experience.
 

Dunno513

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2006
Location
Mirror Lake, NH
TDI
2006 NB PD-TDI DSG
I think the major point isn't that the Prius isn't a good car, it's just that the Prius got all the headlines while the TDI went unnnoticed. Yet when all the chips fell, the two were a very close match with the TDI edging out the PRIUS.

I'm guessing that with the MPG charted, the VW saw a slow increase while the Prius saw a slow decline due to battery performance.

I would like to see the maintenance chart and cost comparison to see who really won, or if that was a draw as well.
 

ratsalad

New member
Joined
Dec 23, 2009
Location
Grasston
TDI
2000 Golf
I am new to this group, but I had to chime in on this. I have always been interested in driving vehicles that get better fuel economy so at one time, I had a Prius. It was a nice car, but it was $25,000 new. It got good fuel mileage, but it wasn't spectacular. I had the car for about three years before getting a minor accident and having it totaled.

So I received the insurance settlement and was looking for a new car which after some research and looking around turned out to be a 2000 Golf TDI which ended up costing $4200. The only problem that popped up after driving the car for a while is the check engine light and seemed to be related to the turbo, but actually turned out to be a loose vacuum hose. Once I figured the car would be reliable enough, it was converted to run on straight vegetable oil.

I guess you could say that I am happy for the mishap, because if it hadn't of happened, I wouldn't be driving a car that essentially gets as good or better fuel mileage on vegetable oil than a Prius does on gas and I can even haul a trailer. ;) While I haven't checked my fuel economy on VO, my conbined average for diesel was in the 40's while the Prius was in the high 30's.
 

Fix_Until_Broke

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 8, 2004
Location
Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, USA
TDI
03 Jetta, 03 TT TDI
Rod Bearing said:
My very best friend in the world has a 2006 Prius, bought 4 months before my 2006 TDI Jetta.

He has kept meticulous record of his Hybrid Prius fuel economy as have I in my Jetta TDI.

His car has 107,902 miles as of today, and has a lifetime average fuel economy combined of 38.56 MPG.

My Jetta has 91,412 miles and a lifetime average of 40.07 MPG.
From an energy efficiency standpoint, the Prius came out better.

Gasoline = ~125,000 btu/gallon
Diesel = ~140,000 btu/gallon

So the diesel vehicle would need to get ~12% better mileage (~43 MPG in this case) than the gasoline vehicle to realize the same overall energy efficiency/consumption.

However - the vehicles are not the same (Jetta is heavier and larger than the prius therefore consuming more energy to start with) so I'd bet that if you put a TDI in the Prius or vice versa that the differences would be larger between the two MPG figures, and if I had to guess, the TDI would come out on top.

Any idea on what the total cost of ownership is on the two vehicles along with their present resale value? That would be another interesting comparision.

Either way - good data point and thanks for sharing!
 

thebigarniedog

Master of the Obvious
Joined
Oct 14, 2007
Location
Fail Command (Central Ohio)
TDI
1998 Jetta tdi
Rod Bearing said:
My very best friend in the world has a 2006 Prius, bought 4 months before my 2006 TDI Jetta.

He has kept meticulous record of his Hybrid Prius fuel economy as have I in my Jetta TDI.

His car has 107,902 miles as of today, and has a lifetime average fuel economy combined of 38.56 MPG.

My Jetta has 91,412 miles and a lifetime average of 40.07 MPG.
The 2005.5/2006 tdi mk5 is much maligned for legitimate reasons. The current resale values suck due to the price point of the 2009/10s. The cam/oil issue is at best annoying. The fact that the car was equipped with the okay 5 speed manual tranny (state of the art for 1991), instead of the 6 speed manual is also a big negative IMHO. Couple these problems with the fact that the mk5 Jetta is unabashedly an ugly design (think of the poor kids that are stuck riding in this design :D ) and you have a car that very few people want.

If I had to make a prediction though ;) , I betcha that the 2005.5/2006 will hold it's own in the long run. Think of it this way, when the price point for this car hits around $8(k) or less in the next couple of years (I give it 2 years for this to occur), the cost of adding the Frank06 prototype head fix and the Scott Dewitt prototype drop in 6speed will make this car an all around winner. A PD engine with a 6 speed manual for around $12(k) --- yep this could turn out to be one of the best tdis available :eek: . Now if only there was a fix for that VW ugly stick it was hit with :D .
 

chessmyantidrug

Active member
Joined
Dec 20, 2009
Location
Wichita Falls, TX
TDI
2006 Jetta
Rod Bearing said:
My very best friend in the world has a 2006 Prius, bought 4 months before my 2006 TDI Jetta.

He has kept meticulous record of his Hybrid Prius fuel economy as have I in my Jetta TDI.

His car has 107,902 miles as of today, and has a lifetime average fuel economy combined of 38.56 MPG.

My Jetta has 91,412 miles and a lifetime average of 40.07 MPG.
I would assume the average price of each fuel would be pertinent information. I believe diesel is around 20 cents higher on the gallon nationwide right now. So ...

100000 miles / 38.56 miles per gallon = 2593.36 gallons * $2.584 = $6701.24

100000 miles / 40.07 miles per gallon = 2495.63 gallons * $2.783 = $6945.35

I pulled those prices off AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report, which has the current national averages. I'm pretty sure over the past three years the average price of diesel is much higher than 20 cents. In other words, spent less per miles than you did.
 

pakm

New member
Joined
Sep 5, 2009
Location
Texas
TDI
09 Jetta TDI
09 fuel mileage

My wife left for the west coast the 1th of Nov. From south east houston Tx. She topped off the fuel tank in San Antonio. And call me from Fort Stockton to complane about there being no place to eat, nothing to see etc. But she did say she got 26 MPG. in our 09 Diesel Jetta.-----At a speed of around 100MPH. I figured she was taching about 3,000 or so.
I case anyone doesn't know, that is the most nothing bunch of country in the US. YOu can see 15 miles in any direction.
 

velociT

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 10, 2006
Location
Not Austin, TX
TDI
06 Jetta TDI *sold*
Yeah for those reading who haven't driven I-10 between basically 50 miles west of San Antonio and El Paso, Tx.... You can drive 100mph and still be passed frequently.

The highway is in very good condition, speed limit is something like 85, and it seems the troopers out there don't bother you unless you are in a junker going 100+mph.

In 2004 I personally passed two DPS troopers on that stretch about 10 miles apart during the day on cruise at 120mph in a sports car.

Neither pulled out on me.
 

Dodoma

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 30, 2004
TDI
2002 Jetta White
Volt will deliever 100mpg. VW diesel hybrid will deliever 70mpg. At present Prius and Jetta TDI deliever almost identical mpg. However it is the cost of ownership over a longer period, such as ten years, that will show which one is economical. Unfortunately not many of us keep these cars for such long period. Regarding build quality, VW beats Prius soundly.
 

roadhard1960

Veteran Member
Joined
Feb 1, 2004
Location
Covington, Ga.
TDI
2003 Jetta wagon GLS 5 speed
Volt will deliver high mileage if you don't go far. What will it deliver when you drive it to Grandma's house which is 200 miles away? I could not easily find the EPA mileage rating. I see people drive those go carts on the interstate. The "Smart Car" at 33-41 mpg is not that great but it does not look like it belongs on the highway. I suppose for many people who drive short distances to work and who have charging bays at work the Volt will be great. I have only seen one charging bay at all the garages I have parked in.
 

jbright

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 10, 2009
Location
Indianapolis
TDI
2009 Jetta DSG
I think I've read where the Volt will get around 50 mpg running off the generator. What are the advantages of an electric motor in a car? Are they more reliable and simpler to maintain? Don't they have incredible torque? Locomotives use a similar system with a diesel generator driving separate motors at the wheels. The ONLY way I'd ever consider an electric vehicle was if it came with some kind of on board, fuel fired generator. But this makes it more like a conventional car so I wonder what, if any, the advantage(s) would be.
 

Johns_jettas

New member
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Location
NJ, USA
TDI
none yet!
My very best friend in the world has a 2006 Prius, bought 4 months before my 2006 TDI Jetta.
He has kept meticulous record of his Hybrid Prius fuel economy as have I in my Jetta TDI.
His car has 107,902 miles as of today, and has a lifetime average fuel economy combined of 38.56 MPG.
My Jetta has 91,412 miles and a lifetime average of 40.07 MPG.
Yeah but did he take into account how much the electricity costs when he plugs in??

I work with a company called Green Cab that boasts all hybrid and electric taxi's. They tried the Prius's and found that they had issues with longer than spec'ed charging times, battery life short fall, tire and brake issues.
In fact they have had much better luck with their two Chevy Volts and their 6 ford windstar ev-conversions.
The Prius was a crappy hybrid, never mind a crappy car.

I would assume the average price of each fuel would be pertinent information. I believe diesel is around 20 cents higher on the gallon nationwide right now. So ...
100000 miles / 38.56 miles per gallon = 2593.36 gallons * $2.584 = $6701.24
100000 miles / 40.07 miles per gallon = 2495.63 gallons * $2.783 = $6945.35

I pulled those prices off AAA's Daily Fuel Gauge Report, which has the current national averages. I'm pretty sure over the past three years the average price of diesel is much higher than 20 cents. In other words, spent less per miles than you did.
Again what about the cost of the electricity to charge the batteries that the power company charges you.
And for the green aspect, how green is the electricity if the local plant is burning gas or coal.

I think I've read where the Volt will get around 50 mpg running off the generator. What are the advantages of an electric motor in a car? Are they more reliable and simpler to maintain? Don't they have incredible torque? Locomotives use a similar system with a diesel generator driving separate motors at the wheels. The ONLY way I'd ever consider an electric vehicle was if it came with some kind of on board, fuel fired generator. But this makes it more like a conventional car so I wonder what, if any, the advantage(s) would be.
The Volt is on of the few Hybrids, that you truly can drive without having to plug in to charge.

The engines in electrical cars charge the battery, that's it. The electrical motor is what propels the car.
What electric cars are you talking about. Electric cars use batteries and 99.99% need plugging into charge.
Hybrids use plug in charged batteries and the gas motor to drive the car down the road and AFAIK only the Volt uses the engine to charge the battery pack by reversing the electric motor and making it run as a generator.
the only vehicle I've seen that uses and gas genset to charge a battery pack and then an electric motor to drive the car was Neil Young's Lincvolt and it had battery fire.
The only issues I have with electric vehicles are range and battery cycle life. That's why the firm I work for is looking into on-board gensets and combination battery/capacitor packs to resolve these issues.

But until we get that perfected, I rather drive a TDI Jetta.
Although the new TDI Passat has been looking better and better.
 

GoFaster

Moderator at Large
Joined
Jun 16, 1999
Location
Brampton, Ontario, Canada
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI
... and you can't plug in a Prius of the type that was available at the time that this thread was current, and there is no possible way that the plug-in Prius has been in service for long enough to have any sort of out-of-warranty issues! I call BS.
 

VWBeamer

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Location
GA
TDI
2004 Jetta Wagon
Yea, but your friend had to be seen riding in Pruis. How embarrassing is that?

My very best friend in the world has a 2006 Prius, bought 4 months before my 2006 TDI Jetta.

He has kept meticulous record of his Hybrid Prius fuel economy as have I in my Jetta TDI.

His car has 107,902 miles as of today, and has a lifetime average fuel economy combined of 38.56 MPG.

My Jetta has 91,412 miles and a lifetime average of 40.07 MPG.
 

NC TDIpilot

Well-known member
Joined
May 7, 2011
Location
Houston, TX
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI, 5M, Group 0
The original Hybrid/electric vehicles were a disaster. Ugly, underperforming, etc. However, they have brought us some pretty great vehicles in 2013 and beyond. My favorite reveal from the Detroit Auto show is the Via X-truck. If their claimed mileage is anywhere close to reality, they have a winner on their hands. I think that the exterior design could use a bit of help though. A portion of the article about the truck is pasted below...

As we revealed back in December, the X-Truck will be a true monster, producing 800 horsepower from its electric motors, and stump-pulling torque. It makes a Ford Raptor look weak, yet Via still claims over 100 mpg in mixed driving.

Joining it is an 'Escalade-class' luxury SUV. In Lutz's words, it "drives like a Volt", and returns the same 100 mpg-plus.

Neither vehicle is likely to be cheap, with Via's regular trucks expected to cost around $79,000 when they go on sale, but on specification alone they're likely to attract at least a few customers--for some, the prospect of an 800-horsepower electric truck might be hard to resist...
 

TDIJetta99

Top Post Dawg
Joined
May 17, 2005
Location
Port Jervis, New York, USA
TDI
03... Faster than yours =]
Ya 100mpg, but they don't tell you how many kW it takes from your home to charge it.. No way, no how is something with that much power going to get that sort of fuel economy without an additional energy source (plug-in).
 

slamhouse

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 3, 2011
Location
Stanwood, WA
TDI
2006 Jetta TDI SE
Quote straight fro an article:

"Rather than one 402 horsepower electric motor, the VIA X-Truck has two, powered by a 24 kWh liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack. The generator engine in this case is a 5.3 liter V8 engine, and VIA claims that the X-Truck has a 35-mile all-electric range before the generator kicks in once the battery reaches a 20% charge. MPG numbers with the generator on weren’t mentioned, but it’ll no doubt be better than your standard gas-powered pickup. Oh, and 800 horsepower, because race truck."


Source: http://gas2.org/2013/01/17/naias-2013-the-via-x-truck-an-800-horsepower-plug-in-hybrid/
 

SMR

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 12, 2011
Location
Zürich
TDI
Currently: None :(, Previously: '04 Golf GLS, '12 Jetta 6M; Non-TDI Diesel: 116d EffDynEd
I've owned two TDIs and my wife has a Prius. We've actually found that the efficiency of the Prius, for our driving, has been opposite what one would expect (and contradicts some previous comments).

In particular, the Prius gets excellent (better than city and better than EPA rating) highway mileage. 50+mpg is easy at 65mph. On a ~2000-mile trip with long 55-60mph stretches, we comfortably got into the mid-to-high 50s.

I think this is entirely a function of the small, relatively efficient ICE and great aerodynamics. The electric motor and batteries don't come into play in these situations much at all. (This makes it extra aggravating to me that VAG doesn't sell 6-speed 1.6L BlueMotion TDIs over here.)

Our city driving around here is pretty hilly and trips are short, so the "city" mileage we've seen has been much worse than advertised (35mpg or so). Again, the electric motor has little impact in these conditions.

Of course, the Prius isn't particularly fun to drive and has a decided lack of soul, but it has been reliable, efficient, comfortable, and the cost for a used one is quite a bit cheaper than a comparable TDI. Still, I'm more than happy to stick to my Golf.
 

tikal

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
But who wants to drive 55-60 mph on long streches of highway :)
In those conditions I want to drive around 75 mph and get mid 40s mpg. The TDI is for this, not a hybrid!
I've owned two TDIs and my wife has a Prius. We've actually found that the efficiency of the Prius, for our driving, has been opposite what one would expect (and contradicts some previous comments).
In particular, the Prius gets excellent (better than city and better than EPA rating) highway mileage. 50+mpg is easy at 65mph. On a ~2000-mile trip with long 55-60mph stretches, we comfortably got into the mid-to-high 50s.
I think this is entirely a function of the small, relatively efficient ICE and great aerodynamics. The electric motor and batteries don't come into play in these situations much at all. (This makes it extra aggravating to me that VAG doesn't sell 6-speed 1.6L BlueMotion TDIs over here.)
Our city driving around here is pretty hilly and trips are short, so the "city" mileage we've seen has been much worse than advertised (35mpg or so). Again, the electric motor has little impact in these conditions.
Of course, the Prius isn't particularly fun to drive and has a decided lack of soul, but it has been reliable, efficient, comfortable, and the cost for a used one is quite a bit cheaper than a comparable TDI. Still, I'm more than happy to stick to my Golf.
 
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