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

Rod Bearing · December 16th, 2009, 20:03

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 · December 16th, 2009, 20:16

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 · December 16th, 2009, 20:53

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rod Bearing

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 · December 21st, 2009, 05:39

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 · December 22nd, 2009, 15:03

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 · December 23rd, 2009, 08:01

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 · December 23rd, 2009, 08:34

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 · December 23rd, 2009, 11:07

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 · December 23rd, 2009, 11:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rod Bearing

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 · December 23rd, 2009, 11:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rod Bearing

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

) 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

. Now if only there was a fix for that VW ugly stick it was hit with

.

chessmyantidrug · December 24th, 2009, 01:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rod Bearing

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 · December 24th, 2009, 18:31

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 · December 25th, 2009, 18:15

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 · December 25th, 2009, 20:30

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 · December 26th, 2009, 06:47

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.