2008 Jetta TDI sighted!!! (pics)

[compu_85]

If Anyone goes and sees the car again, could you get down on the ground and try to snap a picture of the underside of the car?

-Jason

 

[tdipower4me]

If Anyone goes and sees the car again, could you get down on the ground and try to snap a picture of the underside of the car?

-Jason

or better yet, take a video of it or a soundclip please!!!!!!! TIA

 

[zband]

hello all - Im new to the boards (at least posting-wise). I would like to introduce myself. I love diesels - I wish I could own a TDI (perhaps someday), but all I can do save my pennies for now. I felt the need to chime in about GM flex-fuel push. Yes it is BS, but why are they putting it into large, gas - guzzling vehicles? The answer is a political - loop hole. GM, like all car companies that sell vehicles in the US, must comply to CAFE laws. CAFE (corporate average fuel economy)laws state that the average fuel economy of all the cars sold must be 27.5 MPG. Build a Hummer (10 MPG) - you must build 3 small cars (MPG 33) to balance out the corporate average. BUT if you build a flex fuel vehicle it does not have to be averaged into the CAFE equation. So its apparent now why they are pushing flex fuel in their big guzzlers. I dont think the same applies to biodiesel or diesels.

 

[deezelpower]

Better practicality than a pickup...

Get a trailer, it doesn't need insurance or maintenance and is very low to the ground so it's easier to load and can haul almost as much as the bed of your truck, especialy if you are moving something light but volumous like mulch. My jetta gets about 38 MPG hauling a 1500 pound trailer at 70 MPH with another 4-500 pounds in the car, fwiw.

Second That! Costco's little $650 wonder trailer works like a dream with the Jetta. Load 'er up with 1500 LBS (to its max gross) and you're already hauling more than a compact pickup can. Plus the size (8' x 4.5') is bigger than most full-size truck beds. All that plus you will get mileage in the 30's even climbing hills. Other drivers give you weird looks when you pass them climbing a mountain pass at 80 with a trailer full

 

[bhtooefr]

Actually, Hummers are big enough that they don't even count towards the CAFE standards.

 

[gottdi]

ethanol infrastructure

Sure there is. Just dedicate one tank and pump per station across the nation. I'm talking E100 and not E85. Get the stations ready then build the cars. It will work. It's done with Bio-Diesel and it works.

Project E100 Honda lawn mower moving forward. Yes I will be increasing the compression but with a vane blower pump rather than a turbo. It's kinda small to stuff a turbo and my vane blower pump is just about the right size. I will need to have a blow off valve of some sort because the pump can push 25 psi no problem.We shall see. I may need to have a custom cam built as well but that will come later.

 

[zband]

Actually, Hummers are big enough that they don't even count towards the CAFE standards.

Actually, they do now! The CAFE rules were revised in 2006 (2005?) to include trucks/SUV's. Something with the length of the vehicle instead of the classification. You can imagine the fight that the General, Ford and DC put up to prevent this. I welcomed it.

Its not surprising that H1 was put to rest and the scramble to find more efficient engines large SUV's.

 

[Txst]

Wait until the 2009 model so that bugs in the 2008 model Jetta common rail diesel are hammered out.

Good point...but also consider the price that will be attached for this new TDI. Just a few months ago (Jun 06), I paid $23,600 for my new TDI. Now they load them all up with extras (because VW knows they will sell) and most are selling for $27,700 up to $33,000. What will they want for the extra HP and torque as well as the improved MPG?

There may not be any bare bones models to buy because VW loading them up...I wouldn't be surprised to see them selling for 34,000 and up. Good luck finding a new one any more for less than $24,000! I could sell my used one for more than that! Personally I'm glad I got my PD TDI when I did, I don't want to keep waiting around for even higher prices! Rich people won't be affected by the new model price but many of us sure will.
As for me...I'm really glad I didn't wait, I'm thrilled with my PD TDI!!!
Ten thousand more dollars for those extras? No thanks! Now if they could provide enough to bring the prices down and sold this new model for 25k (0 pkg) or less...then I'd be really excited!

 

[bhtooefr]

Of course, I would just rip out my extras, and sell them to a 2.5 or 2.0T Pkg0 owner who wanted the goodies, but couldn't afford them when they got their car...

 

[njkayaker]

Good point...but also consider the price that will be attached for this new TDI. Just a few months ago (Jun 06), I paid $23,600 for my new TDI. Now they load them all up with extras (because VW knows they will sell) and most are selling for $27,700 up to $33,000. What will they want for the extra HP and torque as well as the improved MPG?

You can't really tell how the cars are going to appear from what they did to the demo car. The whole point is to create a buzz.

Are these being sold in Europe now? If so, what is the MPG?

 

[bhtooefr]

Nope, they're not selling in Europe now.

The 2.0 PD140 is selling in Europe now, but this is the CR140.

For craps and giggles, though, here's the MPG figures for a Jetta 2.0TDI PD140 DPF 6spd, taken from VW's German site, and converted to US MPGs...

Urban: 32.6-33.6 US MPG
Extra-urban: 47-49 US MPG

 

[jackbombay]

Seems like a bunch of you guys miss the earlier post where this same car in europe gets 48 MPG, NOT 60...

 

[bhtooefr]

jackbombay: It's not the same car.

The car that gets 48 is the PD140.

This is not Pumpe-Duese.

This is common rail. It's the CR140 that gets 40/60.

 

[RC]

And the winner is...

... Of course, none of those things will ever be able to fully replace fossil fuels at our current rates of consumption...and with traffic increasingly choking all cities, roads expanding and killing natural environments, and increasingly effective mass transit, the clear answer is the one that we car enthusiasts don't want to hear: those in countries all over the world (not just Americans) have just got to change their lifestyle and drive less.

We simply can`t replace the solar energy sequestered over a couple hundred million years with annual solar income. Period. We are sucking up stored solar capital, and even worse planning as if we can go on doing this, like there is no tomorrow.

 

[v8volvo]

Someone asked me to post pictures of the nav system...they wouldn't open the doors so I could thoroughly photograph the interior, so I had to shoot through the window. The results were not too good. As you can see, I put my hand up to shield some of the glare, but it didn't help much and the pic is mostly inscrutable. But you can kinda make out the nav system on the dash, and the six gears on the shift knob. I'll post it at a larger resolution so things are more visible.

Here you go, for what it's worth:

 

[BeetleGo]

Bravo, V8Volvo. Were the guys there aware of who you were (tdiclub.com)? Thanks, BeetleGo

 

[ARBY]

How would you be able to tell? It looks the same on the outside.

I've found some pretty cool stuff there. You just have to be in the right place at the right time.

 

[v8volvo]

Were the guys there aware of who you were (tdiclub.com)?

When I wanted to take some pictures they asked me what kind of press I was. I told them I was just an interested mechanical engineering student...made no mention of TDIClub. They gave me some dirty looks as they were driving away through the parking lot, because I was jogging next to the car trying to listen to the engine (and barely hearing it over the Toyota Camry next to it!), so maybe they suspected something. But when I talked to them the next day, a TV camera was on us as the German guy answered my questions about biodiesel, so he couldn't be rude.

 

[mexican_maverick]

not true

beacause the other is a flex fuel monster that probably gets 12mpg gasoline, and 10 if you're actually able to fuel up on ethanol.

Flex fuel is bull****.

The other hydrogen fuel cell, runs on hydrogen fuel cells, right?. How do you produce hydrogen? A chemical reaction. It takes electricity or some sort of energy to produce hydrogen. 75% of our electricity comes from burning of petro fuels, one form or another. If cars ran on fuel cells, the need for electricity would go up and as such more fossile fuel would be burnt.

fuel cells running on hydrogen created from electricity produced by fossile fuel burning are bull****!

You are thinking of electrolysis which is a way of producing hydrogen by breaking abart the water molecule into hydrogen gas and oxygen. But that is one of hundreds of ways of producing hydrogen. One example of an alternative method is mixing sodium in water and as the sodium bonds with the oxygen in the water, it releases hydrogen gas using no electricity in that reaction. I am a huge supporter of hydrogen and hope that soon ill be filling my v-dub with hydrogen.

 

[Matt-98AHU]

Infrastructure and the cost to make hydrogen are all huge points... but you're also forgetting the cost of the vehicles that run on it! Currently in excess of $1 million. And I don't know how on earth they will be able to get the price down to the levels affordable for the everyman... The costs will certainly come down once they attempt some form of mass production, but I just don't see it coming down far enough...

 

[jayp111]

Check the thread title folks

Folks, this may be a good time to check the title of the thread.

 

[MrMopar]

...Unless, Iran has a huge nuclear accident that contaminates the oil supply in the entire Middle East...

And how will that stop the USA from using oil? We already burn millions of tons of coal in power plants each year, releasing tons of radionucleides into the atmosphere from the combustion and the fly ash.

 

[MrMopar]

Instead of having these flexifuel vehicles why not have near 100% ethanol?

2 reasons:

#1 - the 15% gasoline content in E85 denatures the alcohol (makes it poisonous, and cannot be made non-poisonous) so that morons don't try to drink everclear straight out of the pump

#2 - winter starting. Alcohol has a lower evaporation temperature, and the gasoline helps with cold starting until the engine warms up. As cars move to direct injection with gasoline, the sky high compression ratios and direct injection will get rid of that problem. And also allow for higher fuel efficiency. Chevy sells direct injection 4-cylinder engines in other markets, and in that new Pontiac Solstice turbo car. I wish I could get a direct injection, light-pressure turbocharged, flex fuel Cobalt in the USA. I'll bet it could be tweaked for 30 MPG on E85 - far better than the Tahoe or Avalanche could ever achieve.

 

[LexDM3]

I saw the '08 Jetta and spoke to the VW guys today

They said it was the real deal, a prototype of the US spec common rail TDI that will be available in sedan form in all 50 states in Q1 calendar year 2008. Other tidbits:

- The particulate system will be self-cleaning so no service is required. However, they plan to follow with a 3.0 V6 TDI sometime later that will use Urea and will need dealer servicing. If that doesn't get done, the car will warn you repeatedly and then either go into some reasonably clean limp mode or may not start after repeated warnings. They're not sure.

- The CR engine should provide fuel economy similar to the PD. The VW guy said that they are seeing around 40 mpg city, 60 mph highway. Sounds pretty optimistic.

- They are hearing a lot of requests for a Rabbit TDI. No commitment yet. They also expect a wagon to follow but no dates were given.

- I asked him to start it up and it's remarkably quiet. He said it was a cold start since the car had not run for hours. With the hood shut, you'd never know it was a diesel.

I took some pictures of the underside and can post them here but I didn't see anything too remarkable.

I told them that I would buy two 5 speed Rabbit TDI wagons today if they'd sell them to me. That got me some smiles.

--Dan

 

[chewy]

Q1 2008 is later than I thought. VW might have competitors at that time. Some questions, will it have an aluminum block, also how about the 2,000 bar injection pressure from the V12 TDI? I think the later is more likely.

 

[PlaneCrazy]

I drove a current 2.0 TDI in the UK this past summer, in a Seat Altea...140 hp, 236 lb-ft. If the new CR engine is anywhere near as good, it will be awesome. Still, I hope they do also put together a 1.9 TDI with about 105-115 hp that is tuned more towards economy. I've driven the current Jetta TDI (A5) and while it isn't as quick as my Passat, it's plenty powerful for most normal driving. In fact in the UK on our previous trip, we had a B5.5 with the 105 HP PD engine, While it wasn't as quick as the Seat, it was a bit more economical.

 

[bBay]

Well, I guess I have to keep my 94 Golf diesel running till Q1 2008. I do wish VW would have at least one line where they maximized fuel efficiency at modest cost rather than increasing power and weight. The relatively surprising popularity of the 2-seater Smart car in Canada should entice them to bring in a competitor like a CRD Lupo or at least a Polo. Even at 350,000 km, the 75 ps in my 94 Golf is adequate for most driving, and an average fuel consumption below 5.3 l/100 km is lovely!

 

[bhtooefr]

Heh, the 52 hp in my 86 Golf (300,000+ estimated mi on the engine, which is 480,000+ km) works great for daily driving, too.

Seeing as I just commute in my car, a Polo would work GREAT.

 

[Will The Thrill]

I heard recently that one of the reasons diesel remains higher is that the Fall is the busiest time for long haulers, meanwhile gas keeps falling now that the speculation is slowing. A busy Fall for truckers makes sense since it precedes the holidays.

Harvest time has a lot to do with it. A ton of tractors harvesting crops that run off of diesel, followed by trucks to haul the stuff away that run on diesel. Extremely high demand this time of year. And every year around this time of year!

 

[jwlionking]

Good point...but also consider the price that will be attached for this new TDI. Just a few months ago (Jun 06), I paid $23,600 for my new TDI. Now they load them all up with extras (because VW knows they will sell) and most are selling for $27,700 up to $33,000. What will they want for the extra HP and torque as well as the improved MPG?

There may not be any bare bones models to buy because VW loading them up...I wouldn't be surprised to see them selling for 34,000 and up. Good luck finding a new one any more for less than $24,000! I could sell my used one for more than that! Personally I'm glad I got my PD TDI when I did, I don't want to keep waiting around for even higher prices! Rich people won't be affected by the new model price but many of us sure will.
As for me...I'm really glad I didn't wait, I'm thrilled with my PD TDI!!!
Ten thousand more dollars for those extras? No thanks! Now if they could provide enough to bring the prices down and sold this new model for 25k (0 pkg) or less...then I'd be really excited!

Wonder what kind of price we could get with a group buy?