2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI Long-Term Road Test

Edmunds.comEdmunds.com Member, Administrator, Moderator Posts: 10,316
edited September 2014 in Volkswagen

image2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI Long-Term Road Test

We report on the June 2013 fuel economy of our long-term 2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI

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  • quadricyclequadricycle Member Posts: 827
    So the notoriously heavy-footed Edmunds crew easily beat the EPA combined numbers, even though eighty percent of the driving was in the city, while only having to refuel about every six hundred miles... Impressive. Now I'll admit that I'm a little biased towards diesel motors (because they are awesome!), but the numbers, they just don't lie.
  • legacygtlegacygt Member Posts: 599
    Diesels don't only deliver great fuel economy. The consistently delivery fuel economy around their EPA numbers. The EPA needs to fix it's test which is dead on for diesels but so overly optimistic for gasoline engines. The flaws in the EPA test are exploited by more and more manufacturers (from Ford to Hyundai to Subaru and so on). The result is a confused and skeptical public. The occasional lawsuit. And $million in lost CAFE fines.
  • quadricyclequadricycle Member Posts: 827
    @legacygt: As you said, there are flaws in the EPA testing. To name a few: tests are simulated as being on completely flat ground, low vehicle load (the average person isn't alone, with nothing in the car), and far too slow in-test acceleration (other tha
  • darthbimmerdarthbimmer Member Posts: 606
    These are good numbers, especially for a large family car. Our Jetta with the 2.0T gas engine struggled to get better than 27 in mixed driving, and here you're getting 10mpg better with a larger, heavier car. Too bad the diesel powertrain wasn't available when we bought.
  • fordson1fordson1 Unconfirmed Posts: 1,512
    And yet your 2.0T Jetta did not struggle to get to 60 mph in 9.1 seconds. Life is a game of compromises. The other impressive thing here is that the Passat got that mpg with a crappy wheel alignment - just think what it will do with everything set to spec.
  • pantherman5pantherman5 Member Posts: 12
    By default, petro engine is faster than diesel in acceleration. But that's not something that can't be fixed. all VW needs to do is add another turbo for low speed rpm.

    The new BMW 328d may be in a different league, but both cars are similar (2.0L diesel engine, ~3300 lb). 328d has twin turbo, which boost HP up by ~30, and 0-60 acceleration is in the 7 sec range, which is well within the smaller 4 cyl petro engines range, yet it can still yield 40+ MPG.
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