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Which Is Best? - 2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI Long-Term Road Test
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Which Is Best? - 2013 Volkswagen Passat TDI Long-Term Road Test
Which car is better: the Volkswagen TDI or the TSI?
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I guess that's a big difference, but I'd be very bored with a sluggish transmission. It wouldn't be worth it to me.
TDI with a manual transmission. Problem solved.
"It was always in a hurry to get to the lowest gear, obviously to increase fuel economy." Yeah, diesels are funny that way.
i guess we will have to see how big the TDI takes a hit when it comes to resale it would be nice if Edmunds kept the TDI around for a more long term test like 50k miles for this purpose. I just dont see the increased fuel economy being worth the extra cost for the diesel unless you have a very long commute to take advantage of the 40 plus highway MPG. In a perfect world both engines would be identically priced and the consumer can choose power arnd responsiveness or long haul fuel economy. But VW has no reason to lower the price of the TDI because they have the only Diesel midsizer on the market.
The only places where I notice sluggishness with our TDI are when you are in tight, congested traffic and you want that one open spot in the next lane, and when you hit the throttle hard at about 50 or 60. Response can be slow in vying for that spot depending on your speed and revs, but S does resolve that, and I find I dont need to do that often. The higher speed mark is the dead power spot for the car. Above 60 , its similar to our gas VW turbo with a 2.0TSI. Frankly, I think the diesel is less sluggish off the line, but that's the drawback of the DSG engaging in gear off the line. And when I owned a BMW turbo a while back I also felt the need to put it in sport in tight traffic, just to modulate the power. I really don't consider it much of an issue, and I'd buy the diesel again if I was buying today.
Oh, and by the way, I think the diesel models have held traditionally higher resale values than their gas counterparts.
So the TDI costs more to buy, the disparity in diesel prices erases a lot of your fuel savings, and you don't like the way the powertrain drives, but that's OK because you don't have to stop for gas in sunny Southern California as often. You have very different priorities from me.
What about the difference in torque? 236 vs. 184 should be nice.
For the Passat, in terms of engine reliability (such as fewer maintenance issues, etc.), which engine is more reliable, the gasoline or the diesel?