AutoblogGreen

It's great to see that VW is coming out with a clean diesel that gets high MPG.
However, saying it's impressive that it makes less CO2 than the Prius is a bit of a stretch. The Polo is a subcompact car, whereas the Prius is midsize. Of course you can downsize cars and get better MPG (the Insight and WV Lupo also got better MPG than the Prius, but both were discontinuted because of poor sales). Let's see WV scale up that clean diesel technology to the size and acceleration power of the Prius and bring it to the US. Then we'll have a good comparision. (Note: VW plans to introduce common rail diesels for the 2008 model year in the US.)

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It would seem to make sense that any diesel that gets 60 mpg or over and lower CO2 emisssions than all or near all their gasoline counterparts, should be able to be sold in the USA. 3/4 ton diesel trucks get a free pass on emissions and are free to be sold in the USA. Why not the many subcompacts like the Polo Bluemotion too.

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Manufacturers have not brought diesels to the US because 1) they cost more than gas engines, and 2) They cannot meet the clean air standards of California, New York, and several other states, so they are shut out of half the US market.

Now, there are newly developed add-ons to diesel that will make them clean enough to sell - and as expensive as hybrids.

It has been well documented that fuel savings for hybrids CAN outweigh the costs - that myth arose from some erroneous assumptions and bad calculations that were published, and later corrected.

I can imagine "owning a hybrid past the warranty", but it must be imagining - no one outside of Japan has owned one that long yet. I still have 5 years to go on my warranty!

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this car is for sale in belgium for almost a year. it's more than 2 times cheaper than the prius, and it's much more efficient. between the announced 5.5l/100km for the prius and the reality, you are closer to 7l/100km. which is great for a gaz engine, but very bad in comparaison of a diesel engine. The polo bluemotion is annonced 3.9l/100km, and you get in reallity around 4.5l/100km.

And I found the clean air policy in the US very funny. you can drive with a big truc V8 diesel completely outdated, but not with a polo bluemotion or a jetta TDI... that's ridiculous...

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VW PLEASE BRING THIS CAR TO THE U.S.!
This is exactly what we need in this country to compete with the overly complicated and expensive hybrid vehicle craze that may very well play itself out in the near future. It has been well documented that the fuel savings of a hybrid car do not outweigh the added cost and complexity of the drive system. Could you imagine owning a hybrid beyond the warranty? The simple fact remains that cars like the Mercedes Benz A class, VW Polo, Citroen, Renault, and even Ford all make very high quality, efficient diesel cars that rival hybrid efficiencies without the added cost. Where is our Volvo platformed, diesel Ford Focus? Sharing platforms, engine technology, or simply importing the Euro spec vehicles in this class to American shores would in my opinion prove to be a viable option to the current crop of so called economy cars that only get around 30 – 40 mpg. By American standards, these mileage figures are fine, downsizing from an Explorer that gets 18 mpg, to a car that gets 30 mpg may seem like a great thing, but compared to our European counterparts, it simply is unacceptable.

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Why is it that VW TDI lovers hate hybrids so much? We're all trying to reach the same goal - better MPG. Whether it's diesel or hybrid or both doesn't matter. For example Toyota is coming out with diesels, and in fact, even VW itself is going to make a hybrid GAS Jetta by 2009 ! And they announced it will get BETTER mpg than a Jetta TDI. Read it at
http://www.egmcartech.com/2006/12/13/report-vws-first-petrol-electric-hybrid-will-be-a-jetta-in-2009/

"Volkswagen has told a UK publication that its first petrol-electric hybrid will be a Jetta in 2009. The petrol-electric Jetta hybrid will achieve greater efficiency than a normal TDI Volkswagen model. Volkswagen has seen hybrids in the US as a bandwagon product and has decided to stick to improving their diesel platforms. Nonetheless, Volkswagen will be jumping on the bandwagon in 2009. The current Volkswagen Jetta TDI does 35/42 mpg."

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eric :

I don't know where you came up with the number 7l/100km for the Prius. If my conversion to US MPG is correct, that's 33 MPG. That's bull.

In my 2005 Prius, the lifetime average is 48 MPG (US G), or 4.92 l/100km.

In the summer, i can break 58 MPG easily, or 4.02l/100km.

7l/100km is not realistic.

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I've been driving my 2004 Prius for about a month now, and I'm getting between 58 and 74 Miles Per gallon. Albeit I drive 55 in the right lane on the freeway, and on city streets I drive the speed limit with gradual acceleration. This is the smoothest most amazing car I've ever driven. I think anyone who likes Cars/Latest Technology, should give this one a test drive. it's really amazing. and no, I'm not an environmentalist. I just like the way the car drives and feels and it gets great Miles Per Gallon. As knowone is questioning it here but so many others complain about battery replacement cost. Might want to note that only 20% of 1.3 Kilowatts of the batteries energy is ever used. It's called floating the battery. so the battery is never completely drained, nor completely full. This results in the vehicles battery lasting the life of the vehicle. I've heard and read of Prius's running over 300k miles and never needing battery
work. And thanks to Regenerative braking, some Prius's will never need a brake job. I love Toyota. Bravo!!!

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Good figures for the VW Polo - I have also been looking at the new [press release 25-5-07] Mini Cooper D - ave 72.4 Co2 104. The Mini will depreciate less and has the advantage of first 5 years / 50K service for just £150.

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