But, But, But.. Diesel is dirty, and I like my Prius better!

Just kidding. More options for low emission, economical vehicles. Yay!

yes well i like the prius more to and diesel still is dirty
and and and you can not compare a diesel to a petrol regarding co2 levers but you need to compare it all
NOX and dirty diesel particles and then you will see the prius is better and any diesel even hybrid is dirty

wy introduce a hybrid diesel to a market where the diesel price is higher then the petrol price?

I'm thinking that if the Prius was the same size as the Golf it would have similar fuel economy (at least 55-60mpg), but I do enjoy all that space inside mine

I agree the more options we have availble the better! :juggle:

So you pay more for fuel to get a few more miles than the Prius, does it balance out?

Do keep in mind that the Golf is a few hundred pounds heavier than the Prius... smaller, yes, but a bit more solid.

You can keep it.

1. It's a Volkswagen. Very poor build quality and low reliability.
2. It's a diesel. Ever spill diesel on you hands or shoes? Do it once and you'll wonder if they intentionally make it smell so bad for so long.
3. And because it's a diesel, you will be reminded when it is bitter cold outside (Gee, will it start this morning?), and the hum and vibration inherent to a diesel will be a constant reminder.
4. Diesel is now $3.65/US gal or so and has for quite awhile been significantly higher than gas.
5. Availability of diesel, while better than the past, still just doesn't compare to gasoline.
6. Something goes wrong with the engine, it will take more than a code reader to fix it. A diesel's complex fuel delivery and other systems usually preclude a typical DIY's attempting most fixes which could be done on a gas engine.

I suppose if you must have a Volkswagen then this one maybe perhaps the one to get. But...

Rick
#4 2006

anytime an effort of this apparent magnitude is made by an automobile manufacturer, i hope for the best...in this case, what i expect maybe not be as lofty

sure it has its drawbacks as the Insight did, but i rather you drive that then a 20 mpg vehicle PERIOD.

Very interesting, will be good to see how it pans out. This has a lot of possibilities if it is a proper hybrid system.

sorry to say but here in europe Volkswagen is one of the best build cars
and the golf one of the best selling to next to the corolla.
the diesel noise with modern Common rail injected diesels is nothing more then a 4 cyl petrol care these days ( when warm )

i don't wanna take it up for this diesel but stil.. needed to correct that

It's still a VW. IMHO and experience a VW is worse than a FIAT. 'nuff said.

OTOH this is still a concept. The Prius is real.

And I will never exchange my Prius for a (ahem) golf.

Fiat is well now for its way to rust fast
so wy is Volkswagen bad? do you still think about the Volkswagen kever/beetle?

whats so bad about the car? the golf is a well made german car like really every german build car
only toyota builds better cars then a german car manufacture

and not to make a argument but the worst build cars are Alfa romeo and normally all cars from italy ... o yes and from england off course the land rovers

I was wondering how long it would take until we saw a point by point post as to whey Diesel hybrids are not a reasonable option. I cant even count the number of posts by people saying that gas hybrids are OK, but if you want real efficiency, why dont they go Diesel hybrid?!?!

So, here we have a diesel hybrid made by a company that knows a bit about hybrids. Yahoo!

IMHO the only way to make a significant improvement in mpg is through the use of hybrid technology.

-There is not much that can be done with engine design
-The public is not ready for superlight cars
-The public is not ready for super small cars

This is another sign that the world is going hybrid.

I think it has some upside to it. What's the cost going to be? I obviously like my Prius better, but this thing would have the added bonus of potentially making your own biodiesel fuel. Not that many people are likely to do that, but some will. And they could have bragging rights over the Prius for the highest possible mileage in a passenger car if they get it out quick enough.

They'll void their warranty the second they do it. I doubt many people at all will run these things on bio-D for several years. Once the warranty's up then people will start playing around with it.

Hi ...Dutchman,

In NA Volkswagens are made in Mexico these days. And while outsourcing to low labor countries pays, its usually not as much the buisness guys want it to pay. And that can lead to quality problems. Which is while you will find VW Anti-Fan web sites like vwsucks.com here in the US.

My brother had two german made Scirocco's in the 70's and 80's. I fixed both on occaision for electrical problems related to using printed circuit high power wiring. But , hey, not everybody has an Electrical Engineering student who worked summers as a PCB production repair technician. Otherwise these were both magnificent cars for the time. Our Prii are quicker than the first and about the same as the second Scirrocco.

I think the Diesel Hybrid is a good thing for Europe at least. The issues are particulate emissions and cold weather starting. But hybridization will reduce the amount of time the Diesel is running. And it will also have a much bigger electricty source for the starter motor which could help in the winter. There are DPF's on Diesels now which help, but who recycles all the soot ? The Diesel hybrid in Europe should reduce some emissions.

Here in the US, if they become popular, the soot level will go up some. Although I was behind a Jeep Diesel SUV this weekend which was visibly clean and I could not smell anything, unlike the last one which was doing a good imitation of a coal fire power plant smokestack in the middle of a July Afternoon. Or a Mercedes E320D (?) that looked more like a WWI destroyer laying down a smoke screen for a battleship escape a year ago. I litterally had to back off 200 yards behind the Mercedes to be able to breath. If Diesel people want to impress us they really need to get their cars fixed when this stuff starts happening...

Hi ...Dutchman,

In NA Volkswagens are made in Mexico these days. And while outsourcing to low labor countries pays, its usually not as much the buisness guys want it to pay. And that can lead to quality problems. Which is while you will find VW Anti-Fan web sites like vwsucks.com here in the US.

My brother had two german made Scirocco's in the 70's and 80's. I fixed both on occaision for electrical problems related to using printed circuit high power wiring. But , hey, not everybody has an Electrical Engineering student who worked summers as a PCB production repair technician. Otherwise these were both magnificent cars for the time. Our Prii are quicker than the first and about the same as the second Scirrocco.

I think the Diesel Hybrid is a good thing for Europe at least. The issues are particulate emissions and cold weather starting. But hybridization will reduce the amount of time the Diesel is running. And it will also have a much bigger electricty source for the starter motor which could help in the winter. There are DPF's on Diesels now which help, but who recycles all the soot ? The Diesel hybrid in Europe should reduce some emissions.

Here in the US, if they become popular, the soot level will go up some. Although I was behind a Jeep Diesel SUV this weekend which was visibly clean and I could not smell anything, unlike the last one which was doing a good imitation of a coal fire power plant smokestack in the middle of a July Afternoon. Or a Mercedes E320D (?) that looked more like a WWI destroyer laying down a smoke screen for a battleship escape a year ago. I litterally had to back off 200 yards behind the Mercedes to be able to breath. If Diesel people want to impress us they really need to get their cars fixed when this stuff starts happening...

VW makes nice cars, but the quality sucks.

I actually had a Golf (not made in Mexico,) for a couple of years, and the only less reliable car I've had was a Volvo. Funny, but two weeks ago I had to help someone from my office, because the window on a new Passat fell in, after the motor shorted and left a terrific burning smell.

VW and Audi both have worse reliability than most Detroit boxes. Stick to Japanese-made....

Hey, wake up, the rusting era has finished 20 years ago...

Because when I owned my Fiat Uno and friend had the Golf II, my Uno lasted 200.000 km and sold it for good money, my friend's Golf was ready for demolition at 140.000 km.

Because recently I had the sfortune to be given a Golf V 1.6 that did 28 mpg on the motorway and my wife was saying that honestly, the Fiat Punto 1,3 diesel was actually a better, more confortable car!

FYI statistically the worse EU cars today are Renault and Peugeot. Italian cars are moving up the quality scale and the Fiat Panda is third best in quality.

End of OT.

Who says VW's suck? I was just driving home this afternoon in my 82 rabbit caddy pickup truck. 330,000 miles and damn if the radiator hose didn't come off for the 3rd time in three years! Plastic tanks suck! (True story!)

Seriously, I drive the VW (gas truck) and get ~35 mpg. It is sad that I have to drive a 25 year old truck to get anywhere near that mileage. Toyota, Nissan,,everybody's pick up all have gotten huge. All I need is something to carry my tools and maybe a couple of sheets of plywood around. If I need a bigger load, I'll rent or have it delivered.

I wish VW well with this endeavor. They had some sucsess with the rabbit diesel as well as the currant tdi. The Vanagon diesel was not a winner however!

Icarus