Lieberman: Few cars exist in a bubble (hello Veyron) so to make sense of VW’s first in America, fifty state, clean diesel Jetta TDI, I think we first have to establish where it competes. Starting with nothing but size, price and number of seats, the non-diesel, five-cylinder 2.5 Jetta goes up against Honda Civics, Subaru Imprezas, Toyota Corollas, Mitsubishi Lancers, Nissan Sentras, Ford Focuses and the like. The well equipped TDI, happens to start at about the same price ($22,000) as the also eco-friendly Toyota Prius, or any of the aforementioed cars optioned up to their teeth. It’s a highly competitive segment. So, given Autofiends’ newly found mantra – No Boring Cars – why even consider the Jetta TDI here?

Levy: Starting with why take a regular Jetta over any of those cars, that’s easy — its a nicer car to sit in and sportier car to drive. A base Jetta S starts right at $17.5k with enough standard equipment for you not to need to tick any options. Even with cloth seats, VW has the lead on interior quality over anything else in this segment and when you add its Euro driving dynamics, even as an econo-stripper, for me the decision to buy would go to the Mexican German car. Throw in the sweet lease deals that VW continue to run ($199 per month with minimum drive off) and you see why VW is one of the few auto manufacturers with sales increases (1.3%) for 2008. The clean diesel proposition of course adds another wrinkle to the buying decision, and puts the Jetta TDI into a different and fairly new class — on par with the Toyota Prius. We can mention the Honda Civic Hybrid, too.  Why are we having this discussion? There is one good reason. Torque, baby!

Lieberman: Torque is it. VW is able to extract 236 lb-ft of the good stuff from just two turbocharged liters. That’s diesel for you. Horsepower is rated at a class-competitive 140 ponies. Now, just to offer up a comparison, an up-engined 2.4-liter Toyota Matrix offers 158 hp but just 162 lb-ft of torque. The same is basically true for all of the $22K Jetta TDI’s competition. Clearly, the VW pulls much harder. There’s an old expression, “Americans buy horsepower but drive torque.” As most of us spend most of our time holding it steady on the freeway and really only mashing the gas to pass, the TDI’s in-any-gear acceleration is not only tailored to our needs, but impressive. But I have to say that I was also impressed with how the Jetta drove.

Levy: Well I’m a big fan of the Jetta/Golf platform, whether its the basic Rabbit, Jetta Wagon, Golf GTI or the range topping R32, all of which I’ve had the pleasure of driving recently. Obviously the DNA is the same here in the TDI. Steering is well weighted and direct with enough insulation from the road for non-enthusiasts. Ride is firm by domestic standards but by no means uncomfortable even on our diabolical local freeways. Handling is safe but you aren’t distanced from what the car is doing by any means. We enjoyed a spirited drive through roads you and I both grew up on in the Santa Monica mountains. I had fun in my DSG equipped car — in sport it was in the right gear all the time and the shifts, especially on full throttle were seemless keeping the flow of torque coming for GTI like acceleration. Try that in a Prius or Civic Hybrid, especially with their few hundred extra pounds of battery and electric drivetrain that’s out of use everywhere except for stop and go traffic. Did I mention we saw 32mpg two up with two guys who both weighed 200 pounds plus. And we had the AC on, which I’m told robs a couple of mpg. VW has also managed to banish the diesel death rattle engine note to the past–its not far different from their award winning 2 liter TFSI in the GTI/GLI. 

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