Diesel: what’s old is new, only better
I’ve been unintentionally green for a few weeks now; my beloved 2000 Audi A6 is in the shop getting major surgery including a transmission rebuild, new power steering rack, and catalytic converters. So I’ve been cycling and train-riding to work for the past few weeks. Unfortunately, the train station is quite a ways from work, so I’ve been riding a minimum of 9 miles, and sometimes 40 miles a day (if I forego the train). You can imagine there are times I’m pretty tired.
Luckily, my backside got a welcome break with the chance to test the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta. But the “green” didn’t take a break with this frugal VW. It’s a fantastic car that offers plenty of room front and rear, fold down seats to easily fit the bike into the trunk, excellent handling, and a thoroughly entertaining diesel engine. Entertaining? Diesel? Yep-this sucker features a turbocharger that kicks in for some prodigious torque. While the 2.0 liter 4 cylinder has only 140 horsepower, it packs a whopping 236 foot pounds of torque. While it lags a bit off the line, at highway speeds, the torque makes passing a joy. It is an ideal highway cruiser. Even more impressive, despite my notorious lead-footedness (I infamously logged just 22mpg in the ‘08 Honda Fit), I averaged a stunning 37.5 mpg!
In 1990, the president of the company I worked for swore by two things-PC’s instead of Macs and diesel instead of regular fuel. He drove a gargantuan Mercedes diesel 300 SEL and kept it for 15+ years. And he forbade Macs in the workplace. Years later, PCs have definitely dominated while diesels are just now coming back in to vogue. Back then, diesels were stinky, slow, and pumped out a lot of pollution. However, as my favorite mechanic points out, because of the trucking industry, getting diesel gas is relatively easy because the network of stations exists throughout the nation.
