Chevy Cruze or Volkswagen Passat diesel?

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Looking at getting a diesel car for fuel economy. These seem to be the only options that are affordable. Never owned a diesel car, but I am a tracked vehicle mechanic in the Army so I'm quite familiar about diesels but the ones I work on and the new diesel engine are probably 65-75 years different in design. The operation may be the same but seems everything else surrounding seems totally different. Old Army diesels don't have much, and one of them is air cooled. Really the only maintenance I've had to do on an Army diesel engine is drain water from fuel water separators, clean or replace air filter, replace fuel water separators, check and replace fuel filters, and check oil and replace oil and filter if needed as directed by Army UOA program. So what additional things do modern diesel cars need compared to gasoline counterparts?

Other option is finding a spacious non plug-in hybrid with a lifetime warranty on batteries and it seems only Hyundai and Kia offer that.
 
Get the Cruze diesel. It will be available in hatchback form starting in 2018
smile.gif
 
Passat if you need the room. Otherwise the Cruze is a great vehicle. Love mine. Last tank I got 51.3mph. Nice to be able to go 800 miles to a tank.
 
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Passat all day and twice on Sunday.

But I may be biased.


+1
 
Actually crunch some numbers and calculate the actual cost of gas. Don't just look at what the fuel mileage is and blindly think that it must be cheaper.

Current average per gallon of gasoline is $2.34. Diesel is $2.52.

A Cruze gets 32 mpg combined driving, at 15,000 miles per year, that's $1,096 per year for fuel

A 2015 Passat TDI gets 33 mpg combined driving, at 15,0000 miles per year, that's $1,111 per year for fuel. More than the Cruze! Even if you rounded the diesel up to 38 mpg that's $995 per year for fuel, or a whopping savings of $3.86 a week compared to the Cruze.

Plus they usually cost more to purchase, they have expensive DSG maintenance costs, timing belt replacements, etc. And odds are, it's a German car, they cost more to keep on the road for repairs. I had a TDI...

You can also calculate the cost of a hybrid.

A regular 2018 Sonata is $20,550. A Hybrid Sonata is $23,500.

15,000 miles per year cost of fuel for each car:
Gas Sonata, 29 mpg: $1,210
Hybrid Sonata, 42 mpg: $835
Years to break even on the $2950 difference in purchase cost: 8 years
 
Thank you for your service!
You do not buy a late model diesel powered car in the United States in 2017 to make the total cost of ownership of a the car cheaper than it's gas counterpart.
I'm a semi mechanic at UPS. A modern on road diesel vehicle is a Lot different than the stuff you work on.
When a modern diesel passenger vehicle or pick-up breaks down, the cost to repair certain diesel related things can be astronomical.
Google how much it would cost you if you accidentally put gas into a late model VW TDI.
Google how much it cost if the fuel pump goes out on a TDI.
I love diesels and wish there were more passenger cars with them in the USA.
https://humblemechanic.com/what-happens-when-a-tdi-is-filled-with-gas/
 
I had a vw Passat tdi for two years and 3 days before I did the buy back. In that time I put 62k miles on it and never had any problems. Did the oil changes, fuel filter changes and the dsg service myself. I loved the car but when vw offers basically all your money back it's hard to turn down. My best tank was 925 miles and it would pull interstate mountains all day long without a downshift. If you do 30k a year a diesel may make sense for you to buy but with nice gassers getting 40 mpg it really doesn't save you any money. Btw the Passat rear seat is limousine like and the trunk is huge. Definitely an underrated car.
 
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If you’re willing to drive a manual and want to save gas and money, I’d suggest what I have - a Focus 1.0 EcoBoost. You can find them for about $15,000 new. Good handling, excellent engine (International Engine of the Year, 3 times), hatch or sedan. I rarely do highway trips, but when I do it’s always at least 45 MPG going the speed limit. I’ve beat 50 MPG numerous times.

You can get an auto and it’s thankfully not the DCT, but you won’t get the MPGs the manual does.
 
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Volkswagen repurchased my 2009 Jetta TDI and did me a huge favor. You won't save any money on the cost of operation by buying a diesel passenger car. You should probably rethink your reason for the purchase.

DPF issues
HPFP issues
10,000 mile fuel filters
40,000 mile DSG fluid changes
DEF sensor issues

I've forgotten all of the issues going on with the common rail VWs. Whatever you decide to do I wish you luck with your purchase.
 
The life time guarantee for the main drive battery that some hybrid vehicle manufacturers offer could be a good thing or a bad thing. If when the battery gets old enough that some cell(s) fail and they replace the entire battery, then you would be good to go for quite a few more years. But what is more likely is that they ONLY replace the cell(s) that have gone bad. This would leave you with a main drive battery consisting of mostly very old cells, and you could expect more cells to fail is short order.

In general when you are dealing with a system that has a large number of rechargeable batteries and they are old enough to have some failures it is not that bad of an idea to replace one or two cells when you get the first failure. But after that the batteries get too old and if you are only replacing failed cells instead of the entire pack you can expect to have failures very often and it gets to be a real pain in the neck having to service it way too often.
 
In the past driving a diesel car was a calling. In the early 80's one of the people in our office drove an MB diesel sedan. You could guess which person drove a diesel while riding in the elevator up to our floor by just breathing. He had the gas stations that sold diesel all mapped out and he was very good at keeping up on the maintenance often exceeding the requirements in the owner's manual. If you ever would consider buying a used diesel sedan his car would be at the top of the list.
 
I also forgot to add that the TDIs are a ticking time bomb with the HPFP and DPF failures. And that's coming from the TDIclub forums! A HPFP is like $5k if not more.

If you want reliable, cheap transportation, look for a used Sonata. I got mine last February for $9,990 It depreciated which was in my favor, it isn't in the new owner's favor.
 
Originally Posted By: dbias
I had a vw Passat tdi for two years and 3 days before I did the buy back. In ...it would pull interstate mountains all day long without a downshift. If you do 30k a year a diesel may make sense for you to buy but with nice gassers getting 40 mpg it really doesn't save you any money. Btw the Passat rear seat is limousine like and the trunk is huge. Definitely an underrated car.


Last summer in August we rented a c300 4matic. We were traversing some challenging and entertaining mountain highways. It was a blast! Nothing could/would pass me as I kept my speed safely around 130-140 with brief bursts to 180 when passing.

The ONLY cars to pass me were two red Jetta TDI's both being driven by women. The only thing differentiating the two were slightly different body styles. Don't get me wrong, the Benzo was no slouch, but those VW's moved past me with an effortless spirit I've only witnessed on cars like a Bentley/Rolls.

true story
 
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Id guess they are firesaling Passat TDIs. If not run.

The Passat(family car) outclasses the Cruze(compact).


Yeah I guess the Jetta or Golf would be more the Cruze's class, although the Cruze is pretty big, especially next to a Sonic
 
I read that older Volkswagens pre-2015 were harder to fix as part of the dieselgate, but the 2015 werent. What exactly was fixed and is it safe to assume that all TDI Volkswagens for sale have been fixed or are owners and dealers just trying to get rid of them?
 
Now I'm considering two hybrid models. As an Uber driver who does mostly city driving, having a car that gets the highest city MPG and doesn't need a plug is a high priority.
2016+ Toyota Prius Two Eco
2017+ Hyundai Ioniq

Both seem like really good cars for their price and I would prefer they cost between $15-20k. Do state and federal rebates apply to used hybrids? Do I need to be a resident of certain states to take advantage of the best state rebates?
 
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