Choose Hybrid or Diesel? Experience Driving Clean Diesel Shares Surprises

The question of whether to choose clean diesel or hybrid is never an easy one, and with more and more stellar examples of each on the horizon the choice is only getting more complicated. Narrow that down to Prius vs. Jetta TDI – the latter Green Car Journal’s 2009 Green Car of the Year® – and the fight seems biased. The 2010 Prius has a combined EPA fuel economy rating of 50 mpg, while the TDI comes in at 33 mpg (29 mpg city and 40 mpg highway). Game over, right?

Not so fast. With 2700 miles now spent behind the wheel of our long-term Jetta TDI test car, we have enough of a feel for its rhythms to note that fuel economy is often much better than EPA estimates. In fact, overall fuel economy has been closer to 40 mpg, and we’ve had stints on the highway that put our mpg numbers over the 50 mpg mark.

Bottom line? This diesel achieves efficiencies most often seen in hybrids, with highway fuel efficiency often comparable to that of the Prius. Depending on the price differential between gasoline and diesel in your region and whether you spend more of your time in urban or open highway driving, fuel costs in the Jetta TDI may actually undercut the Prius.

There are, of course, those aspects of the driving experience that can’t be captured by numbers. The Jetta’s 2.0-liter turbodiesel is a real kick. It’s responsive, quick to rev, and is chiefly to blame for a torque-driven sporty character that is fast becoming the calling card of clean diesel driving. We like it.

There’s plenty of room for four full size passengers and just enough for five in a pinch, and we found the 16 cubic foot trunk downright cavernous (no need for a battery pack here). Really, it’s hard to imagine a family of four or five needing more than this in a daily driver.