Review: 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI

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Stability and traction control and side and head-protecting side curtain airbags are all standard. Rear-seat side airbags are available as a $350 option.

J.D. Power & Associates predicts that diesels will account for only 1.9% of the U.S. market this year, and that most of the diesel vehicles sold will be being heavy-duty General Motors, Ford (F), and Chrysler pickup trucks. Hybrids will account for 2.9% of the market this year, J.D. Power figures, with most of those being cars. Power figures the same trends will continue through 2014: Hybrids will expand to 8.1% of the market, mainly cars, while diesel will expand to 7.6%, mainly pickups and other trucks.

However, the '09 Jetta is one of the strongest-selling models on the market, largely because of the additional sales generated by the new SportWagen and TDI versions of the car. Total U.S. sales of the Jetta fell only 3.2% in the first five months of this year, to 36,230, a far smaller drop than most car models experienced. The company says that diesels accounted for 30% of Jetta sedans sold so far this year, and in some months as much as 72% of all SportWagens sold.

Behind the Wheel

Diesel engines have a reputation for being noisy and smelly. Forget about that—it's history. If you stand outside the Jetta TDI while it's running, you'll hear a little bit of engine clatter, but from inside the car the engine is almost as quiet as a gasoline engine. There's no diesel odor that I could discern, even while I was filling the tank.

The advantage of a diesel engine is raw power. The Jetta TDI's 140-horsepower engine generates an impressive 236 foot-pounds of torque, enough oomph to make it very quick for such a fuel-efficient model. VW says the TDI sedan will accelerate from 0 to 60 in 8.2 seconds, and I clocked it at about 8.5. The SportWagen TDI is much slower: The company rates it at 9.5 seconds. But that's still faster than the 2010 Prius, which does 0 to 60 in 9.8 seconds.

The disadvantage of a turbocharged diesel engine is a phenomenon called turbo-lag, which my test Jetta TDI had in spades. At all speeds, there was a significant—and annoying—lag before the car took off after I punched the gas. The Jetta TDI has a kickdown feature when you punch the gas at highway speed, but the extra kick was largely negated by turbo-lag. On the other hand, acceleration is powerful at linear at speeds of, say, 25 mph to 60. This is a great car for tooling around on hilly back roads on summer evening.

The Jetta's interior isn't fancy, but it's attractive and comfortable. The front seat has a large amount of travel, making it a good model for tall drivers to check out. In the rear seats, headroom, shoulder room, and legroom are a bit cramped. The rear seats of the new Prius feel roomier.

On the plus side, the Jetta sedan's trunk is a relatively voluminous 16 cubic feet. The rear seats fold down in a 60/40 pattern, and there's also a pass-through from the trunk for skis and other long objects.

Buy It or Bag It?

For my money, the new Jetta TDI is one of the best buys on the market. The average selling price of the Jetta TDI is just $22,861, according to the Power Information Network (PIN), an indication that dealers can be haggled down on price. Yet the Jetta handles like a more expensive German car and rivals or surpasses the fuel economy of most hybrids if you do a lot of highway driving.

There are two big doubts about the Jetta TDI. First, if the world economy recovers, demand from China and other developing nations could once again push the price of diesel above that of premium gasoline, which would largely negate the TDI's fuel economy advantage. Second, VW has a reputation for iffy reliability. In the past, it has scored lower than Honda and Toyota, to say nothing of Ford and Nissan (NSANY), in J.D. Power's rankings of overall vehicle dependability, and there's no guarantee that its newest models will do better. (PIN and J.D. Power, like BusinessWeek, is a unit of The McGraw-Hill Companies [MHP].)

Still, there's a reason the Jetta TDI is a cult model with some buyers. If you check the used-car listings you'll often see older Jetta TDIs for sale with over 100,000 miles on them. They usually sell for a relatively high price, too, partly because diesel engines tend to be more durable than gas engines. My guess is that the '09 TDI will continue that tradition.

Click here to see more of the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI.

Thane Peterson reviews cars for BusinessWeek.com.

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