Diesel or Petrol?

mako · 2008-12-08

I am very close to buying my Eos, but cannot decide between Diesel or Petrol, the petrol certainly has more zip, but the fi=uel economy of the diesel is attractive. Help??

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silvershadow

· #7 · Dec 9, 2008

adam298 said:
I was also very impressed with the how quiet the tdi motor was, however after taking the top off, well thats a different story. Driving slowly (0-50km/h) such as in car parks or creeping through city traffic, side streets, taking off at traffic light, etc) the horrible sound of a diesel engine was very evident, and for a convertible it was unacceptable. Once you reach 50-60km/h, no problems, you wouldnt even know its a diesel.

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As for the diesel soundtrack, ok roof on, however not a good mix with roof down at lower speeds. Its down to personal preference.

The MY09 model does not have these problems - if anything, the car is too quiet to the point people we take out in the car will not believe it is a diesel due to the lack of noise and its V8-like acceleration capabilities.

Anyone offered an MY08 version "off-the-floor" over waiting for delivery of an MY09 should keep this in mind and negotiate a bigger discount

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silvershadow

· #10 · Dec 11, 2008

davidp said:
That's interesting, so you're saying that the new common rail diesel is quieter than the older PD diesel engine. Good to know as although I dont like the sound of a diesel my next Eos will most likely be a diesel for the economy, especially as I cover around 16,000 miles a year.
Cheers, David

Try a test drive in a MY09 diesel and I am certain you will get a very pleasant surprise.

When my partner's car was started in the showroom before we accepted delivery, I was sure they had swapped it with an identical petrol version also being delivered at the same time and asked the salesman to check.

Somewhat embarassing for a car tragic like myself

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· #15 · Dec 12, 2008

lanmarc said:
Yes, diesel is 30+ cents more expensive than regular unleaded, but since the 2.0TFSI should be running on premium, the price difference should be about 20+ cents.
By my wife's calculations, diesel would have to be 55 cents more than premium to make the diesel uneconomical (based on the list price, VWs consumption figures, and 15,000km per year over 10 years).

World diesel prices comparative to petrol[gas for our US members] are higher than normal due to demand for power generation and transport in India and China which consumes large volumes of this product. Thanks to the lack of new refinery construction in recent years, world production has not kept up with demand and spot market prices have increased accordingly as reflected in current pump prices.

Once additional refineries under construction in these countries come "on stream", I hope the price differential will show a substantial reduction although I do not expect it to come back to parity.

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· #19 · Jun 11, 2009

Michaelc said:
Hi,
I have been test driving both and was unsure but I noticed in the diesel I tried that it too half a second or so to respond from a standing start. Was there something wrong with this demo or is this typical of the diesel? The sales person said it was the diesel behavior but I have to admit I found it surprising. The Petrol responded immediately.

Should I try another diesel?

Thanks in advance for your feedback
Michael

Hi Michael,

Definitely try another diesel and try to get it for a couple of hours to go for a decent run with some city and highway driving if possible. If it is manual car, forget your petrol car driving technique. Just get the car moving up to 2000/2500rpm in each gear and change up - don't try to rev the engine higher in each gear as this doesn't improve the acceleration unlike a petrol car; just let the silky torque of the engine do its job. If you get the car out on the highway, you don't usually have to change down to overtake unless on a really steep hill - just use the accelerator and experience the urge - it is addictive

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If you test drove a diesel MY09 DSG demonstrator, it is possible the "hill-hold" feature was functioning - this stops the vehicle from rolling back if it is at rest on a slope when you take your right foot off the brake to use the accelerator. This is VW's answer to lazy drivers brought up on conventional torque convertor automatics as the torque convertor "drag" will hold a stationary vehicle in drive on most slopes so the driver never needs to learn left-foot braking to hold the car stationary. There is a distinct time lag between releasing the brake and the transmission engaging when the hill-hold feature is functioning.

Those of us who learnt to drive on manual cars with non-synchromesh gearboxes usually learnt a technique called "heel and toe" for hill starts [those who didn't used the handbrake

] or for braking whilst changing gears at the same time as you have to "double shuffle" the downshifts to line up the transmission gears to get a smooth gearchange. "Heel and toe" involves using the toes on your right foot to brake and angling your foot so your heel can push on the accelerator pedal when needed. The left foot is used for the clutch. This positioning of the right foot will hold the vehicle on an incline without having to use the handbrake whilst allowing the engine revs to be increased as you release the clutch to prevent stalling - double shuffling involves pushing the clutch in and placing the gearbox in Neutral, releasing the clutch and revving the engine whilst in Neutral then pushing the clutch in and downshifting whilst "feeling" the gear engagement through the gearshift lever until the gears line up so the gearlever can be pushed home and the clutch released. At the same time, you use your right foot to control the engine revs so there is no jerkiness when you release the clutch.

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silvershadow

· #24 · Jun 12, 2009

Michaelc said:
Thanks for the feedback.

The diesel I drove was the automatic. On a flat road after pressing down on the accelerator there was a noticeable 1/2 second when nothing happened then it decided to accelerate. The auto petrol I drove half hour latter responded immediately.

I just found it off putting and potentially dangerous in traffic.

Interesting I have been doing some surfing under “dead spot” and have others mention this but with the petrol! It sounded like the same thing but they put it down to a valve that sits on the turbo. Suggestion was to replace with an aftermarket job. Sounds like something VW should jump on and sort out.

This is definitely not normal behaviour - the diesel responds instantaneously to throttle input when moving and only hesitates when starting from rest on an incline as a consequence of the "hill-hold" feature.

The best way I can describe the diesel throttle response is that it is the same as driving a big V8 - a strong and persistent shove in the back until you change gear and the same thing happens again albeit at a higher speed ..... I am addicted

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See if you can test drive a diesel preferably with a couple of thousand kilometres up at another dealer. After-market add-ons should only be considered if you intend remapping the engine management sytem for more performance.

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silvershadow

· #28 · Jun 13, 2009 (Edited)

Doolallygirl said:
Diesel will save you about £100 when it comes to taxing as I only just found out

If only this applied in our part of the world - our state governments see car owners as a lucrative "cash cow" to be milked regularly to the last drop that can be squeezed out.

Michaelc will be ripped off with registration fees, stamp duty, compulsory third party insurance before he drives the car out of the dealer's showroom. He then has to run the gamut of fixed and mobile speed cameras, marked and unmarked police cars before he reaches the relative safety of his driveway - it is only a matter of time before the local council finds a way of collecting a parking fee from residents parking within their own property boundaries; a large number of city councils already charge their residents for parking permits to park in the street outside their home.

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