Diesel has been tainted for at least a generation by memories of the black soot and foul stench of 18-wheelers in summer. Diesel exhaust filters have improved dramatically in the last 10 years or so, but everyone that's currently 25+ remembers diesel being extremely unpleasant.
That's changing though. I can count four friends that have bought a VW diesel in the past 2 years. They all love them. They all also happen to be 32 or under. I think the age range of bad memories of diesel is probably 35+.
+1. I bought a Golf TDI 2 months ago, and couldn't be happier. I'm getting "only" 35mpg overall, but that's just because with a great chassis setup and lots of torque it's hard to keep your right foot out of it. It's that near-impossible combination - an economy car that's actually a blast to drive.
Great highway cruiser too - nice to only be turning ~2200 RPM at 70, and getting 45 mpg while doing it.
My last company car was 'pick yourself' - and I got a Golf GTD (I'm not sure if it's sold outside of DE).
It's a little less of an economy car than the TDI, but .. it handles the Autobahn quite nicely. I came from an Audi A3 and couldn't complain about the overall quality. Going back to DE soon I might go for exactly the same thing again.
US Spec TDI is a bit closer to the GTD. Engine is only 140HP, and we don't get the fancy trim bits, but we DO get the sport suspension, which is a big part of why it's fun to drive. I think it's softened slightly from GTI/GTD spec, but not by much.
I'd love to have had the option of getting a GTD though...but it's kind of insane how poorly the Golf sells here... only sell about 15k of them a year, in the whole US. As of right now about 60% of those are TDIs.
NB: That's not counting GTI or Golf R sales...in the US VW treats those as separate models, not trim levels.
I think you're about right. I'm 35, and remember many times as a youngster being stuck at traffic lights behind stank-ass Mercedes diesel cars. It's been a long time since I've seen/smelled one of those though.
Agreed, plus the pain-in-the-butt Diesel engines were to start in the winter up north. All those memories are tough to shake.
I was going to buy a diesel for my next vehicle, but I cannot find anything outside of Volkswagen and I am not buying one of those[1]. I do believe the other side of the problem is that their are not many diesels to buy.
[1] poor build quality (door handles broke off) and obscene repair prices ($300 to change headlight - not user serviceable) on my friends VW bug. It had worse build quality than my 2008 Chevy Cavalier and that's saying something.
An important lesson here: It takes forever and ever for a brand to recover credibility. One sufficiently bad experience and protomyth will probably never even consider a VW again.
If it was only how sucky the car was, I might forgive, but the people my friend had to deal with and their basic philosophy was just beyond the pale. It was like they were drooling every time he brought it in and nothing was warranty work.
My 2008 Cavalier was a POS. The 1994 one we had was amazing, that's why I bought the 2008 model. The dealer service center was awful[1], but I took it to another dealer ship. They were amazing and fixed everything. Car made it to 268,000 miles before I gave it to my uncle. Only problem is that they got closed by GM and the bad dealership stayed.
[1] bring car in for 8:00AM appointment for 4th recall. Told it needed to be there by 7:00AM. Got it there at 6:35AM. Told it would be done at noon. Finally was allowed to pick it up at 11:45PM. GM called for a followup and I told them the whole story. Dealer called me the next day and was very upset that I told GM the truth.
Well, they were a tad bit hostile and didn't think they had done anything wrong. I went to different dealership because the belt tensioner broke while my brother was driving and we got it hauled over to the closest dealership (at this point why not take a chance). They fixed the belt and the damage caused. I was not a happy camper and mentioned the brakes. I had a bit of trouble believing the original dealership's claim that anti-lock brakes are meant to sound like a sledgehammer. The new dealership fixed the breaks (it was a "fixed" recall on my car) for no money. They did ask why I didn't take it to the original dealership and that got some giggles.
When GM shutdown a chunk of their dealerships they got to stay open, but the one with a much better service department closed. One had connections, one didn't.
I realized I put the wrong year in as I was driving home in my current car which is a 2008 Kia Rio (don't ask). It was the 1998 model. It was the 1989 model that was amazing. I swapped the years of the ill-fated Dodge Shadow I was stuck with for a year.
The Beetle is hands down the worst mainstream car ever made in my opinion (and the opinion of many others). It's what happens when you design a product for a "lifestyle" and not a purpose.
