Jetta vs Cruze Diesel: 747 miles on a single tank

Cruze won by accumulating 747 miles on a single tank, that's 1200 km for you Canadians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdIwb6Dg5Xg

 

Interesting.

 

747 miles / 15.6 gal - so the fuel economy Car and Driver achieved was 48 mpg, which is better than the 46 mpg EPA hwy rating.

Remarkably, Prius prices are low enough to be competing in the same segment. The Prius is lighter despite its battery pack:

Cruze diesel: 151 hp / 264 lb-ft, 3471 lb curb weight, 27/46 city/hwy mpg, $24,885

Prius Two: 134 hp / 105 lb-ft, 3042 lb curb weight, 51/48 city/hwy mpg, $25,010

 

Chevy claims the Cruze diesel does it in 8.6 sec. We'll see how real that is once the magazines do instrumented testing.

Motor Trend tested the Prius at 9.7 sec in 2011.
http://www.motortrend.com/roadtests...af_vs_2011_toyota_prius_comparison/specs.html

So yes, the Prius is a second slower to 60. Whether that's important to someone shopping in that segment is questionable.

 

Meh, I'd take the VW.

 

With the aggressive incentives GM is doing on the Volt coupled with the tax credits, $7,500 federal and $3,500 state (here in PA), the Volt is in the same price range. EV range is 40-45 miles and mpg in the 40s on longer trips. Cost is about $1.00 a day to charge. Some people go months without getting gas. Acceleration is instant so it is pretty quick off the line. It's an impressive vehicle. If I didn't need a truck I would be driving one right now. I wanted my wife to get one last month but she didn't like the styling, so she got a Lexus ct200h instead.

 

The Jetta has a nicer interior for sure, but I wouldn't trust its reliability over the Cruze. VW's 3-year reliability is about on par with Jeeps...