10k

Just turned over 10k on the Jetta SportWagen on our way back from Richmond this weekend. I took it up to the dealer for its first oil change this morning. A quick 45 minutes for the maintenance and we were on our way.

I really, really like this car. It's fun to drive, gets great mileage (as you can see from the picture) and has enough room for most of our family trips. It gets a bit tight if we have the dog and a bunch of gear for the weekend, but it is manageable with some careful packing. The only improvements I would like are all-wheel drive and a bit more driver leg room (I have to crank the seat all the way back). Highly recommended.

Rental

The other week at SFO, Hertz upgraded me from my usual boring midsize to something a bit more interesting - a 2011 Ford Mustang Convertible. Despite not being the higher end model, this car was a blast to drive and I really had to keep my eye on the speedometer, lest I find myself going way too fast. I took it up in the hills after a particularly frustrating day on the project I was doing and drove the heck out of it for 2 hours. The car handled very well and had enough get-up-and-go to keep you very entertained. After a beautiful drive through the redwoods, the day didn't seem so bad after all.

Fuel

On my way down to Blacksburg this morning, I had to fuel up the Jetta TDI.  The mileage wasn't as good as last time: we got 435 miles out of 13.5 gallons which is an average of 32.2 MPG. Probably because of more city and less highway driving. Anyway, the overall cost per mile was still very good at $0.089.

I had a little bit of hassle finding diesel today. I was on my way and noticed that I needed to fuel up, so took an exit that I know has a couple of gas stations towards Salem. The first one, Exxon, had diesel but there was a guy there filling up a big truck, so I figured I'd keep going. The next one didn't have diesel at all so I turned west down 460 to a Chevron maybe half a mile down the road. They had diesel in this crazy old pump off to the side that was surrounded by a big oil slick and assorted mechanical debris. At least you don't have to fill this car up very often.

Diesel

Did the first refuel on the TDI today on my way from GSO to Todd, NC after 480 miles on the clock. I put about 12 gallons in for $35. I got the car with a full tank and 62 miles on the clock. By my calculations, that is 35 MPG overall. I think I'm going to like this car.

Goldie

I'm happy to have a new car but I'm also happy to have an old one. Goldie, a 1999 Subaru Legacy Wagon, has been with us since Seattle and has never let us down. Since she only has about 95k on the clock, I'm hoping she will be with us for a while.

2010 Jetta SportWagen TDI

I drove up to Alexandria, VA to purchase a 2010 Jetta SportWagen TDI. It's too early to give a comprehensive review of the car, but I'm impressed so far in the 200 miles I've driven in it.

The Jetta has excellent road manners and felt very stable and smooth on the highway. In traffic, it drives a bit different that the cars I'm used to. The TDI has a lot of torque which means you can use a very light touch when starting from a stop. It's not a sports car, but if you hit the accelerator, it moves briskly (with maybe a touch of turbo lag). The DSG transmission is very nice and anticipates the next shift very well (up and down). If you punch it, the tranny is ready to go. If you drive casually, it responds with smoothly spaced shifts.

The interior is quieter than I would have thought and if you have the windows up, you hardly hear the engine at highway speeds. At idle, it sounds different than a gasoline car but no louder than most.

The interior is fairly spartan and simply laid out. It has a mix of automatic and power features (e.g. seat recline is power, but other axes are manual). If you like a lot of gadgets and interior bling, this is not your car. There is a fairly large radio display in the center of the dash. Definitely big enough for a navigation screen (an option I did not purchase). I haven't had a chance to try out some of the more advanced features (Bluetooth integration, media cards, iPod dock).

Best of all, the mileage lives up to the hype. Driving reasonably in a mix of city (DC traffic) and highway (I-66 to I-81 to Roanoke), it got 40 MPG. I've read online that the mileage improves as the engine breaks in, but if we get 35-40 MPG in our mix of driving, that will be more than double what we get in the Silver Surfer.

More to follow after we start to put some miles on it.