Exactly my point> The salesman made a comment similar to this. "It is a hybrid, some take some time to get used to it." F' that. If I jumped behind a car that was packin' 500hp and could carry a couple g's through a corner, that may take some getting used to. IMO the hybrid is like taking one step forward and two steps back.

 

How about the VW TDI Wagon? Anyone have any experience with this? It's going for roughly 1/2 the price of the diesel BMW 3 series, but I'm wondering if you really get what you pay for (like cheap feel, handling, and quality from the VW)... I was trying to convince my wife she needed something like this for her only 5-mile one-way commute to work to replace our now-sold extraneous Chevy Tahoe, which would have qualified for the cash for clunkers during the brief time it was offered.

 

I drove a prius and I liked it. The one I actually really liked was the Ford Escape Hybrid. The Altima hybrid is nice too.

I think you have to just change your mindset to accept that its going to be slow and not worry about it.

 

Yeah, I drove the Jetta wagon back in 04 or so. I liked it. It wasnt fast or powerful but it drove like a Volkwagen and no doubt had electrical problems too.

Id wait for the hybrid or electric Volvo. Aside from transmissions falling out, keys getting stuck in the ignition and ECU's frying themselves, they dont have too many problems.

 

The TDI are pretty stout. VW has had problems in the past with gremlins throughout. I'd seriously consider an Audi A3 TDI but the V'dub problems will carry over.

 

One of my best friends picked up an '09 VW Jetta TDi wagon. It's really nice and gets great mileage. I think he's averaging something like 38mpg. The nice thing is that it's a 6 speed manual tranny and has gobs of torque. It's pretty damn quiet too. The only thing I'm not so sold on is VW reliability. We'll see how it holds up in the long term, but it's the only compromise I could make if I wanted something frugal in the mileage department.

-Brian

 

I'd DD a Prius, or any hybrid for that matter, STi gas milage sucks.

A hybrid isn't, at this stage anyway, about driving experience. I think people expect too much from these things.

 

You're right, you have to go full electric for that.

 

had a vw tdi golf that I drove for awhile....super fun to drive but i'll be damned if I could EVER pull out in front of traffic that was speeding quickly towards me. Not a big deal, but I recall one time where I was like DAMNIT, GO!

otherwise, with two golfs that i've driven in the last 5 years, never had major problems with either of them. I'd love a tdi golf/wagon again.

 

$128k, if I had $128k for a car, I'd fill the tank of the guy next to me at the gas station too.

 

Excitement is part of buying a new car. So much so that dealers capitalize on it. If you're about to dump 40k on something is had better at the very least excite you.

 

Then hybrid makers need to figure out how to do that and keep the cost within reach for most.

For me, a hybrid purchase would be as exciting as the purchase of a new tube for my bike tire. In fact, hybrids bore me so much, I opt to ride a bike and walk instead of drive around the city.

I would appreciate it on long distance commutes/highway trips though.

 

Very nice analogy.

 

I've never been in a hybrid vehicle. Glad to see I'm not missing out on anything.

 

This one isn't actually the Prius, it's based on the Toyota Avensis which is a Euro market car similar to our Avalon, but smaller. I rented one in Stockholm and it was actually really nice to drive.