Tuesday, August 22, 2006
2006 Volkswagon Passat
Jia Nin's current car is a 2006 model Volkswagon Passat station wagon. She used to have the 2005 TDI version (diesel engine) but some idiot made an illegal turn and banged into it.
She's not very happy with this petrol engine version of the Passat. For one, diesel engines have so much more torque, so you get alot of acceleration, like starting off when the light turns green or overtaking a car at high speed on the highway. Also, it is almost 50% more fuel efficient (20 miles per gallon for the petrol engine, 31 miles per gallon for diesel). With rising gas prices, diesel car is much cheaper to feed!
Also, the interior fittings of the current petrol model had large gaps. She had to take it back to the dealer to get the fittings "fitted" properly. Assembled in South America. I'm not saying they make bad cars, but getting one of their bad ones does not give us good opinions of their QC (quality control).
All in all, this means she wants to get another car. Since there aren't many diesel cars in the market, she probably has to get a petrol car. Her choice should be a smaller car (VW Jetta? Golf? Rabbit? Mini Cooper?) to get better fuel economy.
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Personally feel Mini Cooper doesnt have much of a fuel economy, as it does uses BMW tech, which leaves much to be desired. But it can be a fast acceleration for a car that size.
ReplyDeleteWith such wide range of cars in the states, u guys r luckier to have so much more choices.
So far the new Civic 1.8 VTI looks appealing, if u dont mind the electrical meters over conventional ones. Honda's more realiable too! =)
you are all such car techies. And William, 2 electric socket not enough? We seldom use them in spore except to charge our hp battery.
ReplyDeletebtw, diesel is not environmentally friendly right? tsk tsk...
I saw the mini cooper in the movie The Italian Job...my dream car. My fren is driving the blue soft top model...cool, man.
ai peng
Diesel is environmentally friendly since it is more fuel efficient, therefore burns less fuel, therefore less carbon dioxide output. Modern technology has made it almost as clean as the gasoline car. Of course, modern technology is more expensive, but with higher petrol prices, can make it back in 2-3 years.
ReplyDeleteAmerican car emission laws emphasize NOx (nitrogen oxide, dioxide, etc) which is the diesel's weakpoint. European laws pay more attention to soot (puff of smoke on acceleration) and diesel vehicles make up almost 50% of new cars there!
Modern exhaust cleaning technologies need low-sulfur fuel, which is not available yet at the gas station. Supposed to come out next year, sigh.
Anyway, the guy who shares my office has a Mini Cooper S. Takes corners like a demon! A bit on the low side for some of the higher speed bumps in Singapore.
Long distance driving needs more power sockets! Like I said, GPS unit, iPod.. no more sockets to charge phone, or plug in computer to play movies for the passenger, or maybe a car ionic air filter. Lots of gadgets ;-)