How does the Golf TDI compare with Hybrid Electric vehicles?

    I support all efforts to decrease petroleum fuel consumption and think that hybrid electric vehicles are an important step in this direction. However, Hybrid electric is an expensive and unproven technology compared to the simplicity of the diesel engine which has been time tested for over 100 years. Cars like the Toyota Prius and Honda Civic Hybrid are great cars, but who knows how their exotic and expensive hybrid components will hold up over time? What will it cost to replace the batteries for example? Diesel engines routinely last for hundreds of thousands of miles and the Golf offers the added benefit of running biodiesel and/or vegetable oil, the ultimate green fuel. Plus, the Golf offers the thrill of fahrfergnugen - a car designed and engineered for the joy of driving. The Japanese cars are relatively dull to drive by comparison.

    On the plus side for Hybrid Electric Vehicles is the fact that they do very well in stop-and-go urban traffic. Diesel engines perform better on long trips and their mileage decreases in the city. If you're buying a car and live in a city where you make frequent short trips, HEV's may be a better alternative. But if you're buying a car to commute long distances, a diesel engine is a better option since the electricity won't be recharged in an HEV while driving on the highway. In short, if you do live in a city, make frequent short trips, and don't care about sporty handling, the Prius or another HEV may be a better choice for you.

    Running Biodiesel:

    Biodiesel is a 100% vegetable fuel that doesn't derive from petroleum. The diesel engine, invented in Germany by Rudolf Diesel in 1893, was originally designed to run from peanut oil and not petroleum diesel as is most commonly used today. While modern diesels can still run peanut oil, canola and soy are more commonly used to make biodiesel as they are abundantly available from farmers here in the US and around the world. Biodiesel differs from regular vegetable oil (also referred to as straight vegetable oil or "SVO") only in that it is chemically modified using a mixture of lye and methanol to make it more suitable for running in cold climates, and to meet strict industry specifications (ASTM D6751) for vehicle usage. SVO can power the Golf, but it can clog the fuel system at low temperatures because SVO congeals very easily if it has not been modified into biodiesel. You can however purchase a vegetable oil kit for the Golf, which allows you to run SVO when the engine is warm, and regular diesel or biodiesel when it's cold. The system adds a second fuel tank with a switch and fuel warmer, at a cost of about $800. With this system in place you can run your car with used cooking oil collected for FREE from restaurants. That's right folks!Fish & Chips mobile, he he

    Commercial biodiesel (the kind the Golf CAN run without any modifications) is sold either pure or in mixtures of diesel/biodiesel at biodiesel filling stations (see photo below). Biodiesel is sold in B100, B50, B20 and other mixtures. The number here refers to the percentage of biodiesel in the mixture compared to petroleum diesel and both fuels mix very well (B100 = 100% biodiesel, 0% petroleum diesel). During the winter in cold climates, it's best to run on B20, which is a mixture of 20% biodiesel and 80% regular diesel, due to the high gel point of B100 (it gels at around 30 deg. F vs. -15 deg. F for B20). During the warmer months B100 works great in the Golf. An added benefit of using biodiesel is that due to its much higher lubricity compared to petroleum diesel, engine life is extended because of reduced component wear and less "gunk" build up. It also reduces emissions by 90% compared to petroleum diesel, to say nothing of the reduction of dependency on foreign oil.

    How does the Golf run on biodiesel compared to regular diesel? Well, most people can't tell the difference. Power and fuel economy are almost the same (some claim it's better, some worse with biodiesel). The engine does run a little smoother, probably due to the higher lubricity of biodiesel but the biggest difference you'll notice is the lack of smoke and diesel odor from the exhaust pipe.

    One thing to remember if you're running biodiesel on an older car: the strong solvent properties of biodiesel will clean out the fuel system and can clog your fuel filter with old gunk. It's often a good idea to replace the fuel filter after your first few tanks of biodiesel. The easiest way to tell if you fuel filter is getting clogged with gunk is if your engine starts sputtering at higher speeds. This happened to me after a few tanks of B100. Changing the TDI's fuel filter is an easy process to perform yourself. Here's a Quicktime video that shows you how to do it and you can order the filters online for roughly $30US.

"Biofuels are carbon dioxide (CO2) neutral. Unlike petroleum fuels, they do not add new carbon to the atmosphere [since they come from renewable plants which consume CO2]. Sulphur dioxide (SO2) and sulfates (major contributors to acid rain) are completely eliminated due to the fact that sulfur does not exist in veggie oil. Carbon monoxide (CO) emissions are reduced by 40-60% and carcinogens by 90%. Hydrocarbon emissions are reduced by 50% which reduces photochemical smog (ozone) by 50% as well. Particulate matter, a major contributor to increased asthma cases, is reduced by 45%"

Source: Veggiebus.com

http://www.transmitmedia.com/golfTDI/ I always wondered why Honda & Toyota don't make small cars with diesel engines. If you buy this car in Thailand, the wonderful Thai Gov. is going socket to you with big import duty for being Green.      

not wholly sure about the biofuel idea yet. Seems that there are a plethora of articles which point out that agricultural encroachment of the Sout American rainforests is INCREASING to meet biofuel demands.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/environment/article7007238.ece

"More than 1.3 million hectares of land — twice the area of Devon — was used to grow the 2.7 per cent of Britain’s transport fuel that came from crops last year"

It works and there are plenty of Biodiesel vehicles in the US although its been tougher to get the oil for free I hear.

The agency’s (renewable fuels agency) first annual report revealed that fuel companies had exploited a loophole to avoid reporting the origin of almost half the biofuel they supplied to filling stations last year. The origin of fuel from land recently cleared can be described as “unknownâ€. Last year Esso reported the source of only 6 per cent of its biofuel and BP reported 27 per cent. Shell was the best-performing of the main oil companies but still failed to report the origin of a third of its biofuel.

The agency said: “The large proportion of unknown previous land use is of concern. If even a small proportion of this was carbon-rich grassland or forestland, it could have substantially reduced the carbon savings resulting from the renewable transport fuels obligation as a whole, or even resulted in a net release of carbon.

Herein lies the problem. If the fuel companies are hiding the origins of the biofuel, and it IS, as seems to be the case, coming from recently cleared rainforest, then biofuels are not really helping just now.

Yep, Iain, you are completely right. Additionally, this biodiesel causes an increase of food prices even in Europe as more and more arable land is not used for growing crops and vegetables but for plants you can make biodiesel of. So it is, as we call it, a two-sided sword.

Neither here nor there in terms of the theme of your post, but... assuming it is the exact same model as in the USA & Mexico, that VW pictured above has a design flaw in its manual transmission. Worse yet, VW refuses to reimburse owners for the problem.

I've herd about palm oil plantations displacing rain forest in Malaysia and Indonesia. Hopefully, there will more transparency by the biofuel companies on sources of biofuel production.

Seems ashamed not use waste cooking oil and marginal agricultural land for biofuel. Algae has good potential for making biofuel and byproducts can used for fertilizer.

Unfortunately Bruce, the biggest biofuel companies are the same old oil companies who have been screwing the environment for decades. But now the big marketing words are 'green' and 'eco friendly' so even if the biofuel itself is 'green' the methods of producing it are far from it at this moment in time.

Soya production is the biggest cause of rainforest destruction in Nrazil at the moment.

Nrazil??? That's just next to Brazil btw.

I belive Boi D is not advailable in Australia unless you make it yourself.

However there is a trade in Bio D in most states. In Victoria it is illegal. Boi D in Aust tends to be made

from recycling cooking oil Basically all that is done is it is filtered to remove the food particles and

some diesel is added.

I am sure some farmers would be growing a crop to convert to Bio D but i am not aware of it.

It would more than likely be happening in QLD as the QLD State Govt. is very committed to converting

sugar cane into Ethanol and mix it with Un Leaded Petrol.

i'm happy with my 26mpg 735i,and 21mpg 850i