Our Jetta SportWagen TDI Crushes Its EPA Ratings Before a Potential Fix
CARS.COM — After Volkswagen admitted to cheating on federal emissions testing with its diesel-powered vehicles, Cars.com bought a 2013 Jetta SportWagen TDI. We’re testing it before a potential fix by Volkswagen brings TDI models into compliance with emissions regulations. The ease at which TDIs like our SportWagen achieve fuel economy better than EPA ratings combined with impressive acceleration are aspects we fear could change with a potential fix. Our baseline tests of fuel economy, power and performance will help us evaluate how updates could impact VW’s TDI vehicles.
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Baseline fuel-economy testing of our Jetta SportWagen TDI resulted in an impressive 43.5 mpg average after a 294.7-mile loop, easily one-upping its EPA rating of 29/39/33 mpg city/highway/combined. The route used to evaluate fuel economy was a mix of city and highway driving in the Chicago area. The driving parameters of the test mirror how we test fuel economy in Cars.com’s multicar Challenges: Default driving mode (no Sport or Eco modes), windows up, air conditioning on, consistent climate control and driving as normal as possible without employing any high-mileage driving techniques. An average speed of 45 mph included highway driving up to 80 mph as well as bumper-to-bumper city traffic. The final 12-mile slog averaged just 13 mph and took 54 minutes, while the total route spanned 6 hours and 30 minutes.
What came as no surprise was the Jetta SportWagen TDI’s impressive fuel economy at steady cruising speeds where the car’s instant mileage indicator regularly read near 50 mpg. At 70 mph, the SportWagen loafs along with very little throttle input thanks to gutsy low-rpm torque.
Its fuel economy is impressive, but at what cost? The numbers are achieved using illegal emissions equipment that hides the fact that affected VW cars spew 10 to 40 times the EPA-allowable amount of nitrogen oxide. During testing at an emissions facility, the software automatically detects emissions equipment and reduces the cars’ nitrogen oxide output.
For now, there’s no fix. Our plan is to retest the Jetta SportWagen TDI if and when a recall to address the problem is announced, but rumors of buybacks swirl for cars like the 2013 Jetta SportWagen TDI in need of the most retrofitting to comply with federal regulations. Details regarding Volkswagen’s remedy had not been approved as of publication, but an April 21 deadline to produce a detailed plan to a federal judge outlining a fix for nearly 600,000 U.S. diesel cars is looming.
