Jetta vs. Jetta TDI
 

We have two branches of VW Jettas in our system: the standard Jetta and the diesel Jetta, Jetta TDI. We're wondering if we should combine them into one model.

We built Fuelly to be flexible, allowing people to enter a custom model if it wasn't already in our system. That means people can split models out into a separate branch if they want, and that's exactly what happened with the Jetta TDI.

No other vehicles have split into separate models based on fuel type, and we're wondering if it'd be more useful to combine the diesel Jettas with the regular Jettas for comparisons between the two. We have tools to filter by fuel-type on the model pages, so you could still isolate the Jetta TDIs if you want to look at stats for them alone.

So what would be more useful to you? Combine the Jettas into a single category like every other vehicle, or continue with the separate branch?

separate branch is what I vote for. TDI people are a bit more crazy with there milage. I really don't look at what gas Jettas do. I only care about the TDI's.

The vehicles should be split into distinct classes.

I don't see the point except to give us an "exclusive" TDI club, albeit leaving out the TDI versions of the Golf, NB, and Passat. The Golfs, NBs, and Passats aren't split. The V6 and V8 versions of the Mustang and other cars aren't split. Come to think of it, the models with hybrids in their line-up aren't split, either.

Even with us split up, there are still TDI owners listed in the "regular" Jetta section. Why not just merge us? It's not like we won't be able to tell who the TDI owners are when the graph shows mileage spikes between 40-60mpg! ;)

The Jetta is the most sold VW model since 1985. All other motors are, frankly, inferior to the diesel. There has historically only been one diesel model available (enginewise, there have been two different 2.0L engines available in Jetta from 1991-1998, as an example).

I think that breaking vehicles down by fuel type makes far more sense. Hybrids should be kept in their own category, regardless of model (camry Hybrid should be kept seprate from Camry nonhybrid, etc), Diesels should be kept in their own class, and gas vehicles in their own.

This provides people the ability to look at which fuel and/or assistive technology is more beneficial to their needs (if they're viewing the data researching a car buying decision).

The TDI should be its own category, the models available should fall under it. The same should be done for Hybrids.

Keep them separate.

Foxie,

Not to toss stones, but you're one of the ~45 TDI's listed under "Jetta" instead of "Jetta TDI." One way or another, we'd like to get us all together. I have no beef with either decision. :)

Scott

I don't think it matters. The shape of the fuel economy curve for Jettas has two peaks so i guess it's pretty easy to tell generally which ones are gasoline and which ones are diesel, although there's a recent TDI in there getting 30 mpg (how do you get that low on a diesel?).

look at the gas engine jetta section. there are over 35 diesels in it. it is already diluted and is serving no purpose.will we seperate cr diesels from pd's? non turbo diesels from turbo?please make it one.

I vote for merging them. The filter option is there if people want to see just the TDIs.

They should absolutely be combined into one - there is NO reason for there to be a separate "Jetta TDI" category. If all you want is to see the Jetta diesels, then YOU CAN STILL DO THAT WITH THE FILTER FUNCTION. Ta da:

https://www.fuelly.com/car/volkswagen/jetta/diesel%20l4

Providing two options is giving the exact opposite of the intended result. Instead of having all Jetta TDI's together and getting an accurate representation of just one model, they are split across two groups (currently 38 diesels under the "Jetta" category and currently 10 gassers under the "Jetta TDI" category), and so the data is being contaminated.

Further, it seems that the EPA data is only associated with the "Jetta" option, and not the custom "Jetta TDI" option, so users opting for the latter don't get that feature.

Creating the Jetta TDI category was a mistake - especially w/o removing the Diesel engine option from the principle "Jetta" category, or the Gas option from the "Jetta TDI" category.

I see absolutely no good reason to keep them separate - move all "Jetta TDI" diesels to the Diesel L4 option under "Jetta" and Keep It Simple.

Thx.

There are Jetta Diesels and Jetta TDI's, of the TDI's there is TDI, PD, and CR motors.

I think there is some confusion when people first sign up here at Fuley. I for one had to redo my car info for it to be in TDI as it was stuck in the regular jetta series. If there is a filter for different fuels that would be great and then you can lump all the jettas together. I only look at diesels as that is what trips my trigger.

Same argument for us Mazda 6 owners. there's only 2 engine choices but 3 cars really, I4, V6, and the Turbocharged I-4 (mazdaspeed 6). All those all-wheel drive hoon machines are making us look bad!

It boils down to having the right engine choices... you guys should team up with edmunds for the breakdown in car lists or something.

Add my vote to those who want them joined as one.

I'll use the filter function when I want them split.

Unless a mod is going to constantly go through and clean house, for those who mistakenly put their diesel jetta in the regular category, and place them correctly, there is no point to the two groups, because obviously people have a hard time understanding the difference.

I vote merge, put them both together. Members haven't done well seperating them anyway, and as was stated, this opens the door to people wanting a non-TDI diesel group, wanting a PD group, wanting a CR group etc. etc. the filter functions are capable of breaking up the diesel vs. fuel measurements. let people use them.

We could remove the TDI model designation, and push everyone back onto normal Jettas with the proper engine, and then in the future we could block someone from creating a TDI new model and it won't be available to everyone.

For custom car models, we approve them by hand, and one of us site admins accidentally approved "TDI" as a separate model at some point months ago.

I think we'll align everyone and fix this up next week sometime.

Please combine them into one model. It will make searching easier, and streamline the layout of the vehicle models.

Logically, if you were to keep Jetta TDI, then you should add Golf TDI, Beetle TDI, Jetta 2.0T, Jetta VR6, etc etc (you see where I'm going with this).

Thanks for the site, I think it's great.

I have a TDI, and signed up for the TDI because it was there. I say merge. If people cant help but choose the wrong section, get rid of the option, the engine type is still there for filtering.

Merge them, there isn't an option for different engine types on other cars, why is the TDI an exception? Though I can see how it could mess up the average fuel economy of Jettas since the TDI's milege much higher than any of the gas engines, same could be said about the hybrid models.

Merge is the way to go. I did not know you could filter by different motors untill a few days ago after I voted for separation.

As others have pointed out, there's really no need to separate Jetta and Jetta TDI, otherwise there'd need to be diesel versions for all the other cars. OTOH, there's the A4 and A4 Quattro.

It's nice having our own section, but as others have said... there are already so many in the gas Jetta section, you may as well merge them.

I've just made a section for Passat TDI and I think we should keep them separated from gassers since there is a big difference in fuel used and fuel mileage. It comes in handy when I want to compare my mileage with another cars with the same engine.

Results can be filtered by engine type, so there's really no need to make separate categories.

Thanks everyone for the feedback, we appreciate all of the opinions. I'm going to go ahead and roll the "Jetta TDI" into the "Jetta" model on Monday, and make sure that the diesel engine option is set on all of the existing Jetta TDIs.

We won't approve further splits of "x TDI" from other models, and we'll point folks to the engine filtering feature to view diesels on their own. We could always reconsider this down the road if any one model gets too large to manage on its own, but I don't think we're at that point with Jettas yet.

Thanks again for the thoughtful discussion.

Good job and thanks again for your work here on Fuelly!

erick

have you ever seen a model climb the ranks as fast as the jetta tdi did? three months ago we were not in the top ten, and this week before the merger we had climbed to top 4. amazing what awareness on a great sight like the TDI Club will do!

True coolbreeze, that was impressive. I didn't realize where all of the Jetta TDI owners were coming from. But yeah, both Jetta models were in the top 10, and now after the merger Jetta is #2.

Tdiclub ftw! :)

"I didn't realize where all of the Jetta TDI owners were coming from."

I think a lot of TDI-ers come from TDI club forums. I got your link from there too. BTY thanks for doing such a great job with this site.

there is a dedicated thread for your site. take a look through it and you will happy to see how well your fuelly badge works to draw people to your site. a few months ago there where only a handful of us with badges now most of the day to day users on the site have them.

https://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=229075