Comparison Test: 2009 Toyota Prius vs. 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI

We were locked in mortal combat, just as adrenaline-addled Leonidas and hubris-filled Xerxes met at the Battle of Thermopylae, when a relative handful of highly specialized Spartans held off a seemingly bottomless torque-pit of Persians for seven excruciating days.

Here we have the 2009 Toyota Prius gasoline-electric hybrid, embodying up-to-the-minute fuel-sipping methods and machinery intended to take us immaculately into a spotless future. In the other lane, the newly introduced 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI turbodiesel, a rolling relic of tried-and-true yester-tech locomotion (upon whose sooty breath the Industrial Revolution itself was built) that has been remastered, reengineered and reintroduced to be meaner, cleaner and more efficient than ever.

But the battle left us weary — done in by the struggle and tired of each other like Siamese twins on prom night.

The Epic Struggle Between Hybrid and Diesel
Surveying the digital display of our trusty tech-laden Prius, a report was issued that our battery charge had fallen like so many brave infantrymen to a level that prophesied possible defeat. Even a fate worse — the shame of being inefficient. How could we, with green-washed conscience, justify the worth of our ecorazzi-approved Prius if not for the implicit efficiency contained therein? Suddenly, our $29,000 Prius seemed like an ill-considered purchase. Nevertheless, we waited for the noble test of acceleration.

In his Jetta TDI, our opponent, too, was idle, but idling too silently for a 2.0-liter oil-burner whose forbears' aural qualities have been likened to skeletons pleasuring themselves in file cabinets. Yet neither one of us was going to surrender to the other the satisfaction of winning this epic match of motionlessness by making a poor choice on juvenile impulses.

Then the 2009 Toyota Prius' 1.5-liter gasoline engine came to life after resting in serene stillness for what seemed an eternity. Fuel was now flowing like sanguine syrup through the Prius' vehicular vascular system into each of the car's four cylinders within its Atkinson-cycle engine. Would the engine's automatic stop-start function be the undoing of the precious Prius?

Yet like the mystifying cosmos itself, the Prius was motivated by inexorably intertwined forces of the invisible mystery of might we call electricity, as well as a lump of metal containing a concoction of combustible chemicals as they explode. As it went, my steed was put into motion by means of a planetary gearset, so elegant in concept yet so complex in its coordination that it would flummox even Stephen Hawking to comprehend it fully.

The other worthy helmsman laughed through the side glass of his battle chariot as he pulled away next to us, flaunting his turbocharged full-figured torque curve like Salma Hayek on the red carpet. Yes, at that very moment Xerxes had prevailed and he had done so with hundred-year-old technology originally meant to replace the steam engine.

But history shall mark this occasion, this fuel-sipping second in time, as but a single skirmish in the larger war between modern hybrid and clean-diesel technologies. Like the extraordinary lives of Brit-Brit and Brangelina, each day's feats and failures shall be painstakingly observed, marked down, scrutinized, judged and proclaimed essential for the sustainable propagation of population on planet Earth.

Begin the Beguine
OK, this hybrid-versus-diesel confrontation isn't new and it doesn't exactly have the gravitas of ancient Greek history, nor the self-righteous quasi-relevance of ecorazzi, treehugger "journalism," but it nevertheless has its place somewhere between the two in terms of general public interest and consequence.

Despite indications that sales of hybrid cars and trucks are declining in tandem with the cost of fuel, the fact is that the price of petroleum (gasoline or diesel) is as volatile as ever. Fuel economy still matters and likely will matter to lawmakers, automakers and auto buyers for years to come.

Sure, things are looking rosy today with the average national per-gallon price of regular-grade gasoline at about $1.84, and diesel at about $2.39 per gallon (a 23 percent difference between them), but that could change in the blink of an eye. Why, not six months ago, gasoline topped out at $4.114 per gallon and diesel at $4.845 per gallon and Toyota dealers were getting up to $5,000 over sticker on Prius hybrids.

According to Edmunds' True Market Value (TMV®) pricing, the 2009 Prius Touring like ours is now $500 under MSRP thanks to a cash-to-customer incentive available until February 2009 and expected to continue into the spring. As it sits, our Prius tester rings the cash register at $28,933.

But if you opt for a 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI Loyal Edition, there's a $1,300 federal income tax credit similar to the one the Prius once enjoyed. With no options added to our already well-equipped VW, the effective price of our '09 Jetta TDI is $22,890, or $6,043 less than the Prius Touring, representing a 21 percent savings from Day One.

Even Steven
According to Edmunds.com's True Cost to Own (TCO^SM) calculations, driving the Prius (at 1,250 miles per month) will cost $5,910 in gasoline over a five-year period. The Jetta TDI will consume $9,532 in diesel over the same period. On the face of it, the Prius will save you $3,622 in fuel costs. Hooray, the Prius wins!

Not so fast. The Jetta TDI costs $6,043 less to start with, so there would still be $2,421 in the Jetta owner's pocket or bank account during those five years. Beyond the initial five years (60 months), it would take an additional 40 months to break even on fuel costs alone, so the Prius doesn't pencil out until after 100 months have elapsed, or eight years and four months.

So there's that.

Performance You Can Feel
Nobody can deny the way in which the Toyota Prius has forever changed the automotive landscape. Among other things, it's a laboratory and social experiment in motion, a wake-up call for all the other automakers. Nobody can say the Prius isn't efficient with airflow, fuel and interior packaging. We get it.

What the 2009 Toyota Prius cannot summon is driving pleasure. Sure, some hypermilers might claim some sort of nerdy joy in achieving the mythical solid-bar graph on the car's instrument display that shows 100 mpg across the entire Consumption display. (By the way, there are ways to game the display to trick your friends into believing you are a god of efficiency.) But at the test track we recorded acceleration, braking and handling data, and even this Jetta TDI with its 140-hp diesel and low-rolling-resistance tires appears to be the better performer in terms of raw capability.

There's more to driving than numbers, however.

Will the Real Car Please Inch Forward?
Though the Prius uses a complex planetary transmission to harness the power of its gasoline engine and electric motors, the result isn't exactly seamless on the highway. The thing is, you're always aware the Prius is not a typical automobile because the engine revs, starts, stops, starts up again, and so on.

The two-week fuel-economy average we got for this 2009 Toyota Prius was 39 mpg, slightly below what we've previously recorded. Our best tank returned 49 mpg (beating both the EPA's city and highway estimates), and on one city stint, the driver managed a steady 54 mpg for almost a hundred miles. One driver even stacked the bar graph display with four columns of 100 mpg economy.

We've seen Volkswagen's dual-clutch automated manual transmission before in the zoomy Volkswagen R32, yet this one behaves far more like a conventional automatic. Both upshifts and downshifts are as quick and seamless as those in our long-term Nissan GT-R. It even has a bit of creep built into the clutch engagement so when you remove your foot from the brake, the car will inch forward smoothly.

On the road, what the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI lacks in horsepower, it makes up for in torque and efficiency. Our best tank returned 40 mpg (matching the EPA's highway estimate), and its two-week average was 36 mpg.

Steering and Stopping
Both the Toyota and the VW have electric-assist power steering systems. The Jetta's has been tuned to provide ample feedback, good yaw response and stability. In comparison, the Prius' lack of steering feel is almost as notorious as its lack of a telescoping steering column.

Each time we borrow a Prius, it seems Toyota has secretly made improvements to the compound braking system. It used to be that the transition from gentle regenerative braking (winding the electric motor in reverse, which recharges the batteries) to mechanical braking (disc brakes in front and drums in the rear) occurred both too late and too abruptly. There's still a slight feeling of free fall between the two, but it's not nearly as noticeable as it once was.

The Jetta's hydraulic brakes received deserved criticism for the soft pedal and non-linear application, so they've got some work left to do there. There's also a spooky anomaly where the driver, while at a stop, can gradually press the brake pedal all the way to the firewall. The car doesn't move, but it's still unsettling.

Inner Space
The Jetta TDI Loyal Edition has a long list of standard equipment that's either optional or not available on the Prius. While our Jetta didn't have the nav system, xenon headlamps or intelligent key like the Prius, it did feature highly supportive, leatherette-upholstered seats, better-than-average audio and HVAC systems and top-notch materials quality throughout. Standard items in the Jetta Loyal Edition include a power moonroof, Cold Weather package, aux jack, rear-passenger vents and a 115-volt AC power outlet — none of which were found in the Prius.

The Prius' interior is roomy, with exemplary head- and cargo room, but the driver's seating position is especially troublesome. The seat bottom feels as if it's canted forward, there's no lumbar adjustment, the tilt-only steering wheel is too low and too far away and the doughy stuffing in the seat bolsters didn't offer good support. The touchscreen climate/audio control layout drew ergonomic criticism as well.

The Fourth Consecutive Loss
So it boils down to this.

The 2009 Toyota Prius is, indeed, functional due to its hatchback body style and fold-flat rear seats. It earns exemplary fuel economy in city driving, and we'll even admit there is a modicum of driving pleasure in the challenge it presents (with its multitude of fuel economy displays) to drivers. But the green sheen has worn off for us. The Prius was revolutionary when it was introduced, but there are now viable alternatives, including the redesigned 2009 Honda Fit, the 2010 Honda Insight and now the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid.

In terms of cost, the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI makes more sense than the Prius for at least the first eight years of ownership, and we didn't even mention its free scheduled maintenance for the first three years or 36,000 miles. The Jetta sedan is more of a real car, with more comfortable accommodations and familiar dynamics. It has as much or more content than the current Prius, plus its available hard-drive nav/music/iPod/DVD system makes the one in the Prius look so last year (with the glaring exception of the VW's shameful lack of Bluetooth capability).

For our money and driving pleasure, we choose the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI over the 2009 Toyota Prius Touring. Of course, all that could change in a month or so once we get our hands on a 2010 Toyota Prius which is said to be more powerful, more efficient and up-to-date in terms of infotainment.

No, the epic battle between diesel and hybrid is not over. Not by a long shot. But sometimes it seems as if we're throwing feathers at throttle pedals.

The manufacturers provided Edmunds these vehicles for the purposes of evaluation.