Insert some kind of "VW + Electrical = Fail" comment.

Hey, a hybrid I might actually consider buying. Neat.

69 mpg sounds pretty good, but with that kind of horsepower it makes me wonder if I'm going to have to get out and push it up hills like my dad used to make me do with the 1972 VW Bug...

That is actually a hybrid I would consider.

Are those imperial MPG's?

Given VW's record of releasing new products in the US, by the time they get this over here you'll be able to drop in to your local Kia dealer and get a hydrogen powered Rio for half the price!

i'd be happy with just the 75hp TDi... without the added weight of the batteries, you'd probably still be getting close to 60mpg...

There's the future of commuter-cars right there.

Unfortunately, they really did un- every last vestige of pimp out of it.

@grzydj: US gallons, I just did the conversion.

Imperial it's a whopping 83mpg.

Maybe Hillary can push us to convert to Imperial, since it's an instant increase!

Finally, a diesel hybrid. I like it, but how much will depend on the price.

@13oostedwgn: Agreed on the first point. We're seeing beyond CAFE 35 and it is good.

There have been two cars on my immediate radar (and yes, I know I need to get a life) this one and the Subbie boxer diesel.

I think that VW has a real viable Prius competitor here. The cost to build can't be onerous, as it's basically the standard GOLF platform for which the tooling must be in heavy depreciation by now. The new bits (3-Cyl engine, batteries and what-not) will probably add $5K to the price, but that still provides a car in the low $20s which is very reasonable.

i have been waiting for someone to make this Combo.. good job VW

@ash78: Yea, but imagine the outcry when the price per gallon shoots up.

I think there's also a great synergy for the smug/trendsetter crowd.

Hipsters only really flocked to the Prius because there was no other choice. VW has 10 times the cachet among this crowd than Toyota could ever hope for, so hopefully it'll be a nice combo. Throw in a MacBook Air and an iPhone and charge a $5k premium. The simultaneous smuggasm will throw the earth off its axis.

It's going to need a giant "HYBRID" sticker on the back window if people are going to buy it. It's not enough to drive a car that gets 70mpg. I need everyone else to know that it gets 70mpg.

I am smugly waiting to buy one. Soon please.

this should come with green truck nutz

@weatherman: This Golf has a 75 hp Diesel Engine+ 27 Hp electro motor= 102 HP at your disposal compared to the 53 hp the Beetle had back then... without even talking about Diesel+Electric TORQUE.

@weatherman: My German ain't so good, but the TDI portion of the drivetrain is producing approx 75HP which means it would be the 3cyl 1.4 litre that produces about 140lb ft. of torque. That should be enough to get it up most hills but don't plan on passing anyone on the way up.

@ash78: What ever do you mean, I'm typing this up on a new in-car VW computer prototype and it works just [***imtxt.exception***] [***sensorconnection.lost***] [***coredump***] [***restart.failed***]

Somebody is finally starting to make some sense out there.

Man, I want a V-10 Audi SO BAD. But I also want Jessica Alba to do certain things to me, and that ain't gonna happen, either.

A 3-cylinder VW diesel hybrid makes so much sense that I'm really surprised that these haven't been available in Europe for years, where diesel is so commonplace.

@weatherman: actually, assuming that both motors can work together when needed, it's 97 hp. The current Rabbit is 170 but I'll bet a 7 speed and diesel torque will make it livable.

I'd probably buy it.

Keep the price under $25k nicely equipped and I'd order one tomorrow.

If you could get manual hybrids I might actually drive somthing like this as my daily driver, that would leave my v12 diesel audi rsd4 (hint hint audi) for weekends only!

WANT!!!

@ Lascauxcaveman -

VW has been building inline three diesels for some time now and sticking them into the Fox and Polo. There just hasn't been a hybrid so far because it adds a lot of cost over and above the diesel engine. The absolute gains in fuel economy are more modest than for a gasoline base engine, so a hybrid is harder to justify financially. Nevertheless, VW apparently decided that a gasoline hybrid would be a me-too proposition with little marketing value.

Expect relatively few of these to be built and sold in Europe. Consumers there are prepared to do their bit for the climate - an asset held in common - only if most everyone else is as well. Environmental bragging rights - a key purchasing criterion for the Prius crowd in the US - play a subordinate role in Europe.

It's unlikely that VW will ever offer a hatchback with a limp-wristed inline three diesel in the US, if only because meeting T2B5 emissions is expensive. However, perhaps the hybrid tech and DSG could also be married to the 2.0L inline four in the '08 Jetta diesel. It depends mostly on whether there is room, i.e. on where in the drive line that electric motor is located.

@abgwin: ugh, bad math skills.

Is the Energy Monitor panel showing a V6 under the hood in the diagram?

I;m curious what the premium is over a normal TDi. I big problem with hybrid versions of "normal" cars is that they rarely justify the price premium.

You usually have to do a ton of around-town miles or like 35k mi/yr to have the fuel savings cover the price premium for hyrbidization.

Until this is a plugin, I'd be happy with a normal TDi + DSG.

I'm curious to know the difference between city and hwy mileage. The city mileage has to be outstanding.

@AndyDuncan: Dude, why 70? 69 is a way cooler number. Maybe the coolest.

@eltonito: @abgwin: I'll assume you folks are right. I just have some horrible memories of that VW Bug ... and then last summer I drove a stock Polo that I literally had to floor to keep up with traffic on a low-grade hill and I was still falling behind.

@weatherman: sounds like you need a motorcycle.

@weatherman: Polo gasser or Polo tdi?

My folks had a tdi version on a vacation to the Croatian islands a couple years ago. For the driving they did--little villages and "highways" up to 50mph--my dad said it was as good a vehicle as you could hope for.

Put those kinds of cars on big interstates/autobahns/autostradas, though, and you might run into trouble

@duckbutter: The first gen Honda Civic hybrid was offered as a manual, but seriously, wouldn't you rather have a DSG. Lightning quick upshifts with no clutch pedal. Plus with this diesel + electric torque off the light.

I like the idea of a diesel hybrid. A 7th gear would be *great* for hwy cruising, in 6th my GTI's economy drops to a mere 28 mpg from 31 when I go from 60 to 70.

Of course, I'd also like an 8th gear and no speedlimit on my commute... if we're talking about what I'd *like*.

Hybrids are a fad like the Internet and Starbucks.

I'm moving to Norway so I can cruise around on this:

[www.hydrogencarsnow.com]

That is the best nose I have ever seen on a Golf.

Screw the hybrid, just give me the diesel!

@weatherman: also, understand that I happily drove a 63 Karmann Ghia with the original untouched 40 horsepower motor in southern California with no problems at all.

if your dad's beetle couldn't climb a hill, there was something wrong with it. and I mean wrong with it beyond being a 72 beetle!

@abgwin:

I had a '68 bug that I drove all over the Appalachians with 3 people & a big dawg inside and camping equipment lashed to the roof. Great sport!

@ash78: I had a 1.3 tdi Audi A3 which was perfectly capable of over 110 mph on the Autobahn in all comfort.

@rgseidl: Aw man, there you go being rational and all that.

I saw "69 mpg" and got all excited, what with the Golf being a real car with decent comfort and safety features and whatnot. But really, my brother-in-law's US spec TDI Jetta gets "only" 42 mpg, so I just extrapolated and assumed 69 mpg was quite a bit better than that. True, a 5 year old Jetta is not the same thing as a 2009 (or later) Golf, but still...

@weatherman: gasoline powered I'll bet.

cool...but my anger and frustration will continue to increase until there's news of this making it across the pond to the US..so, for now, who the fuck cares? just more great tech that WE CAN'T HAVE!! SUPER!!

@Zagato7: Not at least until Cheney dies, my man. The New American Century is just underway, and it's 19th-Century Imperial England. Your "People's Car" does not exist yet.

@Zagato7: I feel your pain...

@mzs: The civic was available as a manual because it was a mild hybrid system. I'm not sure it would be feasible/possible to have a non-computer-controlled tranny in a full-hybrid setup.

to WEATHERMAN -- if you want a sports car BUY ONE-- disesels are known for TORQUE not HP!! (and you left out the 27HP electric motor) the point of the car is fuel economy!! thank you VW for building it -- plz bring it to USA soon!