What cars perform best here?

[BrianTH]

Just a note on winter driving and performance cars: in my experience the key factor is tires, meaning if you get a decent set of all-season or winter tires you should be fine (incidentally, unless you plan on driving a lot in rural PA, I think all-season are adequate to handle Pittsburgh winters).

[khyron]

My wife and I thought about and researched buying a Volkswagen TDi for years, and when she got a job in Pittsburgh we decided it was time (there was no way our little riceburner was going to handle the hills with grace). We are LOVING our new car in the Pittsburgh area.

There are a lot of ups and downs to turbodiesels but the #1 thing I love about having one in this area is that unlike a comparable gasoline car, we have tons and tons of torque and when we climb even the steepest craziest streets here we're always doing it at close to 2000 rpm thus maintaining amazing fuel efficiency.

There are a lot of small cars that can handle these hills reasonably well, but not many of them can make peak mpg while doing it. Ours has no problem running errands around town with nearly the same efficiency as taking road trips on the interstate.

Ownership of a modern diesel gets into issues more complex than a simple discussion here might provide answers for, if you're interested I recommend heading over to tdiclub, their forums are excellent and you will even find other Pittsburgh diesel owners there to ask specific questions of.

[FlyByNightRat]

Originally Posted by khyron

... we have tons and tons of torque and when we climb even the steepest craziest streets here we're always doing it at close to 2000 rpm thus maintaining amazing fuel efficiency.

Ownership of a modern diesel gets into issues more complex than a simple discussion here might provide answers for, if you're interested I recommend heading over to tdiclub, their forums are excellent and you will even find other Pittsburgh diesel owners there to ask specific questions of.

Excellent point. We too had considered it at one point this year. Until the price of diesel shot up above $5. There is no good reason for that other than plain gauging. Completely turned us off.

tdiclub is an excellent forum but I'd rather continue with discussion here. That said, can you elaborate your experience with respect to Pittsburgh commute and conditions? How did it perform in winter time, mileage wise?

[BrianTH]

I've also thought about diesel (the new TDI from VW, supposedly making it into the Rabbit next year, seems like a great engine), but similarly the high relative price of diesel in the area is killing the appeal for me.

[dannythekid]

I drive a 04 Cavalier 5 speed all year around. Excellent on the hills, goes anywhere in the snow (honestly, with Blizzaks on it I could get up the steepest hills in Pittsburgh) and I get 30city/35hwy

[khyron]

Originally Posted by FlyByNightRat

Excellent point. We too had considered it at one point this year. Until the price of diesel shot up above $5. There is no good reason for that other than plain gauging. Completely turned us off.

tdiclub is an excellent forum but I'd rather continue with discussion here. That said, can you elaborate your experience with respect to Pittsburgh commute and conditions? How did it perform in winter time, mileage wise?

Folks at tdiclub will be the first to say, the cars are not the choice for someone looking for a zero maintenance pennysaver. Those are made by Honda. FWIW though, any gasoline car I like would require high test which is the same cost when you consider you have to burn more of it for the same power output. I don't love the fuel prices, but I don't really sweat them either. I drive 600 miles a tank and use a car so little with PAT and walking that I only need to fill up every other month or so.

We've driven our Golf as far north as Vermont in the middle of winter, though snow and junk, no worries. In fact since you don't "warm up" a diesel when you get into it (and it idles so low) honestly a lot of gasoline cars burn worse in the winter when we burn the same. In some ways, it's like a hybrid because whenever you're stopped in traffic, you're wasting far less energy than everyone around you (you just aren't lugging around hundred of pounds of battery and thousands of extra moving parts).

There's a lot of FUD out there about modern diesels, and even about the fuel itself and the various ways biodiesel can be made. I encourage anyone with interest to hit the interwebs and educate themselves.

[By~Tor]

My '96 Nissan Pathfinder 3.8L 4X4, while not THE most efficient on gas, has no problem with hills, ice, or anything else Pitsburgh can throw at it.... and in a wreck, I'd trust it over any little sub- or midsized car...