VW Jetta TDI Wins Green Award: Turbodiesel is Green Car of the Year

After three years of mere idle interest, the Fourth Annual Green Car of the Year award was presented to overnight keen attention, on Thursday at the Los Angeles Auto Show. A jury of nine, including Jay Leno, Carroll Shelby, Jean-Michel Cousteau and Carol Pope of the Sierra Club, as well as editors of Green Car Journal, had driven and considered the five nominees: BMW 335d, Ford Fusion Hybrid, Saturn Vue 2 Mode Hybrid, smartfortwo, and Volkswagen Jetta TDI. And the winner is:

The 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI

Volkswagen had an Unfair Advantage, but no one was complaining. They've been building passenger cars with diesel engines for 30 years and remain leaders in the technology. Eight thousand new TDIs have been sold since they hit showroom floors in August at a base price of $21,990.

The TDI features a new four-cylinder turbodiesel engine with direct injection (vapor rather than raw fuel is injected into the cylinders) that's EPA-rated at 30 city and 41 highway miles per gallon with a manual transmission, while meeting California's latest emissions requirements, strictest in the land. It makes 140 horsepower and a big 236 pound-feet of torque, and can be mated to the brilliant DSG twin-clutch transmission.

There's even a spectacular racing series for talented young drivers called the TDI Cup - strangely silent, because the cars make so little noise, but scattering sheetmetal at every turn.

Watch for our upcoming OnCars5 about these 5 Best Green vehicles.