spoolinup

I was wondering has anyone owned one of these. I'm looking at the wagon, If so are they good cars would you buy 1 again. What is maintenance like are they easy to work on. Any info would be great
Thank you.

stinkindiesel

Yeah, I'm on my second; a lady pulled out in front of me and totalled my first.

Steer clear of any auto-tranny 99-03 TDI's; no matter what anyone says, the auto tranny is junk waiting to strand you. Also be prepared for pulling engine codes with either a laptop loaded with VCDS/VagCom or a Scanguage II, cancelling the "check engine" light and then looking up the cure on www.forums.tdiclub.com. At least you're used to getting the shaft with high prices from the parts counter at the dealer-gyp, the VWOA folks are as mercenary as the Dodge/Cummins crews.

They're pretty easy to work on except there's some stuff that a tdi guru should only touch, like the timing belt replacement job. Check out the website I mentioned for a lot of good info.

But yeah, I bought another one as quick as I could find it after my first got torpedoed, and I'd get a third one if this one got beaned.

hamilton71801

Like mentioned above, TDI club is to VW's as DTR is to the Cummins. I had a '01 Beetle 5 spd and consistently knocked out 47-49mpg's but that thing was too uncomfortable for me. I tried to justify my back pain on mileage saving but I just couldn't do it. Anyway, they're good little cars, stear clear of the auto and let the gurus do a timing belt for you. I found a guru in Dallas that upgraded my belt to the 100K one for $50 and a pizza...of course I got to help and bought the parts. Special tools are required too. Good luck and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

spoolinup

Thank you for the replies. Guess I need to find a good year w/ auto tranny. I really don't want another stick shift due to driving trough San Fran every day at over 80 miles each way it stinks.