diesel_kid

Hey there, well as the price of diesel is going up, I have been looking around at other vehicle as a DD, I will never sell my Ram, I love that thing, but even though I am getting 25 mpg with it now, its still too pricey for my wallet, so I am looking for something that is pushing over 50 mpg, I really like the little mercedes diesels, and the volkswagons. I am trying to keep it under $5000 CAD and also want it to ride in style too. Mabye I could build such a vehicle like taking a good looking car, and plopping a little diesel in it, I dont know, I am pretty much up for anything, but in the end, I want more than 50mpg, a reliable diesel, and a good looking vehicle with style. Any suggestions?

-Jared

mainer

an old volks wagen jetta would be a great start, the old 1.6 N/A's got 50 and up depending on how hard you run it. The turbos got around 45 mpg. www.vwdiesel.net is a good place for info on the old volkswagen diesels.

Coop

04ctd

buddy has a diesel doodle bug, he gets 36/42, same as advertised.

http://www.vw.com/jetta/features_perf.html

"The 2005 Jetta TDI® is a model of efficiency. As a matter of fact, it gets about 35 miles to the gallon when you're tooling around the city and 42 miles to the gallon when moving on down the highway*. That's a lot of miles."

diesel_kid

Well I have been looking around at different board and I think it is the 84-92 VW 1.6L diesel which is the best of the VW diesels. Could you take that and put it in like a Baja Bug? Also how good are the VW diesels, I would like to find something that is as reliable as my old 12V Cummins. Should I go to a mercedes diesel? I dont mind transplanting a small diesel into any type of car, what do you guys think? What is a bulletproof small diesel around 2.0L that has the same reliability as the 12V?

-Jared

Timmay2

The price you pay for another vehicle, registration, and insurance is well over the price of fuel for a lower milage vehicle.

Hired Gun

A guy I worked with last year had a VW Diesel bug, and got like 45 all the time. Nice little ride. Ran nice as well.

ihpower

if you can find an old rabbit diesel that would be the way to go

phox_mulder

The paper this morning had an article about a guy who drove from Utah to Iowa, 1,209 miles on one 15.5 gallon tank of diesel.
Yes, 78 miles to the gallon.
Diesel VW Beetle.

Here's a link to the article
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view2/1,43...52882,00.html?


phox

diesel_kid

That is what I like to see, 78 miles to the gallon, I dont expect to get that, but I want at least something that gets at least 60. I am liking the idea of a vw diesel in a baja bug, older style, but the only thing I am worried about is that it would be too small of a vehicle for me. I want something that is pretty large inside. I dont know If I am going to find a car that large that will get that kind of mileage except if I go to a newer Jetta. I would like to get a Mercedes 300D, my mom has one, as well as my dad, a 92, and a 93, but I think they only get something like 40-45 mpg, my brothers 190D gets 55 he says. I dont know, what do you guys think I should do? I would like to ride a bike, easily getting that kind of mileage, but insurance is a killer around here. I like the idea of the Rabbit, but they look really small inside to me, and also Im a young kid, I need to have SOME style in my vehicle lol. Thanks again for all the replies.

-Jared

RowJ

My daughters 2002, 1.9L VW Turbo Diesel (Jetta) sure seems bullet proof. She drives it hard...and not particularly well! Has torn up one clutch and two side view mirrors....but the engine is doing well.
5 speed....50 mpg!

You mentioned room inside. I'm 6'-7" and 275 lbs. My expirience with VW's (vans, beetles & Jettas) is that VW is masterful at interior design. Plenty of room in all these for me....but getting in & out can be another matter...especially the Jetta.

RJ

dspencer

Getting 50 miles per gallon along with reliability plus a larger size vehicle may be something that is hard to get, especially at 5000 dollars. The vw diesels today get that much mileage but they are small. The 190d Mercedes is a smaller vehicle too.
The problem being is that nobody has built a larger car that gets that kind of mileage, even in a diesel.
If your goal is to have it all, you are not going to find it IMO. You need to lower your expectations. A custom vehicle might get all that you want but it would almost be a miracle to get all that and maintain its reliability.

My Jetta is large enough for me and my family. I am 6'1" and somewhere over 250.

diesel_kid

I dont need anything larger than a Jetta or the 190D, they sit me fairly comfortably. And IMO I think they are a large enough car for anything unless you are carrying around alot of large people in the back and such. The cars I am worryed about would be if I bought a rabbit, or an old baja bug, I have not sat in either but they look like they could be a little bit cramped.

As for the other bit about small diesels, I found some info in another thread and looked around and Cummins makes smaller diesels than the 3.9. They make the A series engines, from 900-2300cc, I beleive you can get the 2300 with a turbo, but I imagine you could mock up a turbo on the other. I was wondering if these would be a good engine to mock up and put into a small car, and If I did, would they get good mileage? I didnt find what kind of fuel pump that they have on them, but could you do them up for more HP like you can with our engines in our trucks? Say take a 60hp A series and do it up to 100-120hp? So that you have plenty of power for a small car and LOTS of torque, while cruising you get really good fuel mileage? I am just trying to find a car I could plop one of these engines in, and I dont even know if you could fab upa tranny to it? Do you guys think this would be too much of a project? Should I just try to find a 190D? Thanks for all the replies.

cmckinney

Talking about saving money on fuel you need to keep in mind insurance costs also.

-CM

04ctd

the local jetta TDI's are GONE...

the local dealer laughed at me last nite.
said phone rings dozen times a day for them.

said had cash deposits on next 10 that come in.
sells them at MSRP all day.

this dealer sells them at invoice:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showflat.p...page=1#1037662

Chris Farnham
VW of Langhorne
CFarnham@VWofLanghorne.com
1-215-741-4100

i e-mailed Chris a link to this page, so he will know whats up. he said Ok.

Berak

Your getting 25 mpg and that's not good enough?

Lol, I think if you factor weight into the equation, the HD diesel trucks are probably some of the best mpg beasts on the road, better than any motorcycle.

Let's see my truck weighs 7900 lbs with me in it and empty. I'm getting let's say 16 mpg. Whats a volkswagon TDI weigh? 3100 lbs? So I'm getting about 40 mpg in "Volkswagen TDI" mpgs. Heck, your crushing that with your 25 mpg!!