Patrick Campbell

A slightly older PRE-PUMP DEUSSE TDI will get better mileage than a P.D. Also doesn't use this foolish $6/quart oil that can only be bought from VW. My girlfriends Pump Deusse 2004 VW is just getting broken in and gets mid 30s in the city and 49 on the highway. This is a Jetta (heavier than a Golf) and slaugtomatic transmission. I would say you get a ~2002 Golf GLS 5spd. These will get 40+ in the city and an honest 55 on the highway. Now that IS efficient. The only regret I have about this Jetta is getting an automatic. We got a great deal on it but I think that in the long run, the money we saved getting a 5spd would've been greater. I think we paid about 17K on it.

dspencer

Until you do the math on an 18 wheeler. Say 80000 lbs getting 5.5mpg. That's somewhere over 410 in the TDI mpgs.

diesel_kid

I think engine size has alot to do with the MPGs. For our trucks, empty, the Cummins 5.9 is too big of an engine, way more torque than we need to move and daily commute, it is a great engine for hauling though. For the Jetta, I imagine that 150lbs. ft of torque is more than enough to move the thing, and I definately wont be towing with it, and they can probably be Bombed to make alot more power than they are stock. That is why I am liking the looks of these small A series Cummins, if you could mabye put only like a 1.0L A series Cummins, and bomb it to the same power ratings as a Jetta TDI, when you werent using that power, especially the TQ, say cruising down the highway, wouldnt you experience alot better fuel mileage? Because you have plenty of TQ to get the car moving, as long as you are easy on the Go pedal, and once it is moving it doesnt take anything to keep it like that. Wouldnt you expect say around 70-80 mpg at least? This might sound crazy, but for a Daily driver, I dont need to go fast, at all, with my truck, I am used to going slow, if I want to go fast, I will hop on my street bike, or my CR. What do you guys think? Did I get too much Sun today out in the field and the brain aint quite working, or does this make sense?

Ph4tty

This is what I found: http://cruisers.shoumatoffmedia.com/43GMdiesel.html
Looks like you could drop a 4.3 cummins in an old GM

DeanM

I had an 81 M-B 300TD. It only got 27 mpg due to the auto trans and it is heavy. Our Jettas get 47 mpg all day long. And if we didn't run B100 in them they get 50 mpg in the summer. And we don't baby our cars. I modded both Jettas and mine goes like stink now. The VW's are not the most reliable car out there though. As a matter of fact, the wifes Jetta is the most unreliable car I have ever owned. I think if you fart in the car the CEL comes on

Dean

diesel_kid

I dont know, I really like the looks of the A-series Cummins, I would just like to find a donor vehicle to put it in, something old is what I am thinking, such as a 50s pickup, something that I can sit in comfortably, has style, and best of all, no barely any electronics, does anybody know what kind of pump is on these A-series? Is it a mechanical like the 12 Valve B series? Is there an older cummins in the 1-2.0L range that has a mechanical pump and is known for its reliability? Thanks.

-Jared