Like the title says. We're thinking of selling the '00 Grand Cherokee in favor of a TDI Jetta (pre '04). We've considered a used diesel Liberty as well (can't buy a new one in NY), but there's almost a 20mpg difference between the two. Any info/links/etc to get me looking in the right direction would be appreciated!
Greg

 

www.tdiclub.com

There was a guy in PA (VW dealership) who did some kind of below invoice pricing, not sure if that is still going on or what. He was very well known and respected on the forum above.

Good Luck.

 

Thanks! I've heard that the pre '04's are the way to go from a service/reliability standpoint. Truthfully, it'll be closer to any budget we can come up with as well. I crunched some #'s last night and even with a fair sized payment, we'll still save almost 400 bucks a month between payment and fuel cost differences. I'm pushing hard for the 5-speed...I hope she goes for it, hehe

 

Getting the wife to agree with a manual may be the easy part. The Jetta TDI's are hard to come by, when I do see them they are top dollar.
I think you're thinking of the pre "pump duece" (or whatever it is called).

I've seen some very clean 02,03's with about 75-90K miles in the$12,000 range.

Resale is crazy on them, that is for sure. Check out Ebay, even if just for referrence.

 

Yeah, I've been checking e-bay and auto trader all afternoon. Man, folks drive the wheels off these things! Saw an '03 on auto trader with almost 200k! We're looking for closer to 40k. From the pics I've seen, the interior wear really begins to show at about 65k. The good news is, there seem to be a lot of them here in the Northeast, so we'll be able to go drive them and whatnot. IF we get top dollar for our Grand (I'm hoping for 80% of top dollar) that'll put us in a place to finance a small amount or just drain the savings in order to remove the payment alltogether. In either event, we'll be saving almost 150 bucks a month in fuel based on her standard commute. We use our economy car more than the Jeep on the weekends....only our economy car is a 7000 pound Dodge! The I-6 in the Jeep does admirably(sp?) well on the highway, but falls on its face around town, which is where she does 35% of her driving. Been coming in just under 18mpg every week. The Dodge can't seem to dip below 20mpg...darn the luck

 

whatever you get make sure the timing belt has been changed on time,if they break your gonna be spending 1500-2000 bucks to fix what breaks in the process.and the manual trans will usually get 5mpg's better then the auto's.

 

I have only heard of one bad thing happening to the VW's, in this case both were 1999 with the 5 speed, both had issues wih ground clearance and put major holes in the oil pan. One was caused from a very minor drag out of a parking lot, and the other from bottoming out due to a pot hole that was only about 2" deep. One is still fine because it was taken care of imediatally, but the other blew because tha problem was not known until too late. Other than these 2 rare occasions i love these little VW's, havent heard much on the libertys though.

 

I just picked up a super-clean (driven in the rain only twice, it was the owner's hobby car) 2000 jetta tdi 5spd with only 23k miles! Chip, bilstein suspension, tint, phatbox, injectors, you name it... look around, there are deals to be had. The car is minty fresh inside and out and I got 51mpg on my first road trip with it. This is my second tdi...I had a brand new 02 a while back that I drove while I was a sales rep...62k in 11 months, no problems...great little rides!

 

My experance - and not much so I'll just share the little I know...

The Auto transmission is adequate acceleration wise but economy drops more than 5 mpg, up to 10 depending upon driving style. The manual is much preferred overall. The timing belt MUST be changed every 40 - 50 k, and if not done on time, it will break, causing lots of damage. The rest of the Jetta/ Golf, while much better built than previous, seems to be problematic over the long haul - electrical and cooling issues, as well as pieces of trim coming apart and detail problems. This is typcial of the fact it's a european car.

Also, I helped a person at a church I attended a few years back trying to get his 2000 Jetta tdi auto to start. It had left his stranded three times, and now had been sitting in the parking lot for a few days. His assesment - it's worth it if you DRIVE it, his was 4 years old, had only 68k on it, and had cost him an arm and a leg to maintain. All his fuel savings had gone to other issues.

As for me (while I love diesels in general) I would have a very hard time justifying the cost differance of a Jetta TDi over a used Civic unless I planned to drive it at least 30,000 miles per year.

Just my $.02, good luck...

 

Actually, there's a kit from dieselgeek that upgrades the belt & components to current 100k mile specs.

Yeah, we're loving the TDI mileage on the '06. Even with heavy AC usage over the last 2 weeks, it has dropped from 40 to 36! Oh, well! gotta love that torque though!

Tony

 

Thanks for all the replies, fellas Once we get the house built, she's gonna have a pretty fair commute and I think the fuel mileage will come into play. Just for comparison, I looked up the recalls on both my Grand Cherokee and an '02 Jetta. The list stretched on and on for the Grand. 0 for the V-dub. I'm not so concerned if an armrest falls of at 70k as I am with the tank vent that was poorly welded on the Grand burning me to the ground while I'm still paying for the silly thing! Also, we're still considering a used Liberty oil burner. I'd like to buy from a US manufacturer...well, just because. We'd be giving up 20mpg, but the AWD would be nice in the rural area we're building in. Hopefully we'll drive both in the near future and have a better idea of what we want then. Keep the opinions coming!

 

the a4 jetta 4dr is made in mexico,the wagons are still made in germany.some issues i did forget to mention,they are good for losing the window regulators,but i believe it's under a recall,also you will want to do a ventectomy on the fuel tank,if you get a 99 or early 2000 they have the heavy duty clutch and can be bombed somewhat without fear of eating the clutch in a week.i just put some new inj's in mine and god does this thing fly now,can't wait for the rocket chip,i will advise though if you ever want to drive the car don't do the chip and inj's,she will tell you to go buy your own