He told me "He got scared when he tried to jumpstart it and it melted the battery cables!" The reason it melted the cables was, wrong/fried battery (not enough CCA) and the Ip had lost it's prime and the fuel system need to be bled. He didn't know anything about diesels. I saw what he paid for it and I'm even happier now. He paid $200.00 for it, + $180.00 to register it.

The reason the thing lost it's prime is the Ip is leaking. I got the pump off and its being rebuilt and turned up as we speak. The rebuilder said he can get another 10% on the HP without killing my fuel mileage.

 

besser,

The Passat is a good choice. I bought a new Passat TDI in '05. In my opinion it's a far better choice than a Jetta. The mileage is not as good but the car is more roomy, more sophisticated and more powerful. On trips through the mountains and carrying a lot of stuff it gets about 40 MPG. Around town only it gets about 25. Throw in a little freeway and the average climbs to 35 or more.

It will pull grades in OD and pass all you want. Lots of low end torque, like a diesel should have. If the speed limit was not a problem you could cruise all day at 100 if you wanted to. Plenty of power.

If your Stratus is already getting 24 and running on cheaper fuel, it's hard to pencil out the savings. But if you like diesels and want to do the best mileage you can, while having a safe and roomy family car, it might make sense for your needs. Especially if your Stratus is getting tired.

I love mine, and the more fuel prices go up, the happier I am with it.

The newer VWs do require special oil though, and have a few other interesting quirks.

John

 

I found my 03 VW Jetta 4sp auto TDI in town fully loaded with 63k on the clock/all serice records from dealer for $13,500 from the orignal owner. Been happy with it so far. Ive put 16k on it since last april, averaged 42mpg.Highest was 46mpg. Lowest was 36mpg all intown driving. One time I got 40mpg at 80mph for a 200mile round trip. Its stock 90hp and 152lbs goes up the I5 grapevine as fast as you want and never downshifts. Like others have said with Vdubs, you have to watch the Timming belts (100k change interval for 03's), and the EGR valve tends to plug up when lugging the engine over 50k mile or more. Vag_Com software is available to get into the ecm and tweek things around. Some guys on tdiclub.com are getting 250hp and 350ftlbs out of these things. I have a the VanAaken box/chip on mine and it realy scoots now (adds 20hp and 32ftlbs). It supprises alot of people.
Cheaper on Fuel.
Cheaper on Tires.
Even Cheaper on Oil. 10k change intervals as per VW.
I'm 6'4" and 320lbs and i fit it ok. Not much room in the back for the kids though they are still young.
Doug.

 

Right on about the timing belt. We have an a 2001 Jetta with 130K miles on the clock. Just figure every 80K to 100K miles to change the timing belt which will cost anywhere from $800 - $1,200 to have done as you replace all the belts while you are doing the timing belt plus the water pump. Also the glow plugs and glow plug wiring harness are issues. Plan on buying and installing these every two years. Do not take it to a VW dealer to do either the glow plus or the glow plug wiring harness. It cost about $45 for the glow plugs and $20 for the wiring harness, but the dealer will charge as much as $700 to do this. Avoid a VW dealer at all costs. Other issues are the EGR valve and intake manifold plugging up with soot every 150K miles or so. You will have to remove the intake manifold to clean. There are some fixes to help prevent this from happening though. Overall we get an average of 45 MPG, we love the car. Stay away from a Bettle though, we had a 2000 which was junk. They seem to be made a lot cheaper then the Jetta.

 

What makes the difference, power wise, between the Jetta and the Passat? Is it IP, injectors, ECU? Whatever it is, I would think that it would be quite easy to get the same HP/TQ numbers (plus some) from a Jetta... not to mention the fact that it would be even faster due to the fact that its a smaller and lighter car.

 

It actually is the IP differance. One is a IP pump similar to the VP if I remember correctly and one is the PD (Pumpe Duse) which has 10 more horses stock. The Jetta was running the older style for a little longer the then Passat. More modern Jettas have the same PD engine now.

 

I recently sold our 2001 TDI Beetle for $7K. It was a great little car with 140K miles on it but my wife wanted a minivan.

 

Volkswagen all the way. Three years ago I stumbled across an 1.6 n/a 86 golf diesel at a farm auction. Drove it home for $300.00. It ain't no race car, but at 50 mpg+ you cant go wrong. Got over 300,000 miles on it now still runs great.

 

How much to the parts/tools for the timing belt replacement cost? I'm pretty mechanically inclined and don't mind doing such work, as long as I have the appropriate tools and enough time. I've been to TDIClub.com, and they give step by step instructions - it didn't look overly difficult, just very time consuming (hence the $800 - $1200 dealer charge). The "end game" for me here is to have a vehicle that is cheaper to operate but still reliable. It will have to be something I can wrench on myself barring a catastrophic failure of some sort. If the VW doesn't seem to fit the bill, I believe there are between 1.6 and 1.7 bazillion Accords, Camrys and Corollas out there that would accomplish the task.

Thanks for all your input again guys, this has been very helpful.

 

Good luck with your decision. If you decide that the TDi isn't right for you needs, and an accord would be, try to look for a 5-speed model. I have many co-workers with automatic 4-cylinder accords of similar vintage, and they seem unable to get to 30 mpg on the highway. Around town, they barely get 25. Not sure why, they just aren't too good on fuel.

 

Parts would cost you about 300 at dieselgeek, I highly recommend that kit its what I use when I do this job. Parts kit

Tools for the ALH, 99.5-2003, engine will run you 222 if you buy the kit. tool kit You may be able to find the individual tools cheeper if you look and piecemeal it but I went with ease not cheap. This doesnt count all the other things you need, like ratchets, wrenches, sockets, extensions, channel locks, floor jacks, and jack stands.

Oh, and the Vag-Com. You set the injection timing mechanically, but you have to measure it through the computer and you NEED a VAG-COM to do that. Another 250 VAG-COM


Now, if you did the directions correctly the engine should run and you can drive it to someone with a Vag-Com and get it finalized there.

All in all if you want to do it yourself it will run you 770 or there abouts in tools and parts. The next time you did it, it would pay for itself, 100K miles later.

Edit: A good torque wrench and angle torque wrench is a must.

 

It's a different engine, not just a bored out 1.9. Only 100 cc bigger but it has 137 (?) horsepower. And I've heard in Europe that that engine can come with up to 204 HP, so it seems there's room to bomb it if someone wanted to. The thing that is neat about it is the torque curve. It's tuned like a Cummins with bags of low end. I commonly pass on the highway and pull steep grades in OD

I'm happy to bomb the Cummins but I haven't played with the VW yet. If so I'd mess around with the EGR system and tranny manners first.


John

 

If you want a diesel that's your choice, but beware of high prices on used cars.
You can buy similar model in a gasser with manual transmission for much less.
Save the money in price at the expenses of fuel mileage, do your math.

Overall a manual transmission car will gain many more mpg than the equivalent with automatic, I would consider this.

Example, buy a 2001 Dodge Neon 5 sp for $ 3000 or buy a Golf TDI for $ 10,000

There is a lot of miles in $ 7,000 of gas. At $ 3/gal if you do 20mpg it's 46,000 miles, 25mpg is 58,000 miles .... and that's just to come up even with initial price.

 

You say you're looking to come out of this without spending a penny, but in the long run it might be worth it to spend the extra money. If you're getting 25 mpg and the Jetta will get 45mpg, that's almost cutting your fuel costs in HALF, not accounting for the variance in price between gas and diesel. How much do you spend on fuel a year? Better yet, how long will it take to pay itself off? All stuff to look at, especially when you can buy some of those new incredibly small cars with retardedly good mileage. Honda Fit, Prius, Civic, etc...A used honda that gets mileage in the mid 30's might be cheaper in the long run.

Cliffnotes: Sit down and do the math if saving money is your main goal because a diesel car might not be cheaper.

 

Exactly why I wound up with an accord, even with a bit less fuel mileage. T-belt changes at the dealer run $350 with labor. Tires were $315 installed with warrenty, and oil changes every 5k. Not too much else to have to worry about.

Chevy Aveo's go quite cheaply these days - just don't crash...