DIESELWRKS

any good and bad wanted, looking at a 2008-2011 volk's Jetta wagon diesel for the wifey, will be doing this towards the end of summer. anyone know if certain years were better than others. we test drove a 2010 and 2011was nice quiet and zippy enough for the wife. the bad thing is I'm already thinking of a box, intake and exhaust for it and haven't even bought it yet..
gotta love the diesel curse..

turbo246

on a 2010 and 11 you cant do a chip the ecm is locked and has to be bench tuned, and can only do a dpf back exhaust wich makes no difference in sound.

I bought a new 2010 and lemon lawed it.. was nothing but a POS. always cut out and would occasionally die. They also have a very bad history of high pressure fuel pump failure which ruins the motor.

Not trying to steer you away, just be careful before you buy the new 2.0 tdi. do some research on tdiforum

justinsdad

as I understand it, the newer emission choked vdubs don't see the high 45-50 mpg of the older ones, i would look pre dpf if I were in the market.

Doj Dewd

i have a 2009 with 30,000 Km on it.

i have seen no issues with it, although the wifey has said it has died on her a couple times. we are seeing 36-ish mpg with a mix of city/hwy driving.

we have the wagon as well and i love it, you can fit a lot of stuff in there and is easy to get stuff out if it's heavy or awkward.

RAMRODD

I have a 06 Jetta TDI with 94,000 miles. I do like the mileage and even thow I don't like driving cars I do like driving this one.

The bad thing about VW is maintance cost. Everything is expensive My car needs a timeing belt, camshaft replacement which will run a little over 2000.

The newer 2.0 TDI's have fuel pump problems, still have timeing belts $400 transmission service's which is due every 40,000 miles. And quite a few people have problems with water building up in the intercooler and eventually gets sucked into the motor and kills it. Plus the warranty on the cars is not very good

Personaly I would never buy another one.

DIESELWRKS

ugggg,
well this is not the direction I want to head with any car. if there is insane upkeep$ also I'm just over 6' tall and it was tight sitting in the car. hmmm well maybe I will hold on to the magnum alittle longer. thanks for the comments. and the forum to look at.

bnold

Just sold the wife's 03 beginning of this year. 180,000miles and other than an alternator and CV shafts the car routinly averaged 50mpg over mostly highway driving.

Picked up a new 2011, gobs more power from the new motor, only 10,000 miles since 12/31/10 purchase date, only known issue thus far is a weatherstripping that had a weird wind noise, was replaced and all is good.

Surprised you felt there wasn't much room in the car. I'm 6'0" and more comfortable in it than I am in my truck! Heck I don't even have the seat all the way back to get the clutch to the floor. No long term yet obviously. Fuel mileage is starting to creep up, started about 41 last tank was 44MPG. Understandable considering the extra HP on tap and the extra emission BS.

DIESELWRKS

I guess it wasn't lack of room in the front seat my head did not hit but I guess it was more the phobia of smaller space. but yes the wagon was nice really the new ones are not a bad price? its either that or the wife is wanting a v50 volvo.. $$$$

92'1stGen

If your looking at the common rail's from 09 - 11 then I would either buy a used one with a maintenance history, particularly on that shows that a fuel additive was used, or, a new one, and then run additive from day one. The biggest issue with them is the hpfp's failing from the lack of lubricity in ULSD. If they fail then the entire fuel system has to be replaced. 09's seemed to be the worst for this, 10's not so much, and I have only heard of 1 11', but that wasn't because of ULSD, I believe that was a dealer screw up. Just do you homework on them by reading up on Tdiclub forums and you'll be fine.

DIESELWRKS

thanks

00Dog

I have an '11 and I can get 45-50 if I'm easy on it. A typical tank will average 42-46.

ridofpwrstroke

I have an 06 now with 123,000 miles and I have never had a problem until about 3k miles ago. The door wiring was messed up by the hinge and I got a replacement for free (long story but a buddy works at VW as a mechanic).

Anyways this is the best car I have ever owned. Fuel and go. Mileage is lower in winter and higher in summer. Always in the 40's. I have the manual. I now am noticing that every once in a while I get a puff of smoke and that the power seems a little low at times. I think my cam is going out and that I will have to replace that soon. Oh well I guess. I will run it until it is really bad.

My mechanic buddy that works at VW and this is only VW dealer in Alaska told me that I bought the best year. The auto tranny is very expensive to fix and service. He also said that if he had to buy a new one, he would get a gas motor. He talks to all his customers and the average the diesel gets over the gas motor is 5-6 mpg and all the issues the new diesel has, he says it aint worth it. Cost of motor initially, cost of servicing, and then all the headaches involved.

This is just what I heard.

1-5-3-6-2-4

new ones I know nothing about. But my '90 Jetta 1.9TD with the VE pump...... Rocks. It'll run on swamp water if you strain the rocks out of it. always gets in the 40 mpgs. and tons of power if you jam the timing and fueling up.

but older engines older cars........

winfield

I have an 05 wagon 5 speed- Absolutely love the car
Stay away from 00-03 automatics
My opinion is if you go for a new one, go '11 or up, some bugs in the 09-10's, or an 06 sedan 5 speed well maintained would be a good bet. There are quite a few 06' sedans out there (no wagons) and the 04-05 wagons are very scarce, especially with a manual. remember on a used one, new timing belt is a big issue.

turbo_six

I have an '03 TDI Jetta. Take a good look at them. I opted for an older one with relatively low miles, pure fuel efficiancy and repairability reasons. On these cars, if you can be your own warranty shop then you are set. I routinely run 54mpg using good clean fuel. Which can be hard to get in my parts!

The older ones pre-pump duece were more fuel efficient especially with the manual transmission. Beside I can rebuild all six of my injectors for what one of the pump duece injectors will cost. The injection pump is pretty simple, a baby cousin to the VP-44. Be sure to replace the timing belt and all pulleys associated with it. Also check the entire intake as the EGR will tend to gum and block things up pretty bad. It is an easy fix every 50K, if you can do it yourself. VW will want to replace the intake manifold, but you can just wash it out. As far as intake and exhaust upgrades you have about as good as your going to get. Remember we are talking about 90 to 115? HP. The VW's are well designed for a market far more descriminating than the US. Pay carefull attention to oils and fluids they are recomended for a reason PS pumps and rack and pinons are solid as long as you use the correct oil. I think some had problems scoring lifters with not using the correct engine oils. I use Mobile 1 ESP. The oil is expensive, but the change intervals are quite long. As previously posted the door wiring and switches will give you fits in tme, but again if you can work on them you're set. The interior will rattle especially as you start to push 200k, plastic you know. Just keep chasing interior screws, you'll find the one. I would also suggest installing a solid belly pan replacing the cheap factory plastic shield. The lowest part of the car is the cast aluminum oil pan. Go to any dealership and you will find a small pile of cracked oil pans. I was told that this is the number one cause of engine failure.

Working on these little guys takes a change of mechanical attitude, everything is held to gether by gobs of small metric cap screws instead of a few larger bolts.

Really for what it is worth, the engines are well designed, and far more simple to work on than first impression would let you believe. I will say this is the best off-road capable car I have had. It is equally at home one the interstate as it is the Sandhills trail roads that I drive to work everyday. Take a look at Fred's TDI page, good folks and a wealth of info. I know you asked about a much newer vehicle than mine, just trying to offer some useful first hand insight.