sdguy55

I see a couple of you guys have this car and i am looking to get the '09 one in a couple of years (in college and cant really justify the cost of getting a brand new car) but i went and drove one yesterday at a dealership and it was the exact one i wanted to get. 6-speed manual, sunroof, ipod dock, blah blah blah.
My feelings about the car are as follows:
1) Good handling car, had a lil beat of lean around corners but nothing that i didnt feel i could handle.
2) The clutch is SUPER soft, was a lil bit weird when i first put it down but it is very nice, where the clutch releases is very easy to drive the car.
3) Gearshifting is good, nice smooth shifts and easy to do pattern, i liked how you had to push down the **** in order to get it into the reverse gear and when the **** wasnt pushed down it would only go to the 1-2 gear pattern.
4) Sunroof was a lil weird, you had to turn a **** and it had notches in it like a temperature ****.
5) Seats were ok in them nothing really amazing
6) The steering wheel was also a lil unimpressive it felt really plasticky. The salesman told me that thats just because of the leather being new and not broke in yet.
7) The dash and steering wheel are also blah
8) The second sweetest part of the car. THE COOLING GLOVEBOX! what better excuse to put your beer in your car and have it cooled in the glovebox! Ok so i know it prob doesnt cool that great but its still neat
9) THE sweetest thing about the car. The engine. Has a bit of turbo lag, but the turbo seems to kick in about 1500-1800 and from there seems to be a pretty darn flat to about 4,000 where it seems to just lose steam.

So after the test drive i pretty much fell in love with the car so i started doing more research on it and VW as a company. And i found out that the company is horrible and that reliability seems to be worse. So what im wondering is if any of you guys have had problems with your cars or with the company in general.

dslpwr81

I would have to disagree on a few things.
First, the automatics DSG (if that is what you want to call it) are super nice. Pay the little extra and get it.
Second, I personally think the steering wheel is very NICE. Something about it feels good.
Third, the dash. I love the dash and the lights at night. We have the Navigation, so maybe they look a little nicer, not sure.
Fourth, I have yet to hear anyone say they didnt fall in love with those seats. I wish I had them in my Dodge.
Fifth, I think the turbo lag is great. When it lites, it makes it feel like the car has got twice the power that it really does. Although 236ft lbs is good.

So, to answer your question, we have not had any problems with our. Only 800 miles on it though. Not sure about the company. Just the same as all the rest I'm sure. So basically, the car is still too new to know if there are any major flaws with them. The common rail design has been out for years, just not in a VW in America. I wouldn't really recommend going to TDI.com just yet to find any info on the car. Those guys there are just now talking about the common rail design. Kinda funny to read what they post.

sdguy55

I have driven a manual for a couple of years now and i just would rather not have it any other way. I know the DSG is a really good automatic its just that i prefer a manual.
And your prob. right about the seats its just i wasnt paying attention to them to much. I was concentrating more on driving this expensive car and not wrecking it .

dslpwr81

Well either way, if you bought an 09 down the road, I think you would really enjoy it. Go to another dealer and test drive again. Drive as many as you can to really know if you like it or not before you spend the cash on one.

TonyB

I hear everything everyone is saying about the car.

Personally, I would have another DSG. Just so the wife would drive it, as a 2nd car. She won't touch the 5sp in the Passat.

As you can see by my sig, I have 2 tdi's. To REALLY learn about these cars, you have to get over to tdiclub.com If it were not for the club, I would not have a VW. The support you have there, is THE best you will ever find.

Tony

dslpwr81

Agreed. tdiclub.com is great. Even over there, there is not much if any info on the 09's tech wise. I just recieved my $160 manuel in the mail and you talk about one complex diesel. WOW. I will post some of the info later on. This thing is so crazy that I hope they don't have issues. I don't see how this thing is gonna make it 200k miles with out a lot of break downs and I'm serious. I hope VW did a lot of testing. I've been crossing my fingers.

md-rebel

My 06 no problems about 68K on it, dealer has been great on service.
Tires and brakes about all.

X2 on TDI CLUB...

hamilton71801

I had a '01 TDI and sold it with 105K on the clock. Only problem I had was I hit a cat and tore a chunk out of the valance. Other than that, it was very fun to drive and got excellent mileage.

dslpwr81

Don't forget guys that the 09's are completely different than any others with about 200 more moving parts. I have a hard time believing that the 09 can make 100k without quite a few problems. This engine is crazy complex. But, if VW did what they did back then, hopefully the 09's will turn out as great as you guys 06 and 01. I hope.

sdguy55

What exactly is so complex about these diesels? The only thing over the quick overview and research i have done on it is the fact it has an electric power steering but engine wise i dont see how its compicated so i would like to see how a basically very simple engine that cant be changed TO much suddenly gained 200 more moving parts. And became THAT much more complex.

dslpwr81

Well, the 200 may have been a slight exaggeration. Go to Bentley Publishers online and buy yourself a VW 2009 TDI manual, then buy the 2006 TDI and older manual. You shall see!!! Here is just a post from another TDI owner that I liked. Just a small sample!

"""Just got a chance to read my 2L CRD manual. Talk about a high tech engine, nothing like the 1.9 it replaces.

16V cross flow head with seperate intake air paths, the intake manifold has flapper valves that throttle the air through the head via the fill valve, the swirl valve has constant air flow through it at all times. This is change/create air velocity to the valves through the intake manifold. Of course the regular CRD pump, piezo injector, glow plugs that double as cylinder pressure sensors, VNT. The exhaust system is a work of art, EGR high pressure, EGR low pressure(2 seperate systems), H2s filter, DPF, pre-ox filter..amazing. Temp sensors, pressure sensors in the exhaust system.
The exhaust cam is driven by the cam timing belt, the exhaust drives the intake with a spur gear setup that has a built in lash adjuster.
Counter balance shafts. The valve cover/CCV system is quite complex with a series of valves, baffles and vent routing. It is going to take a great tech to trouble shoot these engines with some high power software.

I'm kind of looking forward to the challenge..."""

Like I said, this is just a sample!

sdguy55

Well the exhaust is pretty neat but alot of that seems overkill. First portion of your post i have seen before i dont know if your very familier with ferraris but that has been pretty much standard equipment on there stuff since like 2000. But you are right, alot of that seems like big overkill. I also wonder if the way they word that makes it sound more complicated than it really is. Im sure if you were to look at a schematic of there intake manifold it would probably LOOK more simple than just trying to explain it. But thank you for posting that.

2171CTD

If you want to get into a VW sooner, look at the 06 models. They have gone down in price quite a bit since the release of the 09 models. They dont have the same get up and go as the 09s and only have a 5 spd, but they dont have any 08 emissions equipment either.

96_12V

It is very simple...EPA Emissions regulaitons. It's deeply affecting ALL diesels that are roadgoing, and soon all Off-Road. Google 2007 & 2010 EPA diesel emissions as well as "Tier IV" and you will have LOTS and LOTS of reading material on your hands. Costing companies Billions of dollars as we speak.

Just my $.02, I would start keeping track with an '06 or early '07 (pre emssions) they are MUCH simpler and shoudl last a lot longer, legally, with no DPF and all the rest. I am in complete agreement that I want nothing to a DSG or any other manu-matic. I am a traditionalist, the shifting is the easy part, it's the third pedal that adds the fun & control. Without a clutch pedal it's just another automaitc...

dslpwr81

Thanks for the post, but you may have miss-read the post a little. Everyone understands exhaust emissions (DPF's) since the 07.5 and up. Thats old news. The 06 was the last year of the TDI.... untill 09. 06 TDI and older... normal plain Jane exhaust. 09 DPF. 07 Cummins... normal plain Jane exhaust..07.5 DPF and so on. There was no 07 or 08 TDI's. We are on the subject of understanding the MAJOR difference between the 1.9TDI PD and the 2.0TDI CR motors. Also, the 09 DPF is different than the exhaust you would find in the 07.5 and up Cummins/Ford/Chevy, etc... even though they use the same ideas with the DPF's. And, not sure where your getting the older ones last longer part. Why would it not last as long as the previous TDI's? And the DSG tranny, tdiclub.com users that have the DSG report +++++ on the tranny, including myself. I love the DSG. Its not just another automatic. Read up on it.