I have a 2003 Jetta TDI wagon. All in all I've been very happy with the car. I get 40 mpg back and forth to work (80 miles round trip) with a heavy foot. This is a combo of highway and city driving. The best mileage I've ever gotten was 46 mpg. My only advice is change the timing belt at no more than 70000 mile intervals. My owners manual listed the service interval for the timing belt at 100000 miles. It broke while the engine was idling at 81972miles. These are interference motors. Repair was expensive. New head, head gasket, timing belt kit, and water pump. I'll be driving this car into the ground. -Glen

 

well its good to know i aint the only one looking to buy one of these vw's. but how much money do ya have to pour in it to maybe get a little hp? after reading this thread i am much more information on these cars than i had and now i know what to look for and buy. i had never owned a vw and i dont know much about them but no i do. thanks guys.

 

You can get nozzles and tuners for about the same as a Cummins. I have a stock Jetta but a mild upgrade would be the 20 hp nozzles. I talked to a gentleman last night that changed out my timing belt and he said that there are some mods that will get you even more mpg than stock so I am considering it too.

Go find the tdi club and there's a wealth of information on all aspects of the VW's.

http://forums.tdiclub.com/ubbthreads.php?Cat=

 

If you have a 1.9L motor you can boost those up pretty far. I think the euro version of this motor is 155 hp just a bit more than our 90 hp.

Piers Diesel Research has what you need.

I slowed down to 70 driving to work and nte 65 for everything else. Last tank was 54mpg.

It's scary going that slow people run right up your tail.

I know people talk about how much the price of fuel is but I don't see it on the road either by the amount of cars or how fast people are going.

 

It would be worth it to find an older one or a newer one. I just bought a '84 VW Jetta TD and a '85 VW Golf D. The golf gets 48-? MPG and the Jetta, well I'm not sure on yet. And the best part of all, I'm still burning diesel.

 

how do you like your 85, I was just looking at one for sale here that says it is in good shape. Good/Bad about the 85 you know of?????