VW diesel car for daily driver????

[gregamorton]

does any body here have a VW diesel car they drive as there daily driver? I am thinking about getting a early 2000 car for long distance daily driving. I am looking for feedback and any issues that can cost quite a bit that I need to watch for. Thanks ahead of time, Greg.

[fomocoguy]

They get great mileage and are actually fun to drive, and hundreds of thousands of miles are not uncommon. The down side is that VW's are awful expensive to repair. My buddies aunt had a TDI Jetta that the injection pump went out on and it was something crazy like 3k to fix.

We looked at an 02 Passat wagon a few months back and the deal killer was when the salesman told me about his friend who bought an 02 Touareg suv. He said the starter went out about a month after his warranty was up and it cost him $5000 to repair because they had to completely pull the engine to replace it. He said it was a one year only design flaw.

[69FLATBED]

Buy It! I've owned several VW diesels and loved them all, I had a Caddy pickup with a 5 speed and have gotten close to 50 mpg on it. They are very reliable and fun to drive.

[averagef250]

Almost bought one recently. Several friends have them and like driving them. What steered me away was the maintenance costs and VW engineering. I can do it all myself, but I hate working on VW's and Mercedes cars. I'm German and I can't believe how they build cars like that and sell them. Most complicated things by far.

Do the math on what it costs you to buy and drive a 2000ish VW TDI, what maintenance will cost and add a PITA factor for a decade or so.

Then do the same for a Hyundai Elantra 5 years newer the gets 40 MPG on cheaper fuel.

[68sportcustom]

I've got a couple and I love them. My mother bought an 03 TDI Beetle brand new and that started off the family obsession.

I bought a few naturally aspirated mk.II diesel jettas then I got an old diesel rabbit in a trade. I drove the rabbit a while bit it was just to raw and noisy for me so I only used it occasionally. Then last year my dad who was using his 06 Duramax as a daily driver asked if he could use it. I laughed and said sure but after a 100 miles in the rabbit you'll park it and head back for the the heated leather and crazy power of the

Well turned out I was wrong. In the last 12 months dad has put 20,000 miles on that little P.O.S. as well as new paint, seats, GTI rims and a whole bunch of dynamat. He's averaging low 50 mpg.

My daily is a 1996 Passat B4 TDI and I'm averaging 48 mpg and never had a tank below 46 mpg. My wife drives a gas 2003 Jetta wagon 1.8t and we love the car and the power but wish we had got it with a diesel too.

As far as mechanical issues, we haven't had many at all. On the TDI's the intake can get clogged with carbon from the EGR, but there are solutions for that. I've had small problems that a dealership might have gouged me on but nothing I couldn't handle with a little help with the forums over at VWVortex.com.

If you have any questions at all feel free to ask.

[gregamorton]

thanks for the replies guys. I like the looks of the 2000-2004 or so jettas with the more boxy style. I am not ruleing out the NA older cars or truck but they most of the time are not the way to go with no power and no ac. I am looking at possibly changing jobs and if so will be driving around 120 miles per day. As much as I think I would look pretty gay I would buy a diesel bug if it had good records and got it cheap. I have noticed that it seems the main things to look far on the newer ones is to have a new timing belt and water pump installed every 100000 miles or so.

[fomocoguy]

thanks for the replies guys. I like the looks of the 2000-2004 or so jettas with the more boxy style. I am not ruleing out the NA older cars or truck but they most of the time are not the way to go with no power and no ac. I am looking at possibly changing jobs and if so will be driving around 120 miles per day. As much as I think I would look pretty gay I would buy a diesel bug if it had good records and got it cheap. I have noticed that it seems the main things to look far on the newer ones is to have a new timing belt and water pump installed every 100000 miles or so.

FWIW, I met a recruiter for Wyotech who lives here in St. Louis. He had a TDI beetle and had put 275k miles on it with no complaints, still driving it all over the place.

[mljjones67]

I have a 2004 jetta tdi. I did the timing belt and water pump at 100k. It wasn't bad at all! When I was commuting to Colorado twice a week I would average 47 miles to the gallon at 82 mph. I love the car! They are fun to drive and very peppy! I put it in fifth gear and never have to shift down no matter the size of the hill! I am selling mine now since I don't work in CO anymore. I put a frost heater in it when I bought it for the cold morning starts! It heats up the coolant to 160 while plugged in! I just put on the third set of tires. I have never had any alignment problems! I also put a panzar aluminum Belly pan on it because the oil pan sits so low! I got all my info off on tdiclub.com

[DuckRyder]

... I got all my info off on tdiclub.com

10-4 on TDIclub

http://forums.tdiclub.com/

[Donnie]

does any body here have a VW diesel car they drive as there daily driver? I am thinking about getting a early 2000 car for long distance daily driving. I am looking for feedback and any issues that can cost quite a bit that I need to watch for. Thanks ahead of time, Greg.

My daily ride is a Jetta diesel....even at 4 bux a gallon I like it a lot...Have had Peugeot, Mercedes & many Rabbit Diesel's for over 30 years...I'm pretty easy on the throttle, as I said B4, my hot rod daze are behind me........I like the 50 mpg & the possibility of 300,000 miles
.............Donnie