Diesel Cars

[thatguy]

A car with less emissions and doing fewer miles per gallon will pollute just the same as an older car with more emissions but doing 60+ mpg.

Doesn't make any sense.

You will find that the modern cars anly pollute less on a steady engine speed, they still pump out black when booted, even more than older cars.

Its all political, just to show that we are doing something to save the planet, like the electric cars, very clean but the polution caused by the coal burned to generate the electricity far outweighs any savings

we (the US) like to put on the 'feel good' face.. Same with ethanol - using corn for ethanol, and driving up food prices due to the lack of corn..

B

 

[schoolsout]

I have owned a 2006 VW Jetta TDI I bought new in Feb of '07. I love the car, but have had the "fortune" of replacing camshaft due to premature wear (seems to happen to more than a few with BRM engine), replaced dual mass flywheel in DSG transmission (happens to most from what I can tell) and blocked off EGR (VW isn't only one with this issue). Transmission service is ~$300 every 40k. Timing Belt ($700) every 80k.

It gets ~45mpg

Diesel is ~$.80 more/gallon than reg unleaded.

I hope it lasts...I plan on driving it 'til the wheels fall off, but if I could do it over again, I'd get a good gas car that could achieve 35+mpg.

 

[schoolsout]

I've got 136k miles on my car, too, by the way.

And another reco for Fred's TDI site. Found a guy in Chapin that is more than willing to do work on the car for little to nothing. Nothing is what he asks, but I always try to leave parts/stuff he or someone else could use. He actually has a 2 post lift in his shop and has TDI gettogethers from time to time where everyone gets together and works on the cars.

 

[Haoleguy]

One big plus to me about the new diesels is that they come with sufficient fuel tanks to get good total distance between fuel ups. That's a big plus if you have a long commute in winter...Gary

 

[Renze]

I have a volvo S70 2.5 TDI (its the face-lifted 850, the last one designed by Jan Wilsgaard: the later ones are designed in the Ford era by a British cock who preferred design over functionality) which, when driving 50km to work each day, half highway, half country roads, gets 1 liter per 15km or 35 miles to the gallon. I have to say, i DO like to ride up front When driving with the flow i get 40 mpg.
When pulling a 2 ton tractor on a trailer, round trip, (50% empty, 50% loaded km) i still get 10 miles to the gallon.
The 2.5 TDI is a 5 pot, a 1.9TDI with one cylinder extra. It was originally designed for the VW Transporter Van (Eurovan) where VW had it at 150hp, Volvo uses this engine at 140hp but with a wider torque band.
It gets to 100kmh in under 10 seconds.

You do need VW 507.?? spec oil to get it to run 600.000km or more, but mine is at 330.000 and not using any oil yet.

As this one is the last of the sensible Volvos before Ford got around (Volvo tended to improve the parts that failed: Ford tends to cheapen the parts that DIDNT fail in order to split the difference between profit margin and sales price) I try to run it as long as i can. If i dont get any unforeseen problems i'll keep it till at least 500.000km. Thats another 5 years for me, the car will be 19 years old by then, and perhaps the first rust spots will occur by then, on our salted winter roads...

I hope by the time i need a new car, i can get a decent D5 diesel in a car that has been designed in the Geely era: Geely might be just a chinese, but they let Volvo run their own show and just look over their shoulder which technology they can use in their Chinese factories... So i hope i can buy a REAL volvo in the future. If not, i'll probably buy a Skoda, which is a Czech Volkswagen, just without that VW badge, for which you pay a premium in Eurpe

 

[TimberXX]

I have owned a 2006 VW Jetta TDI I bought new in Feb of '07. I love the car, but have had the "fortune" of replacing camshaft due to premature wear (seems to happen to more than a few with BRM engine), replaced dual mass flywheel in DSG transmission (happens to most from what I can tell) and blocked off EGR (VW isn't only one with this issue). Transmission service is ~$300 every 40k. Timing Belt ($700) every 80k.

It gets ~45mpg

Diesel is ~$.80 more/gallon than reg unleaded.

I hope it lasts...I plan on driving it 'til the wheels fall off, but if I could do it over again, I'd get a good gas car that could achieve 35+mpg.

What's in the transmission service?

 

[Dmace]

We've been looking at a new more fuel efficient vehicle comparing a VW TDi to other 4-cyl gas options like the Mazda3 and Subaru Impreza.

The Mazda3 gets 40mpg with a direct injected 155hp 6 speed auto and the Subaru Impreza has a 148hp CVT transmission and AWD returning 36 mpg. The 140hp Jetta TDi is rated at 42 mpg, hardly worth the $6000 premium, expensive maintenance, difficult winter starts, timing belt changes, more expensive fuel and less gas station options (8 gas stations in my town, 2 have diesel...).

 

[SGFarm]

Are you sure the engine for the jetta is made by mercedes? Is the tranny too?

No the engine is not made by Mercedes. It shares a lot of pieces and engineering with Audi, but not MB

 

[scrappy isb67]

Are you sure the engine for the jetta is made by mercedes? Is the tranny too?

there is nothing Mercedes in a VW, they "might" share the same manufacturer for the injection system(Bosch) but that is the only similarity

What's in the transmission service?

Drain the fluid, refill with a special tool. hook up scan tool and idle car to transmission operating temp(only shown accurately on the scan tool) and remove excess fluid. there is no fill port on top, it is serviced from the bottom. There is a stand tube that that is removed to drain the fluid and re-filled thru the same port/ stand tube. the stand tube determins the level in the trans. The fluid for the DSG is the most expensive part, it is ~$30/liter.

We've been looking at a new more fuel efficient vehicle comparing a VW TDi to other 4-cyl gas options like the Mazda3 and Subaru Impreza.

The Mazda3 gets 40mpg with a direct injected 155hp 6 speed auto and the Subaru Impreza has a 148hp CVT transmission and AWD returning 36 mpg. The 140hp Jetta TDi is rated at 42 mpg, hardly worth the $6000 premium, expensive maintenance, difficult winter starts, timing belt changes, more expensive fuel and less gas station options (8 gas stations in my town, 2 have diesel...).

I am AVERAGING 41mpg and have seen 46+/tank with my 2010 Jetta TDI. The EPA Ratings on my car are 31 city/41 hwy. can the others do this? the maintenance isn't any more expensive than it is on a gas Jetta (they take expensive oil too) so that is not a factor in my mind. and sure you can get a base model stripped down Jetta for about $6k less but a COMPARABLY equipped gas Jetta is within ~1K the price of the TDI. The closest comparable Gasser is the Wolfsburg edition and it is still not as equipped and ONLY about ~1K less When I looked last. The TDI starts ans well as the gasser, the gassers have timing belts too, or worse yet a chain that still has change intervals! I will give you the more expensive fuel BUT the better mileage offsets this. My wife drives a '10 Passat (similar in size & weight) with the 2.0T and it is averaging 31mpg. filling both cars is ~$50-$60 and the jetta has gone about 100 miles more

No the engine is not made by Mercedes. It shares a lot of pieces and engineering with Audi, but not MB

if you look under the hood of a VW, you will see Audi logos all over everything!

 

[Sutol]

we (the US) like to put on the 'feel good' face.. Same with ethanol - using corn for ethanol, and driving up food prices due to the lack of corn..

B

Same over here with the wheat used in making bio diesel, cooking oil is now more expensive than diesel as well, it used to be a third of the price or less until people started tipping bottles of it into diesel cars