[Audi5jim]

Due to yesterday’s weather in my region (DE/PA/NJ) yesterday’s flight out of PHL were cancelled and/or delayed. Those passengers who missed their flights are being processed to today’s flights, so that means I can’t get on the plane to Little Rock, AR!!!! Dang-it!!!!! I was so ready to not drive the S4 anymore; I took everything out of it, disconnected the battery, and took the EZ-Pass out, spare change…everything! Now it has to all go back in for another week of 19-21 MPG 400 hp misery I call an S-pig. Can you hear that? Can you hear that toilet flushing my fuel money every time I drive the S4?

By the way, my last fill up yielded 21 MPG on the S-pig! Up from 19 MPG! WooHoo! I think she knows that she is getting replaced and is trying to save face…..

 

[grizzly]

Yeah, but life isn't all dollars and cents. I enjoy driving a Jetta...but I also like sports cars too. Sometimes it's fun to see dollar bills fly out the tailpipe!

 

[buggy9]

Sorry to hear that! Make sure the car is as promised and what you expect before you drive away. It would suck to get there and see potential problems.

Car buying over the internet is like internet personal ads without pictures. Normal body type = overweight. Overweight = really overweight. Young at heart = old. Looking for a commitment = stalker. Enjoys long walks on the beach = no personality. Tired of the bar scene = tired of being used slut.

Driven by an old lady on sundays = I did 20 burnouts before selling you the car. Body in great shape = high miles. Needs work = rust everywhere. Needs restoration = this car will cause your divorce.

 

[FLipped]

Lol, like that carfax commercial that shows mesed up cars.

Audi5Jim, you'll love the car, just make to check it when you get it because most cars are sold AS IS.

 

[blupearl]

I think it would be a lot more fun driving a high powered S4 over a Jetta. Even if it costs more, it sounds more fun. There's only so much power you can get out of 1.9L. Plus, the Jetta/Golf/New Beetle are not built to be very sporty. You can make them really sporty but then you have to replace the shocks and springs and all the bushings. The brakes get the job pretty well though.

 

[Audi5jim]

Success! I had a very uneventful 1206 mile drive from Hot Springs, AR to Cherry Hill, NJ. I left Hot Springs at 1430/1530 (Central/Eastern Time) and arrived today (Saturday) at 1324 (Eastern Time). My first refueling was at 608.4 miles in Tennessee a mile before the exit from I-40 East to I-81 North. It still wasn’t on the red mark above empty, but I was tired and fueled up right before I pulled off to sleep at a rest stop for a few hours. I actually chickened-out! I was so used to seeing a fuel gauge that low and needing to look for a gas station very soon. I had no idea I could have kept going…for about 150 more miles! I filled up with 13.079 gal which translated to 46.517 mpg. Not bad for setting the cruise control at 80 mph the entire time (for the most part). This TDI is simply amazing on fuel. When the fuel needle just touches the half full mark on the gauge, its indicating 327 miles traveled on the trip meter, at the tail end of the half full mark, it’s at almost 400 miles. I have never seen a 400 fuel tank on the S-pig….ever, and here I am getting better than the S-pig ever did on a half tank! I’m still on the same tank of gas from Tennessee and I’ve taken the wife to work yesterday and today and run some errands. I just want to see how far it will go before the fuel light comes on. It’s almost comical to me to drive a vehicle this far and still not need fuel. The weakest link to the road trip was the driver, for the simple fact of needing to consume food and water, nature calls and you need to stop! LOL!

As stated before, I'm not into the 1.9 TDI for power, it my new fuel sipping daily driver. If you think the 400 hp S4 if "fun" go ahead and drive it for one year straight at 650 miles per week and a $5800 per year fuel investment...all in the name of "fun"? Feel free, in fact, I challenge you to have fun with a $5800 per year fuel bill for a car you go back and forth to work every day in. Go ahead, have a great time with it. What could you do with an extra six grand laying around? My mind set is fuel efficiency and saving my hard earned dollars, not blowing them away on basic commuting transportation. My UrQuattro is the "toy" and I've been stupid for too long to have a high horsepower daily driver. I'll miss the horsepower, but my UrQuattro will always fill that void for me on the nice weekends.

Today, after not owning the car for 24 hours yet, I performed the "Ventectomy". I wanted to do this before my next fill up since I'm still tooling around on the fuel I purchased in Tennessee.

 

[Fluid]

One thing to be wary of is driving south - north in the winter. You should be fine because temps are not super cold, but if it gets below 0F, you might see some gelling. The reason why is because the warm southern gas station doesn't cut the diesel with the same anti-gelling additives and when you drive north, the temps drop.

 

[Audi5jim]

I totally agree with that, but today I finally had to get fuel here in NJ so I'm now running whatever additives New Jersey has. The fuel light came on this morning on my way to work at 647.9 miles and when I stopped for fuel I was at 670.2. Not to bad for the second half of the trip going through more hills at the last part of Tennessee and Virginia while still having the CC set at 80. I filled up today with 15.20 gal. My next mod(s) will probably be the CCV and the taller 5th gear. My commute is not hilly so I might go with the taller one of the two most common.

It was cold enough to see my glow plug dash light cycle on and then off this morning. She started right up and I let her settle into a nice idle and off I went! I love this car!

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Some notes about the glow plugs - when it gets below 48F, the glow plug light comes on for a while, this is called preglow. After every start both cold and hot, the glowplugs come on for a set time or below 2500 rpm. This is called afterglow. The older VW diesels used a timer relay to control the glowplugs, all TDI use electronic control of the glowplugs

However, if it's cold and you get preglow, you can wait a few seconds after the light goes out before starting the car. Even though the light goes out, the glow plugs are still making heat. Dpending on the year, the GP light may not reflect when the GP are actually on too. Up to about 2001, the GP light shows when the GP are getting electricity, 2002+, the GP are still on for a little while after the light goes out. You can also extend the glow plug duration with VAG-COM.

If you take a look at the 5th gear writeup, I recommend the middle gear out of the 3 possible sizes. The shortest one is fine but not a huge improvement over stock, the middle is best for highway cruising and it'll handle hills fine, the top gear is only appropriate if you have power mods, you'll probably have to upshift at tall hills.

 

[MAXRPM]

I totally agree with that, but today I finally had to get fuel here in NJ so I'm now running whatever additives New Jersey has. The fuel light came on this morning on my way to work at 647.9 miles and when I stopped for fuel I was at 670.2. Not to bad for the second half of the trip going through more hills at the last part of Tennessee and Virginia while still having the CC set at 80. I filled up today with 15.20 gal. My next mod(s) will probably be the CCV and the taller 5th gear. My commute is not hilly so I might go with the taller one of the two most common.

It was cold enough to see my glow plug dash light cycle on and then off this morning. She started right up and I let her settle into a nice idle and off I went! I love this car!

If you were set the cruise at 65MPG and drive it mostly on the HWY,, shift it like a granny at lower rpm, all that plus, 38-40 psi on the tires, taller 5th gear, and you will easly hit between 52-60 mpg, it is amazing how far these car could reach with a full tank, especially if you know how to baby them.

 

[chittychittybangbang]

The 5th gear mod works - you can stay in an area of optimum fuel efficiency without lugging the engine. RPM goes down, load goes up, but the overall effect is positive. However, many people don't observe any signifigant fuel efficiency gain because they drive faster. That's exactly what I did - the car was quieter and rpms were lower so I just drove faster and it wiped out any difference in fuel economy!

See here for the write up : http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q_how_to/multi/5th_gear_swap.htm

I would suggest the .681 gearing, it's tempting to go for the .658 but I think it's just too much. .681 is also good because it works on many transmissions, with taller gearing, differences in the final drive can make the .658 too tall.

 

[Superbass]

Thanks for the writeup, good pics. Do you have a pic of how much more room is there in the new jetta?

 

[chittychittybangbang]

Only the mk3 passat has this issue, maybe the mk3 jetta. The later cars have a removeable panel for easy access.

 

[Audi5jim]

I ordered a Mann+Hummel Provent 200 for the CCV mod, all the timing belt/water pump parts, all the filters, glow plugs and harness (just in case) a spare relay 109 (for the glove box) and the .681 5th gear(s) Did I miss anything?

This site (and others like it) are a wealth of info and I scoured them before I found the car I wanted. I've been driving like a little old lady, shifting at 2000 rpm and gently applying the throttle and coasting when needed. Hell, I even pull it out of gear and let it idle if I have a little ways to go before I stop. I figure why do I need to have the engine rpm’s up when I'm not applying power?