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I've been scouring these forums trying to learn as much as I can about these fine cars before taking a small plunge in the VW TDI world.
A little about my needs:
I have a run-about-town car (a 20 year old dodge shadow) which although has been a pretty reliable car with the minimum of expenses over the years it's at a point in its life where it's going to start costing me some real money to keep on the road (like more than it is worth). It gets 20 mpg on a good day. Most of my commute is back and forth to the train station 3 miles each way, with weekend trips all over the place and some highway driving when needs warrant it.
I have always been a fan of compression ignition engines from the original Lister D stationary engines to the replacement aircraft engines that are Diesel but run on Jet-A kerosene - so I thought it would be a good time to replace my gasoline "station car" with a Jetta TDI.
Obviously I'm not looking to buy a new one and leave it in a parking lot for most of the day so getting a decent used one is what I'm trying to do.
I currently drive a 5-speed standard and that is a requirement for the TDI I want. My daughter will be learning to drive in a couple of years and I want her to learn how to drive in a standard the same way I did.
There's a VW dealership in my town that has two TDI's on the lot, one is a 2006 5-speed, 88,000 miles for around $15k and a 2003 with 91k automatic for $9900 - both cars look in good shape body wise, engine compartment clean. If the 2003 had the 5 speed I'd be on it pretty quick I think however learning about the differences between these year cars I'm wondering what would be best in the long run.
The EPA mileage on the 2003 is 8 mpg more than the 2006 5-speed which I'm wondering if it's because of the extra diesel that gets wasted going into the downpipe before the cat to keep it hot and emissions low or is there more to it? Are these EPA numbers even accurate?
I've been looking in Craigslist too and there are quite a few out there but you never know the full story from cars and at least the dealer in town has been there a long time and hopefully would stand behind something they sold for a little bit.
So my question is this, should I hold out to find a 1999-2003 5-speed Jetta TDI with decent condition and mileage and get the belt and water pump changed and go from there or is there any sense in buying something newer with pumpe-duse and tweak that for mileage?
Thanks for any advice you can offer a newbie to the TDI arena.
Robert
A little about my needs:
I have a run-about-town car (a 20 year old dodge shadow) which although has been a pretty reliable car with the minimum of expenses over the years it's at a point in its life where it's going to start costing me some real money to keep on the road (like more than it is worth). It gets 20 mpg on a good day. Most of my commute is back and forth to the train station 3 miles each way, with weekend trips all over the place and some highway driving when needs warrant it.
I have always been a fan of compression ignition engines from the original Lister D stationary engines to the replacement aircraft engines that are Diesel but run on Jet-A kerosene - so I thought it would be a good time to replace my gasoline "station car" with a Jetta TDI.
Obviously I'm not looking to buy a new one and leave it in a parking lot for most of the day so getting a decent used one is what I'm trying to do.
I currently drive a 5-speed standard and that is a requirement for the TDI I want. My daughter will be learning to drive in a couple of years and I want her to learn how to drive in a standard the same way I did.
There's a VW dealership in my town that has two TDI's on the lot, one is a 2006 5-speed, 88,000 miles for around $15k and a 2003 with 91k automatic for $9900 - both cars look in good shape body wise, engine compartment clean. If the 2003 had the 5 speed I'd be on it pretty quick I think however learning about the differences between these year cars I'm wondering what would be best in the long run.
The EPA mileage on the 2003 is 8 mpg more than the 2006 5-speed which I'm wondering if it's because of the extra diesel that gets wasted going into the downpipe before the cat to keep it hot and emissions low or is there more to it? Are these EPA numbers even accurate?
I've been looking in Craigslist too and there are quite a few out there but you never know the full story from cars and at least the dealer in town has been there a long time and hopefully would stand behind something they sold for a little bit.
So my question is this, should I hold out to find a 1999-2003 5-speed Jetta TDI with decent condition and mileage and get the belt and water pump changed and go from there or is there any sense in buying something newer with pumpe-duse and tweak that for mileage?
Thanks for any advice you can offer a newbie to the TDI arena.
Robert