Poor support for GM diesels

tikal

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
When shopping for a new car last year I test-drove a Cruze hatchback with the 1.6L diesel engine and 6-speed manual. It drove fine, but the rearward visibility was horrendous and I was disappointed that I couldn't get the manual transmission version with a sunroof or heated seats. I ended up getting a 2018 Jetta (last year of the Mk6 generation) with the 1.4L TSI gas engine. It has all the features I wanted and averages 38 MPG. With the higher cost of diesel fuel, even if the TDI was still available it probably wouldn't save me anything in fuel expenditure.

Pretty good. Is that mostly as a one passenger car?


Fuelly shows this for the 2017 Jetta with the 1.4 TSI engine (most recent year with the most number of accumulated miles):


"Based on data from 148 vehicles, 5,215 fuel-ups and 2,118,648 miles of driving, the 2017 Volkswagen Jetta gets a combined Avg MPG of 34.87 with a 0.18 MPG margin of error."
 

Pat Dolan

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Martensville, SK
TDI
2003 A4 Variant, 2015 Q7
My DD is a K15 6.5TD, and that is for a life long VW fanatic. I came into the fold 53 years ago because of VW innovation, quality, etc., liked it a lot more when they had the guts to go diesel, but got REALLY pissed off over dieselgate and being abandoned. When we bought our last ever VW (Q7 TDI) the only other vehicle seriously considered was the Enclave.

I think I repesent a general cross section of VW buyers, we are (or were) there for the quality, vehicle dynamics, detail, innovation, etc. I would buy a GM if any particular model I wanted met those standards, but Cruze is hardly in the same class as a Golf or Polo!!! When such a car exists, it can expect to take customers away from VW.
 

Chris B

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 23, 2001
Location
N. central Illinois
TDI
2002 Jetta Wagon 5 spd
Remember the Corsica "Classic?" That's what they named it when no one but Avis would buy it.
The Malibu "Classic" went the same route....they kept building it for the rental fleets. Remember the Malibu MAXX? I would see those on the road (and have actually seen one fairly recently) long after most of the sedans were sent to the scrapyard. One of those weird niche vehicles....
 

CleverUserName

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Location
NorCal
TDI
2014 OZ Cruze CTD & 2010 JSW 6MT & 2017 GMC Canyon CCLB ATX 2.8 Duramax
I test drove a 2018 Cruze Diesel Sedan with the 6MT.

It was OK. The button to lock out reverse was kinda weird. Transmission was lackluster, but kudos to GM for offering it for a couple years.

I would have bought one, but for $25K it was way overpriced. The interior was so bad! The monochrome DIC and obsolete head unit were a POS. You also can't get any of the upgraded electronics with the manual transmission. I think the leather interior was really the only factory option available on the 6MT cars other than cosmetics.

I offered the dealer $15k, they countered at $19K. Didn't want to pay that much as I don't think it's worth it. It's a $12k car with a diesel engine. Not a $25K VW TDI.

No aftermarket tuning support either. EFI live and HP tuners offer nothing for the 1.6 diesel. Was hoping GDE would offer an EcoTune to get the MPGs around 70 MPG but nothing from anybody on this platform. I see lots of potential...

Oh well.
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
I have to agree with most. I’ve had enough gasser Cruise rentals that I would never buy one. We can’t fault gm for dropping the cruise when Ford is also dropping sedans due to poor sales. I’d like to see more diesel offerings but really think our next family car will be a hybrid if not a full electric.
 

gopher

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 10, 2005
support GM diesels

I have purchased 13 diesel cars since 1975 (only one used) which includes 6 Mercedes, one Oldsmobile and 6 VW Jetta TDIs and I have found that my 14th purchase, a 2019 Chevy Cruze diesel sedan far and away has the most refined and fuel efficient engine, achieving 56 mpg at 68mph, hand calculated when it wasnt even broken in. In addition, I was happy to be able to support the thousands of my fellow Americans who work at the Lordstown, Ohio factory making this vehicle who are about to lose there jobs. The generation 1 Cruze diesel has held up well (2014, 2015), and the engine in the current Cruze vehicle is a proven design, having been used in European vehicles for several years, however, time will tell how this vehicle, with its fully U. S. compliant emissions system, holds up over time; my 2005.5 VW Jetta TDI has 523,000 miles albeit with a much less complicated emissions system, with the original drivetrain except for the flywheel and camshaft. I am very fond of VW diesels but I felt this was the time to move on instead of looking backward to purchase an older VW TDI that are being offered for re- purchase, since, among other factors, some of the latest safety features available on the Cruze are not on the older VWs. VW, with their widespread and deliberate cheating on emissions did more harm to the reputation of the diesel engine than GM ever did 40 years ago. Sales of diesels in its European stronghold are down about 30% in some countries with diesel fuel taxes being increased and some cities threatening to ban diesels from their city centers and all diesel vehicles there are subjected to increased scrutiny; these developments threaten the massive investments in diesel engine technology that the leading European advocates for the diesel have made. The proper redemption for VW in my opinion, would have been to develop and sell in the U.S. diesel vehicles that are fully compliant with our current emission standards (I assume they are capable of this) and this could include pure diesels and diesel hybrids. Instead, they are investing billions in EVs and charging infrastructure in the U.S. for vehicles the public may never fully accept, with the currently available battery technology and without the massive federal subsidies available at present. In addition, GM cant be faulted for charging extra for the diesel Cruze compared to its gasoline counterpart- I have noted that the gas VW Jetta can be had for about $17,000, made with cheap Mexican labor south of the border- I presume a modern diesel variant would be thousands more. VW diesels have been good to me and I wish both VW and especially GM success in their future endeavors.
 

Blownvette

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Location
Derwood, Maryland
TDI
1990 Corvette with V10TDI ,2004 (2)V10TDI’s
Maybe it’s a little bit different to a lot of non forum TDI owners.... and a few like me, who have had tdi’s for the past 20 years. The new ones are too complicated VW/Chevy/MB/BMW and have made so many add ons to be emission compliant that the fun of owning one is lost.

I bought a 2017 GTI autobahn and put 110,000 miles on it in 15 months and found that I averaged 34 mpg on regular unleaded. Has a timing chain so I’m good there and 8 spark plugs that were changed out in less than 15 mins. Wondered why I ever thought of doing a newer diesel. Still have 3 V10tdi’s and think an electric car is the TDI of the future.

Being open to new ideas with unusual power out of the norm is why I got into to tdi’s years ago and why electric is the next step for me...
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Has a timing chain so I’m good there.
Lol. You should probably do some reading about that engine and timing chain failures. And carbon build up. Modern gasoline engines are pretty complex too. And about to get more complex as manufacturers add particulate filters to meet emissions standards.
 

turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
Maybe it’s a little bit different to a lot of non forum TDI owners.... and a few like me, who have had tdi’s for the past 20 years. The new ones are too complicated VW/Chevy/MB/BMW and have made so many add ons to be emission compliant that the fun of owning one is lost.

I bought a 2017 GTI autobahn and put 110,000 miles on it in 15 months and found that I averaged 34 mpg on regular unleaded. Has a timing chain so I’m good there and 8 spark plugs that were changed out in less than 15 mins. Wondered why I ever thought of doing a newer diesel. Still have 3 V10tdi’s and think an electric car is the TDI of the future.

Being open to new ideas with unusual power out of the norm is why I got into to tdi’s years ago and why electric is the next step for me...
You have a V10 tdi swapped corvette?! That is awesome and insane. Is there a thread about it in the swap forum?
 

Blownvette

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2004
Location
Derwood, Maryland
TDI
1990 Corvette with V10TDI ,2004 (2)V10TDI’s
Lol. You should probably do some reading about that engine and timing chain failures. And carbon build up. Modern gasoline engines are pretty complex too. And about to get more complex as manufacturers add particulate filters to meet emissions standards.
I have a 2017. True on the earlier ones... top tier fuel (gasoline) is also an issue as most people are looking for the lowest price and causing issues.

Current diesels have too much added to make them worth while. Dpf’s and exploding fuel pumps are worse than anything the older alh/pd’s had going on...rug vs diesel fuel price is another.

I’m just sharing my personal experiences, I don’t have a vested business interest in what people think... my opinion is the glory days for diesel has passed...
 

Pat Dolan

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2002
Location
Martensville, SK
TDI
2003 A4 Variant, 2015 Q7
Laughing out loud at the timing chain comment.
Yeah, failure parts for the last TFSI or whatever you want to call a CCTA cost me $5k+. I have never spent more than a few hundred bux on full service parts for ANY belt timed engine, nor have I ever had one of my own or a customer's ever fail (skip a tooth or two in earliest VW belt days I have seen).

VW/Audi has no business building timing chain engines, since they don't seem to be able to understand or learn HOW to do it.
 
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