What got you into TDI world?

To get women!

And better fuel economy and hopefully long term reliability

One of my good friends had a MK4 Jetta that we took on a road trip from Chicago to Orlando. I loved how the car handled, the fun of a manual, and the fuel economy. We just alternated every other tank who bought and I ended up paying cash to save a few cents at most of the truck stops. Nearly every time, I had to go in for change because I could not estimate under how much fuel we put in the car.

Fast forward a few years and I'm driving a '97 GMC Sierra and in the market for something new. I was looking at small SUV/Crossover types like the Equinox/Terrain. Well I drove the truck so much that I had to fill it twice in 3 days and then I knew I wanted fuel economy and fun. I found the Golf with 2600 miles at Carmax and fell in love after one test drive.

dgoodhue said:

I thought my wife was going to buy a Prius V. She is one of those strong minded people that you can't talk into anything. She had a midsize 20mpg SUV but wanted to get something with better mpg. We put together a list cars to look at in our price range and while searching on line she asked about a TDI VW. I basically told her basically that car enthusiasts often prefer turbo deisel because the provided a better driving experience because of the torque. I didn't even try to sell her on a tdi because I didn't think she would buy one. She test drive a Prius and hated it. She didn't like the way it drove and it didn't fit her well. She test drove a JSW TDI and she loved it.

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My wife had a Fit picked out and was supposed to be at the Honda dealer signing the paperwork. She called for my info to give the VW dealer. Was I ever surprised!

calimustang said:

Dont you miss the 76 MB 240D? I sure miss my grandfather's '76 MB 240D (dual tanks) had 450k when he dsold it. he bought it when it was new, before i was born, 3 years to be exact.

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Some days, yes. Had a vacuum operated locks that could be a PITA to find the leaks. It was a much simpler machine than TDI's and heck of a lot slower to accelerate or climb hills much less mountains.

My past commute got me into it. The traffic though got me out of that job and into one much closer. If it were an easier drive with little to no traffic I may have stuck it out.

For me it was easy. I was 14 when my dad bought a 2003 NB TDI (my mother made him get it instead of the Jetta), and when it came turn for me to learn, the only car around was the NB. I learned on the NB 5spd, went through some crummy cars through college like the Chevy Metro, Ford Taurus, and Saturn SC2 until I finally bought an 03 Jetta TDI in 2012. The Jetta was stock and not quite what I liked in my dad's modded Jetta and Golf TDIs. My dad sold me the Golf when I graduated college and I've absolutely loved it. 2" lift, 1.5" bigger tires, nice exhaust system, brand new turbo (ran into one for $350 from my dad's project wagon), PP520s and TDTuning stage 3. If I were making more money I'd go for even more power, but it has plenty for the time being. I tow a 49"x78" trailer with the car that has my four-wheeler on it. I also use it for firewood for bonfires and the like. Can't wait to get a MK7 golf someday. What I'd really love to see is a Tiguan TDI. If I were married and needed a second car, that would be the no-brainer for me.

I was at our local truck stop pumping another $125 of diesel in my Ford Super Duty when in pulled this little car with paper plates...I paused and said "you know these are diesel pumps"...he dropped his head and replied "thats the same thing I said to a guy", I have a Dodge sitting at home"...I said "thats a diesel"?...he replied "yes"...next day a TDI Jetta was in the driveway.
BTW my first Dub was a 69 in high school

This is my 3rd VW, and 1st TDI. Always enjoyed driving VW's in the past, but the mpg's was the primary reason I have it today. Had 2 previous Toyota hybrids - great cars, great mpgs, but more typical of an appliance you use everyday - reliable but boring. As some may know, my last one was totaled in an accident and I sought out a safer vehicle but didn't want to give up the mileage.

This is my 6th VW, and my beloved 1987 Jetta TD WAS ON ITS LAST LEGS, OVER 750K KMS...my wife and I live in the mountains, so everywhere from here is a road trip...only made sense to have a TDI, and diesel fuel was 70c/l at the time.

keep it coming!

Back in 02, a friend had a 2000 jetta gls tdi and he showed me how many miles he had on the trip at 1/2 tank. I went wow. He wanted to sell and I bought. Daughter (9th grade) was in club volleyball so I knew we would be road tripping a lot. Fast forward to graduation and she picks a college 4 hours away and playing ball. Some weeks were double trips for games!

Fast forward one more time and now has been 12 years and 220k later with the Jetta. Who would have thought we would have it that long! Many road trip memories in those miles.

Onward to 300k...

After taking the family on a few vacations in the 03 Chevy Avalanche and only getting 18 mpg I started looking for a wrecked Jetta TDI. Looked for a couple of years but found nothing worth fixing. So we ended gave up looking for a year or so. Just went car shopping at a VW dealership one day and found our car. 13 Passat TDI SE in Opera Red. Wasn't looking for navi and a sunroof but we loved the car. Drove a Jetta first since it was cheaper but the boys were already to tall for the backseat. Got in the Passat and they loved the room. Made a great birthday present for myself.

I've always been partial to VWs. My college roommate had a Beetle with the cool semi-automatic. I have never seen any other car with anything similar nor as cool! My uncle had a Rabbit with a stick shift that I loved to borrow.

Fast forward to the future, we had earlier sold the Sienna van for a Subaru AWD wagon as our practical car. After about twelve years and rear-end collision, we were looking. My wife made a list of all cars in our price range with a stick shift and sufficient back seat leg room and head room for our son (we are a family of six+ footers) using the Consumer Reports database. BTW, if you ever need to build a spreadsheet and filter out models based on multiple criteria like that, CR can't be beat.

My wife's spreadsheet included the Jetta wagon, and having been a subscriber for decades to multiple car magazines, and remembering the stellar reviews, instantly decided that we needed to test drive the TDi. We also test drove a passel of other cars, but came back to the VW dealer the next morning and drove off with a beautiful silver JSW.

Father had a MK1 Golf 1.5L in Europe and remember working on it with him. Pickedup MK2 Golf 1.6 NA 15 years ago. Been wanting TDI for years. Could not justify paying extra for tdi at the time but Been driving VW since getting my license. Few years back had Jetta tdi pull away from me like I was standing still in my MK 4 2.0. Picked up 2 B4 TDI's in the last year and swapped one of the engines into Corrado. Been playing around with it ever since getting it ready to be my daily driver.

calimustang said:

What got me into TDI world was when i was a little boy in Cali (now residing in Florida) there were 70s and 80s mercedes benz diesels monopolized the roads and my grandfather had 2 of them. 1976 240D which was a slow dog but work horse at 450k miles and drives like new besides it loved to bellow a lot of black smoke. Also had 84 300SD turno diesel, much bigger and more power. She had 255k flawlessly miles. Only battery was replaced. Thats what convined me to go for diesel powered car so thats got me here into TDI. What got you into TDI?

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Here's my (long) story (posted in 2003):
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showpost.php?p=997524&postcount=52

Thread (started by dieseldorf in 2003):
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=61449

I had a commute of 500 miles round trip once a week. So in 2004 I bought a used '98 Jetta TDI. It has proven to be the best car I have owned. I was previously a ford man, and learning the history of how Henry Ford was awarded a medal for his help with VW was a big plus. Anyway, I'm TDI till I die.

Sweet me too, i own 3 of fox mustangs, '89, '89, and '90. I got trhe TDI because i drive about 1k miles a week, old chevy caprice LT1 9C1 with 200k miles and she was 15 years old and had police service on her belt and my work demands, she couldnt hold up anymore, only do 325-400 a tank for 80 bucks.. my TDI averages 45 a tank for 700 miles. big difference plus Caprice costed me too much to keep maintenance and unexpected broken parts due to age and wear/tear. I had to retire her and sold her to a friend who would keep her local only. I do miss her but TDI is far more fun to drive.

Jetta SS said:

I had a commute of 500 miles round trip once a week. So in 2004 I bought a used '98 Jetta TDI. It has proven to be the best car I have owned. I was previously a ford man, and learning the history of how Henry Ford was awarded a medal for his help with VW was a big plus. Anyway, I'm TDI till I die.

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A 190 mile round trip commute. Needed a new (different) car. Wanted high fuel economy. Wanted Drivability. Did not want a hybrid.

That said, there wasn't much left but a diesel that really fit the bill.

Others could match the economy on paper, but test drives always proved disappointing. Tinny, cheap, lower crash ratings, lacking in features, or worse features that didn't work as they should. The TDI had all that and more. Hail storm through the dealership and 0.9% financing sealed the deal.

My first car was a fantastic 1984 Rabbit diesel that I paid for with $900 and a roll of carpet I never looked back after that. I've made a vow to always own a diesel vehicle and I'm 2 for 2 for now!

I've been driving VWs for 30 years. I went to replace my '89 gasser Jetta in 1999 and could not believe a car that size could not break 30 mpg (EPA combined). I could semi-hypermile my '89 to 40 mpg combined, so this did not seem like progress. But I was concerned about running a diesel here in the tundra. A few diesel truck owners set my mind at ease. I went for a 99.5 Jetta, traded for the Wagon in 2003, and now don't really want to drive anything else.

calimustang said:

What got you into TDI?

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This forum.

All of the other reasons that people mentioned (fuel economy, longevity, performance, useable size) were factor but really in the end I doubt I would have taken the plunge without the added security blanket from the wealth of knowledge generously provided by the TDIClub community.

calimustang said:

What got you into TDI world

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A long night in the bar, but I sobered up.

Numerous things got me to where I am today, owning two passat TDIs. My wife drives the '13 dsg and I have a '14 6m. My first 15 or so VWs were 70's busses (one of which had a FI 914 motor in it. I used to get 35 mpg in that one!) I was anti water cooled until a friends boss had a '90 GTI 8v with a blown motor and new 5spd. It also needed a drivers door and fender. After fixing it and putting 35k on it, I was hooked. This is still my favorite car I ever drove. It was a shame it was totaled by a 98 year old woman in a Subaru. This was in 2000
2002 I had a job that afforded me the ability to buy a new car. After shopping vw, I bought a Subaru wrx. It just out volkswagened vw at the time. (Vw had many quality issues at that time) . I kept the wrx until 2012, when my son was born. I couldn't put a baby seat in it with the seats where I needed them (I am 6'4"). I traded the subie in for a ford conversion van!
At the same time (around summer 2013), my wife was driving a 2000 Camry with 230k on it and student loans coming due. It was do or die, get a car now. With her driving a 120 mile per day commute, I had her drive a passat diesel. SOLD! We were now a tdi family!

Fast forward to February 14. I get a job as a construction manager and no longer need to drive a van full of tools 250 miles round trip per day. I started taking the conversion van instead. It was costing me 1400 bucks a month in fuel! Yes, you read that correctly, 1400 bucks!
Well, the august sale at vw got me thinking, why not get a diesel for myself? I am the perfect candidate. I test drove a 6m and was sold! Now, try finding one in a color combo you want! The manual passat are as rare as hen's teeth or unicorn poop! I found a blue one with a black interior (supposedly) at a dealer 500 miles away and had it shipped to my local dealer. It turns out, it had the two tone interior which I like better.

I now spend only about $400 a month on fuel. Figuring in the monthly payment and extra insurance, I am still saving almost $500 a month.


So, our first TDIs will not be our last. I know that I will never own a gasser again. Wifey feels the same.

On another note, I am currently driving a Jetta se loaner with the 1.8t tsi in it, while my 6m is in for it's 10k service and to fix a creaky front spring.
The tsi is a marvel of a motor! It is plenty powerful! It gives great mileage too (for a gasser)
No ****, I have seen 40 mpg average during my commute. (Checked on paper) while that is quite amazing, I have seen 54 mpg (calculated, 60.5 on the trip computer) in my tdi.

A tdi minivan would definitely be a consideration if they made one available here.

My wife wants a Tiguan tdi. At least we know that this is coming soon.


TDI FOREVER!!

....a new '81 Rabbit Diesel, a new '85 Quantum, a lo miles 1982 Rab Diesel PU which lasted until - at 300,000 miles - the 2013 JSW TDI entered my garage.

ez

What got me into TDI?

Easy: only 75 kilowatts, sure, but 250 newton meters of torque. And with a mileage somewhere between 800 and 1000 kilometres to a 65 litre tank, the choice was so obvious.

I came from modded Mustangs to TDIs. I was looking for something to save on fuel (I bought around the time gas peaked) and after reading up the potential for mods and still getting decent fuel economy intrigued me.

The first TDI I test drove almost convinced me to look elsewhere. It was not making boost at all and the go pedal mad almost zero difference between 25% and 100% pedal.

I found a deal on my '02 knowing the automatic was trouble but the car was SO much nicer than the others I looked at it was worth the 5 speed swap down the road.

Now I want to find a nice Mk IV 2 door Golf TDI...

back in 2003 , I joined Edmunds.com forum, and got into a forum discussion about SUVs vs other vehicles. It turned into a 2 year discussion or argument.

One person on Edmunds was a TDi member , who touted his vehicle and also supported SUVS. He explained a lot of positive things about TDIs....and got me interested.

We are a VW family since 1960s...so naturally I investigated, and in 2006 ended up buying my first TDI , a 2002 jetta Tdi that was modified.
Then bought a 2003 Wagon, a 2012 jetta tdi, and recently another 2000 jetta tdi.

Thanks Rukes !

We drove a 240D for 25 years and kept waaaaiiiiiting for Benz to bring over a stick shift diesel. Finally gave up late in 2009 and bought a 2010 Jetta TDI. Sold the Benz for $2,500.

Have had HI MPG license plate in 3 states. Now, it means something. The Benz's overall average was only 30 mpg, virtually all the time. Highest it ever got was 34. The TDI averages about 41 now and does 44-45 over the WVa mountains to Columbus, OH from Charlottesville, Va, and you never know those mountains are there. The 240D could only stay in top gear and maintain speed up most (not Sandstone) of the mountains IF you could keep the speed well above 65 mph. Get stuck in traffic going uphill and down to 3rd gear, you'd be stuck there until you topped the hill. Even our 2004 Tacoma requires downshifting to 3rd gear up a couple of those mountains and certainly won't do 44-45 mpg.

Going south or east on flat interstates, it's 49 mpg at around 70 mph.

This is the most capable car I've ever owned or driven. An Alfsud was equally as fun and as capable in Sicily.

This thing is sooo easy to maintain, about same to change oil/filter as the 240D which had the oil filter on top. Suctioning the oil out worked on both. Fuel filter isn't bad either except for those nasty torque bolts. Think I'll change them out to regular hex next change. This was nice because the 240D is prehaps the easiest car in the world to maintain.

Ralph

My first car...

We were out looking for my first car, nothing fancy, just a reliable fuel efficient little car. The Jetta for us really came up out of nowhere, the dude that we were with showed it to us and no other car was really around. I have always had a love for Volkswagen cars, so we took a ride in it and I have loved it ever since!

Reason I got my Jetta TDI was for the mileage cant beat 42 mpg or more. I got a 100 mile round trip commute. Looked at the hybrids and gassers but nothing came close to the TDI in mileage and fun