Sad Roadtrip for my now ex Money Pit Jetta

I am unsure of if this is a happy or a sad ending. One thing is for sure, it was a shock for me and my wife.


After owning a 2000 ALH for over 6 years until someone hit me in the passenger door, I figured it's time for an upgrade and decided to make it the car of my dreams.


Had to be a white MK5 Jetta TDI, fully equipped and properly modded.

I found what I wanted, but on a 2007 Wolfsburg with a blown 2.0 TSI.
I bought it, found a mechanic to do the brm swap... and he did a horrible job.


I found another mechanic who is also known for tuning and he just made things much much worse.



Car had a 1.9 BRM, PD140 turbo, bigger injectors, 3bar maf stage5 custom tune and a strong clutch I didn't like, and was poorly installed by that other mechanic.



I eventually brought it to my regular guys and they fixed many things for which my car was now a half decent daily but many things still not working requiring lots of time to fix given it's poor Swapped Nature.





On the way back home with wife and dog from a day of hiking Mont Megantic in Quebec... I totaled the car by hitting a deer who jumped in front of me. (we were going 90kmph)


Dash cam video if anyone is interested (Note that it's a bit graphic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPPSVVo5yKM


Before and after
https://www.instagram.com/p/B1HPDgGjxsY/


Now I got myself a perfect replacement.
a 2006 TDI, bone stock and perfectly maintained. Running on it's OEM turbo with 320000km
I managed to buy back my old PD140 turbo from the company who bought my car from the Insurance company. (The turbo got under 10 000km on it) I am happy they sold it to me for 300$




Lesson here, don't swap unless you have the skill to do it yourself.


I am now happy with my Stock 06 TDI and hope to keep it as long as it runs and as long as I can get the body to stay as rust free as possible. (Which is hard in Montreal Quebec due to winter salted roads)

It will get a stage 1.5 tune and installation of my PD140 when the OEM goes out or when I have the spare cash to make it happen.

It happens fast doesn’t it? They are like ghosts, pop up and disappear in an instant. When I hit one I didn’t even have time to take my foot off the Excelerator. Anyway, sounds like everyone was Ok except the pedestrian and the perpetrator

Glad to see/hear you and your woman were safe; thanks for sharing the video - it ain't pretty but certainly illustrates how fast a relaxing drive can turn into a mess.

I’ve hit several deer here in northern PA, they just pop out of the brush with a death wish. Glad everyone is ok.

Brutal. I hope it didn't suffer much. I have close calls with deer almost weekly. Have to be super vigilant scanning the roadside, especially at night.

We have the same issue down here in the Austin area with hogs crossing some of the newer fast roads. Texas 130 has a 85 mile an hour speed limit. Several people recently have hit wild boars (200 lbs) at those speeds. When I used to drive for UPS one of the feeder routes I drove took me out to San Angelo and back. Right through deer country at night. I had a clicker in my hand and counted 374 deer on the road in about a 70 mile stretch. You just have to slow down and be vigilant. Glad you all made it okay. Hate to see one come through the windshield.