4.5 years of TDI ownership, 167,000 travelled...what has been the cost for parts?

Well I am glad you asked! I was cleaning out the car this afternoon and found the pile of repair receipts that I've been stuffing in the trunk since we bought our 99.5 TDI four and a half years ago. The car is a Jetta, 5spd. It had 113,000 km on it when we got it and it now has 280,000 on it. Just for fun, I brought in all of the receipts and sprawled them out on the table and starting adding things up.

A few things on the car I am able to fix myself but it is quite minimal. This car is on the road 5 days a week and I cannot afford downtime of fixing it myself and although this forum has been fantastic on informing me of many issues with my TDI, I lack a local guru to look over my shoulder and assist in repairs. That said, I have an excellent repair shop in Charlottetown where I take my car and they are very knowledgeable of VWs.

So here is my list. I left out common things like oil changes, tires, rust checks, headlights, bulbs, and the timing belt components that I did a few years back. I sort of added up the parts cost from the perspective of someone asking "just how reliable are those VWs?". I did not include labour. This represents straight out parts replacements when something squeaked, creaked, groaned or acted up in a way that made me say, "this thing better go to the garage for some lovin".


front strut bearing and retainer $42 Mar-06
pre-valve, ball joint $89 Apr-06
front rotors $93 May-06
(2) front struts $189 Sep-06
starter parts $6 Oct-06
rear axle bushings $86 Nov-06
(4) glow plugs $152 Nov-06
rear rotors, pads and 1 rear caliper $288 Apr-07
starter parts $20 Oct-07
brake caliper, e-brake cable $303 Feb-08
oil pan drain plug $15 Apr-08
exhaust union $44 Sep-08
sway bar bushings $45 Sep-08
wheel bearing (rear) $266 Sep-08
front and rear abs sensor $130 Dec-08
front rotors $180 Apr-09
(2) rear coil springs $220 May-09
starter parts $16 Aug-09
front stabilizer bushings $112 Oct-09
front strut bushing $37 Oct-09
turbo hose $90 Oct-09
wheel bearing (front) $90 Mar-10

TOTAL =$2,513


So do I love my TDI........hell ya! I welcome any comments or similar stories.

My sum is about the same although I did include all my oil changes and two timing belts.

What are you doing to your front brakes? You should get more miles out of a set of rotors.

I just installed brake set #3 and tire set #3 on a 2005 T'reg today.

$1200 for the brakes.

$1000 for the tires.

$2200 every 20,000 miles for just brakes and tires. That does not include the normal PM services, nor the thirst for premium gasoline.

I imagine that would be even worse with the heavier v10. At least the cost would be offset by the way it sips D2

Yeah, this is the "cheap" T'reg: V[R]6 engine with coil springs, smaller wheels and brakes, etc. It MSRP'd for around $40k.

It has been a trouble-free vehicle for them, though. Some of the black on the radio knobs and steering wheel controls is starting to chip off however.

2006 TDI 249000 kms and...

Done 2 front wheel bearings and front axle, just did front brakes @ 240000 kms for first time- rotors were still good- did rear brakes @ 220000 km and timing belt @ 175000 km....Not including air filters and oil changes...

Total Cost
$900 !!!!

I LOVE my Jetta!

I would think a better way to figure out the real cost of your car is to break it down by kilometer. I am at about $0.07/km including my fuel. (about $0.02/km just for repairs)....If my math is correct...

By factoring in km useage, you are getting the actual wear and tear put into perspective. I have spent $7000 in 5 years on my car, but I have also driven 370,000km in that timeframe.

I have kept records for my last 6 cars. 3 fords, 1 dodge and 2 VWs. All averaged around $1000 - $1600 per year for total maintenance cost. My first two cars 78 Zephyr and 79 Mustang were simple cars with no options. They cost the least but that was 20 years ago so the data is not so accurate. I never changed a timing belt until owning VWs.