New Owner,Happy but Paranoid

Hello, I purchsed a 2001 Golf GLS TDI 5 speed last week ; the car is great and I want it to last,but I am inexperienced at car ownership,and only a little less so at driving period(although I did learn on a stick).What,exactly ,does the engine sound like when it is lugging? It was pretty darn obvious on my 86 Honda,but not on this-I feel like I could be doing it constantly and not know it-yet whenever I instinctively downshift, it is almost always unecessary. I have read/heard that being in too low of a gear is far worse than being in slightly too high of a gear,and I will happily forego gas mileage numbers for the time being.The dealer said,"Don't worry, they are tough," but I worry about what my still rusty technique will do to the car ,especially during the break in period.I am trying to minimize city driving, or get db to do it(no persuasion necessary there )I am sorry ,I am probably repeating many FAQs,but most of what I have found assumes a level of hands on experience that I lack.This is a great site!

Kay

PS:One more ?- What is a "clutch dump start?"

It's difficult to describe what the engine sounds like when it is lugging. It more something that you can feel with a TDI, though you won't be feeling it often.

If you shift the gears around the same speed (mph) that you did with your Honda then you are giving yourself a *huge* safety margin. It is really hard to lug the TDI. To be honest the only way I can see someone lugging a TDI is if they are doing it deliberately or they are a horrible driver.

Just to give you an example, driving in a parking lot I will often find myself going between 1st and 2nd gear. Quite often I will have to slow to a crawl...almost stopping while in 2nd gear and then accelerate up to speed again gently. I do that all the time and have never felt the car lug at all.

You will know if you are lugging.

If you want to get a sense for what it feels like, I would suggest you wait until your car is broken in say 1500-2000 miles or so, then just deliberately lug the engine for a short distance, say turn up a moderate incline on a driveway and do it at 15 mph in 3rd gear. That should do it, if you really want to see what it feels like and it won't do any harm.

If you just want to be sure you aren't lugging the engine *now*.... don't worry. You aren't! Trust me

Clutch dump start =

1) Come to a complete stop.
2) Place foot on clutch
3) Place car in gear
4) Give car some fuel
5) Simultaneously and *quickly* pull foot off clutch and mash the accelerator.

It's something you do to impress your friends if your 18. Not really good for the clutch, the tires or the car in general. Once or twice is not going to cause any harm though.

Suddenly, congratulations on the new ride. They are wonderful machines. I hope you thoroughly enjoy.

Think Diesel is right, it is hard to describe what lugging is. I guess I think of it in terms of heavy vibration from the motor when being run too slow and carrying a heavy load.

Don't try this when the car is new but consider what foot-to-the-floor acceleration might feel like with the car in 4th gear and the motor turning 1000 rpm. That's lugging.

Good luck an don't worry too much about hurting the car. I think its one of the easiest cars to drive out there.

Wow,up a hill in 3rd gear at 15mph-I am not as bad as I thought!LOL Thank you for your reassurance and terminology explanations .I was particularly confused about 1st vs 2nd gear going that slowly,and 2nd vs 3rd going around turns.I am generally ok on the highway,actually itchin' to go FAST,but I will be good
Well, come to think of it,

I am trying to vary the rpms,esp on the highway where it's easy to cruise at one speed only,but what parameters should I be doing?I've been going beween 1600 and 2100(engine seems to like 1900 the best),but should I be pushing it up to the upper 2000s as regularly?Or at all?

Thank you again for your help!

I read a defination of lugging once.

When you are operating the engine at an rpm where it can not accelerate, that is lugging.

Your peak torque is at 1900 rpm. Your peak horsepower is at 3750.

For maximum fuel mileage you want to shift just slightly higher than your peak torque, so that you wind up near the peak when you are in the next gear.

For maximum acceleration you do the same, but substitute your peak HORSEPOWER point (3750). I would wait until your engine is broken in before doing that.

In normal driving I don't usually go much higher than 2500 rpm, I don't need to. Sometimes I will get close to 3000, it's not that often though. Other people bump 4000 every other day. The engine is built to rev within that range (0-4000+) so you aren't going to harm anything except maybe your fuel mileage by reving the engine once it is properly seasoned. To tell the truth, I rarely need more power than what is on tap below 3000 rpm. I can usually accelerate better by going to the next gear. You save more fuel that way too. I am convinced that the majority of complaints of low mileage from new TDI drivers is caused by people driving them like gas engines, i.e. keeping it in 1st gear and revving up to 3500 in every gear between shifts the way you would with a small 4 cylinder gas engine.

Drive it like a big lazy V8. Just cruise on that fat wave of torque and you and your car will be alot more relaxed.

I look at the tach a lot when driving a TDI (and that's all I drive!). Even after years of TDI driving I find it's instructive to look at the tach. One thing I don't like about the Beetle is that the tach is so much smaller than the Passat and Golf. Just keep the tach at 1500 or over on level ground, over 1600 for a slight hill, and at 2000 or over for a steep hill.

Thanks, everyone!

I've been going w/ my instincts, and have come up with what you are suggesting.Guess there is hope!

Db drives it like his (gas)car,no wonder the mileage takes a dive when he's been in it LOL
Happy TDIing!

SLD

SELL YOUR CAR NOW IT SUCKS.

ROFL Sorry, you can't have it

At what speed & rpm should one shift from 1st to second gear.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Vanigh:
At what speed & rpm should one shift from 1st to second gear.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Any speed ! .... TDIs just keep turning.

Seriously: You get the best performance when shifting app. 1.000 rpm's above max torque (=3.000 rpm?). Best economy will be obtained if you keep the engine running just above lugging in a high gear.

However: Be aware, that low revolutions will increase the sooting of Your entire system (both intake and exhaust). So the end result is probably something like "as low revolution as you are comfortably with. Spiced up with an occasionally heavy right foot."

The balance is: keeping the revolutions low enough to save Diesel, but at the same time high enough to keep the engine alive.

You could possibly combine your driving habit with a filtration of the fumes in Your CCV-tube.