Would a stick shift A4 TDI wagon be a good car for new teenage driver?

brownnugen

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My daughter will be driving age next summer so I am already starting to think of good safe, reliable and economical cars for her.

Obviously I am a fan of VW TDIs so that is my first thought. I also like manual wagons. My wife tells me that is a bad choice for a new driver but my first car was a manual old school beetle and shortly after got a manual Volvo wagon so that worked for me.

Would a manual A4 Jetta wagon be a bad choice for a new teenage driver?

Thanks.
 

aja8888

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I'm sure you will get a lot of opinions here, but my two daughters started with old 4 cylinder Toyota Camrys with automatics. More time for them to concentrate on what's in front of them and Camry's are safe, roomy and cheap. You can find a nice clean one for $3,000 - $4,000 or so.
 

hskrdu

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I'd certainly vote for a stick and for a diesel, but honestly, the MkIV wagon TDI is so valued, I wouldn't let my new driver get close to it!

For half the price you can find a Jetta or Golf TDI with lower miles and (later GLS) more airbags.
 
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Mike_04GolfTDI

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scooperhsd

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Kansas City KS
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NB, 2000, RED(5 Speed conversion) 2015 Golf SE
I wouldn't let a new driver have anything BUT a manual.
1. Driving a manual will give them less time on their phone.
2. If you can drive a manual, you can drive anything

THat said -I would NOT give them a TDI either.
 

csstevej

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north nj
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2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
I've taught all my kids to drive manuals, one boy and two girls,
It's the only car I let them drive.
Got a funny look from DMV tester when they saw it was a 5 speed and a teenager behind the wheel.
All three passed on first try.
I told them learn on this , and got them all 5 speed diesels then told them later do what you want , I turned the cars over to them when they graduate college.
Surprisingly they like driving them and don't want autos .....
I said at least now you can drive anywhere in the world, as most countries all use manuals.
Plus it shows up the male friends for my daughters as most don't know how to drive sticks and want the girls to teach them.
 

Tdijarhead

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My three daughters all drive manuals. Less time for texting and talking on the phone, and none of their friends ask to borrow their cars. So I vote for a manual a diesel is just added gravey.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

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My two sons both had TDIs as first cars, both manuals. Although neither were that enthusiastic at first, now they're devotees of manual transmissions.

However, I never was successful in teaching my daughter to drive a manual. Not sure why, but she'd panic every time we'd try and the lessons all ended unhappily. I finally gave in to her driving an automatic.

Not everyone wants to drive a manual. I think it's a great idea for new drivers for reasons already mentioned, but don't assume it'll work out with your daughter. Even if she successfully learns, she may hate it. And if she's at all like my daughter, you'll never hear the end of it.
 

D-Cup

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... Less time for texting and talking on the phone, and none of their friends ask to borrow their cars....
This.

Both my older sister and I learned to drive on an 81 VW Rabbit manual diesel. Now we can drive almost anything.
Every person we know that learned to drive stick "later" struggled more than we ever did.
 

larrydk

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Brookfield
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I wouldn't let a new driver have anything BUT a manual.
1. Driving a manual will give them less time on their phone.
2. If you can drive a manual, you can drive anything

THat said -I would NOT give them a TDI either.
I agree...I've been trying to work with my new teenage driver to drive stick....it also opens up a lot of better priced car buying options since less and less folks can drive manual
 

IndigoBlueWagon

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This.
Both my older sister and I learned to drive on an 81 VW Rabbit manual diesel. Now we can drive almost anything.
Every person we know that learned to drive stick "later" struggled more than we ever did.
I've taught both new and experienced drivers to drive a manual transmission car, and I've found teaching experienced drivers far easier. All they're learning is how to use a manual. New drivers are learning that, plus how to drive. Lots more going on.

And if folks think driving a manual will keep people from texting, you're sorely mistaken.
 

oilhammer

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outside St Louis, MO
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There are just too many to list....
I could not imagine not knowing how to drive one. Of course, my parents drove them, so that is what I knew. I learned on one, as did all five of my younger siblings, although the youngest never mastered it. But she CAN drive one if she absolutely needed to.

Personally, I think it encourages better driving habits. And if you get those habits "burnt in" from the beginning, they stay with you forever.

And by batter habits, I mean paying attention to your speed and your need for accelerating and braking. Plus, once this skill is mastered, there may actually be a chance that he or she will prefer it and will avail them of the ability to choose a less costly more durable option later in life, assuming we are not all forced into something with a rubberband transmission in the future.

They'll have to pry my stick shift from my cold, dead hand.

I have also been told by the teenage daughter of a friend of mine that she is a hit with her peers due to her skill in piloting a manual transmission Jetta TDI, because in our rural town, the cool kids drive big diesel trucks with three pedals. :)
 
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IndigoBlueWagon

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My wife drove a manual transmission car well. But she preferred to drive an automatic. I drove automatic cars for about 10 years, thinking that it would make commuting in Boston traffic easier. It does, in a gasoline car. But manual diesels are dead easy to drive in traffic. I can go from walking speed to 30 MPH in my wagon without shifting, and the engine braking is good enough that my original brakes lasted 150K miles, despite extensive driving in rush hour traffic.

But recently I rented a Subaru Crosstrek, which, of course, had a CVT. I usually avoid those like the plague, but the engine had so little power that it wouldn't accelerate worth a damn in top gear if you locked it into manual mode. The CVT made driving the car far easier. I think this kind of setup is what steers people away from manuals. TDIs are their own animal in this regard.

Also, I think a TDI is the second easiest car to use to teach driving a manual. The easiest? Air-cooled Bug.
 

oilhammer

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outside St Louis, MO
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There are just too many to list....
The torque than an ALH makes at idle coupled with the fact that the ECU tries to keep that idle dead on 903 RPMs no matter what makes them VERY easy to get started from a stand still and easy to drive in traffic. Couple that with an easily operated hand brake for hill holding for learners (and teachers :p ) makes it good too.
 

20IndigoBlue02

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TDI manual is the easiest car to learn how to drive manual. All that torque with a heavy dual mass flywheel is a great safety net to start the car in 1st and on a hill.
 

KLXD

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Yeah, I think the ECU controlling the idle makes the TDI the easiest stick to drive. I don't think I've found a hill yet that I cant just ease the clutch out and go. No need for the hand brake.

I taught my wife to drive a manual when we were dating in a VW based glass bodied buggy. It was pretty easy too since it only weighed a thousand pounds or so with a 1600.

To answer the OP's question I say go for it. Only reason we bought the auto to teach my daughter to drive was that at the time my '98 was having problems and would buck/surge like crazy at low parking lot speeds. Couldn't find a stick I was willing to buy at the time.

The other option was the Cummins powered Dodge 5 spd. Also very easy to get moving but kind of big to learn in.
 

UhOh

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I think it still depends a lot on the driving environment.

The PNW has some cities that have considerable grades. Stopping and starting on them can be quite a feat: Subaru figured this out and came up with(?) the hill holder clutch mechanism. Even for someone like myself who has driven manual transmissions all my life I still cringe at some situations.

Without a doubt the TDI is one of the easiest manual transmission cars to drive.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

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OP is in Charleston, SC. You'd have to look pretty hard there to find a hill.
 

rallywagon

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Sep 19, 2007
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Western NC
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A manual TDI wagon is great for me drive!....do you know a deal on a good used one!

Seriously...my son learned to drive on my 98 Jetta TDI and now has a 2000 Jetta TDI of his own. Extremely good cars for learning to drive a manual for reasons mentioned.

My daughter will be driving age next summer so I am already starting to think of good safe, reliable and economical cars for her.

Obviously I am a fan of VW TDIs so that is my first thought. I also like manual wagons. My wife tells me that is a bad choice for a new driver but my first car was a manual old school beetle and shortly after got a manual Volvo wagon so that worked for me.

Would a manual A4 Jetta wagon be a bad choice for a new teenage driver?

Thanks.
 

BobnOH

not-a-mechanic
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May 29, 2004
Location
central Ohio
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New Beetle 2003 manual
Never had a stick shift as easy to teach as these TDIs. You can roll thru the first few gears without touching the throttle.
Bonus- None of the daughters boyfriends have ever been able to drive her Civic 5-spd.
Manual is the way, unless you have lots of urban stop and go, then it gets annoying.
 

UhOh

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OP is in Charleston, SC. You'd have to look pretty hard there to find a hill.
Yeah, but people are [also] commenting in "general." Lots of folks skip over such things, which is why I mentioned it.;)
 

IndigoBlueWagon

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Good idea. I was in San Diego recently and drove up a hill that was steep enough that I couldn't see the ground in front of me at the crest. Why knew that San Diego had hills? Not me. And this wasn't my first trip.
 

crazyrunner33

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The other option was the Cummins powered Dodge 5 spd. Also very easy to get moving but kind of big to learn in.
Bingo, I was able to teach someone without stalling it out single time. However, we may have bit our tongues a few times. It's easy to drive a P pump Cummins, but it takes a lot of practice to drive one well. Even my buddy who has a Western Star 10 speed as a service truck struggles to drive the mechanical pump with static timing.
 

Nevada_TDI

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Any TDI other than a wagon would be a great idea, I too would want to save the wagon until she was a more accomplished driver. Driving a stick even when young is a skill that will be remembered all of her life.
 

UhOh

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Any TDI other than a wagon would be a great idea, I too would want to save the wagon until she was a more accomplished driver. Driving a stick even when young is a skill that will be remembered all of her life.
And hopefully they're good memories! ;)

I'd taught my ex to drive (at the age of 40!) on a manual transmission. It was a Corolla. I ended up with that car, fried clutch and all!:eek: (it's ultimately the reason I ended up here in TDI Land- replacement for that Corolla) Pretty sure that a TDI would have fared far better. But, she did end up becoming a very good driver. My current wife learned to drive a manual, IN Manila!
 

UhOh

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I learned to steer with a knee early on to make eating and driving easier... :D
Ha! I can drive sitting backwards. You know, drive behind my back like Hendrix could play a guitar behind his back!:D Oh, wait, that's a different dream:eek:
 
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