Your thoughts on high mileage TDI ownership

soldierguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Location
California
TDI
'15 Jetta TDI S DSG
Hey all, it’s been a long time since I’ve nosed around here. I used to have a ‘10 Golf TDI, but sold it to get a motorcycle back in 2011.

Here’s the deal. I’m now a supercommuter, and have been for almost 2 years. My daily round trip commute to and from work is about 225 miles, and all but about 10 miles of that is highway. Fantastic job, and the overall situation will be the same for the next 2-3 years at least.

When I found out I got the job, my first thought was “I need a TDI.” Then the emissions thing hit, the TDIs were no longer for sale, so I didn’t get one. I’ve been driving a ‘16 Prius for the last 20 months, and I’ve got slightly north of 91,000 miles on it (I bought it new). It has been as reliable as a stone. Gas, tires, oil, filters, and wipers are all that I’ve needed to do to it. My commute has headwinds from hell half the year, so I’ve averaged 48.9 mpg since I’ve had it. Around town, without trying, I can average north of 60 mpg.

I can’t fault the reliability, fuel economy, and low maintenance costs of it. But it’s a Prius...I’m sure you understand. I despise the climate controls and stereo...WAY too complex, requiring too much eye time off the road to do simple things...they cannot be operated by feel. Mine has the new-for-‘16 lithium ion battery...not much history on the longevity of those, and honestly, people on the Prius forum I’m on are starting to look at me as a test monkey for longevity of the current generation Prius.

Saw two certified pre-owned ‘15 Jetta TDIs on the local dealer’s lot, both with DSG. The S has 12,000 miles and is priced at $14,000, the SE has 28,000 and is priced at $13,800. I like the SE better because it’s got a few more niceties on it.

I’m tempted to trade the Prius in on one of them. I like the idea of the extended engine & emissions warranty, but being a VW (I’ve had 5), I know it’s not likely to be as rock solid reliable as the Prius. I’ve seen posts here about water pumps going bad, various check engine lights, and I know the DSG is expensive to service. But I’m still thinking about it.

How do these hold up over the long haul? Is it a constant stream of small issues (or larger ones)? Or do they do well when maintained and driven all-highway? I’m religious about maintaining vehicles, and I don’t beat on them.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
The type of driving you do (long distances at highway speeds) is ideal for a diesel. We have a number of customers with '10-14 TDIs that have well over 200K miles on them with relatively few problems. And the new emissions warranty will help cover any emissions system related failures (including the high pressure fuel pump) that might arise.

I think you should do it. You may not see quite the same FE as the Prius, depending on how fast you drive, but I'm betting you'll enjoy that long commute more. 225 miles a day in a car is a lot.
 

soldierguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Location
California
TDI
'15 Jetta TDI S DSG
Thanks! My speeds are about 68-70 mph for half the drive, 73-75 mph for the other half. The headwinds are a prevailing weather phenomenon. On the way to work I gain about 1500 feet in elevation (gradually) and have usually a 2-5 mph headwind. On the way home from work, I lose the elevation, but have a 15-20 mph headwind for more than half the year, maybe 10mph headwind for the rest of the year. On those rare days with no wind, the trip computer reads a whopping 10 mpg higher than on days with the wind.
 

fastcar4re

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2008
Location
Houston, Texas
TDI
2015 Jetta TDI SEL (purchased as "new" in May 2017).
Those prices seem reasonable, and you'll have a warranty to cover the drivetrain and emissions system. It's worth a shot because 2015 is the last year for the Jetta TDI, but the EA288 engine is new in many ways, so I can understand your concern. I only have 5,000 miles on my 2015 TDI SEL that I bought "new" in May 2017, and I really like it, so I can't comment beyond "I like the car." I drove a 2005 Passat TDI since new before my 2015 Jetta (13 years and 150,000 miles). The other way to look at your situation is that you can always go back to a Prius or something else if the Jetta TDI does not work out for you, but you'll probably not ever get a chance to drive a near-new TDI. A handful of people have caught a "whiff" of coolant due to failing water pumps, but that can be sorted out under warranty. Finally, if you do go the TDI route, you can be the "high-mileage-guy" on this forum and report back on any issues. :)
 

Slurry Pumper

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2012
Location
Allentown PA
TDI
2010 Jetta Sedan
I have a 2010 Jetta TDI, and also have a long commute, although at 150 miles a day it is obviously shorter, and I have had this commute for the last decade, although I only go into the office around 3 times a week now-a-days. My commute is half 2 lane road with a few stop lights, and half turnpike 80+ mph driving.

I bought my car new, and it has around 200K on the clock. As a reliability engineer now, and even as a Pump engineer a few years ago (hence the tag), I like to keep all of my equipment in as good of shape as possible. In fact, I like to explore getting performance parts to replace worn parts as they die on the car.

Since purchasing the car, I worked the car up to a Malone stage 3 with several upgrades. My complete list of problems since November of 2010 is listed below:

Nothing until 110K when the clutch started shuttering from incorrect mass movement. I changed to a smf clutch, which has been problematic. Totally my fault, so I would recommend staying with the DMF style.

Malone Stage II at 130K due mostly to a packed dpf. Instead of choking up the money for a new dpf, I just deleted the dpf, and the egr while we were at it, while getting a malone stage II. Can't say enough about this upgrade other than running next to the road everyday sucks.

I had an oil pressure sensor go bad at around 175K.

That's it for problems with the car mechanically speaking.

The radio died at around 130K, but I never liked the touch screen anyway, so I replaced it with a nice Alpine with old school knobs and buttons.
 

InfoSec

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2000
Location
Brighton, MI
Buy my Jetta... It is a blast to drive, and it gets about 48 on the hwy in 6th. Probably about 210hp/370tq... it's old but it only has 150K miles on it. Very reliable/dependable.
 

Rodmiser

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 22, 2015
Location
N/A
TDI
Jetta s\DSG 2015 & 1&2 FIX
Yes 2015 DTI

YES

Avg MPG 45.1 - 2015/2017

322.04 gallons for 12 months diesel fuel -Year 2017
15,138 miles for 12 months on the 2015 jetta tdi s dsg-year 2017
$729.90 total for 12 months for the fuel-year 2017
And service charge of about $700.00 year 2015 to 2017 OK
avg/price for mile 0.049 -2015/2017

diesel LOVE IT

2015 to 2018 40685
 
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soldierguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Location
California
TDI
'15 Jetta TDI S DSG
Just struck a deal to trade the Prius in on a ‘15 Jetta TDI S. 12500 miles. More to follow later.
 

soldierguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Location
California
TDI
'15 Jetta TDI S DSG
So Dieter the Diesel is home in the driveway.

It was kind of a no-brainer. The warranty, a car with about 80,000 fewer miles, a SIGNIFICANTLY reduced payment, drives great, quieter than the Prius on the highway (important to me since that's where all my driving is), and even though the fuel & AdBlue expenses will be more than in the Prius, the reduced payment more than makes up for that, even when considering the DSG services every 40K.

I'm happy. I'd toss a pic in here, but I know there's a picture thread elsewhere, and my phone just decided to update, so it's preoccupied.
 

rtking

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2011
Location
Southern California
TDI
2011 Jetta Sportwagen 6MT
Congrats! I think you chose wisely!

I have a long commute as well (172 miles round trip) and my former 2011 Jetta was absolutely the ticket. Very efficient, quiet, comfortable, and absolutely no issues or repairs (except a cracked DPF, but I kept on driving) and I ran that car to 240K miles before I turned it in for the buy back. In some ways, I wish I had kept it. Not that I don’t like the 328d, but having payments again is no fun.
 

turbostuff

New member
Joined
Jan 29, 2018
Location
Houston, TX
TDI
2011 Jetta
I commute every week between Houston-Dallas, so roughly 460 miles once a week, plus the driving i do from the crash pad to work. Car has been great, and I have only had to do basic stuff to it. two biggest things I will stress is keep up with your DSG and fuel filter changes, and you will be ok. I have roughly 167k miles on my 2011 now.
 

soldierguy

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2004
Location
California
TDI
'15 Jetta TDI S DSG
Congrats! I think you chose wisely!

I have a long commute as well (172 miles round trip) and my former 2011 Jetta was absolutely the ticket. Very efficient, quiet, comfortable, and absolutely no issues or repairs (except a cracked DPF, but I kept on driving) and I ran that car to 240K miles before I turned it in for the buy back. In some ways, I wish I had kept it. Not that I don’t like the 328d, but having payments again is no fun.
I commute every week between Houston-Dallas, so roughly 460 miles once a week, plus the driving i do from the crash pad to work. Car has been great, and I have only had to do basic stuff to it. two biggest things I will stress is keep up with your DSG and fuel filter changes, and you will be ok. I have roughly 167k miles on my 2011 now.
Thanks for the feedback. So far I love it. I tend to be easy on vehicles and punctual about maintenance, so I'm hoping the DSG will be just fine.
 

16vjohn

Vendor , w/Business number
Joined
Jul 12, 2007
Location
Salt Lake City, UT
TDI
EA288 CVCA 6MT
I continually break my best tank records, which is interesting... I drive the car harder and faster now than I did when it was new. My average over ~37k miles is 46.0mpg, with my best tank at 52.7 just last week (see sig). I've been on the phase 1 fix for more than a year now. It'll be interesting to see how phase 2 plays out.
 
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