long term planning..

i don't know about you guys, but not knowing when or if we'll see pump deuse motors or passat tdis is creating a bit of a dilemma.

would you for instance, sink a coupla grand in upgrades if you felt in '03 there would be a PD-150 passat wagon? if you thought your dream tdi would be available in 2006, would you hold back and save up for it?

i know a lot of us are planning to keep these tdi's for a looonnnng time, but how many will change their minds if a jazz blue golf shows up with a superior tdi engine, 4 motion, and 6 spd tranny?

if you have money to burn, then it's a moot point, i guess. my thinking is along the lines of bang for buck, and recoverable investment. that's why i've upsoluted and some bilstein hd's, and interior upgrade are on my short list. those mods address the 3 major gripes i have about my current ride's power, handling, and seating material (read: lint magnet par excellence), and the shocks and leather would add some value to a possible sale.

i'd like to hear your thoughts.

I'm not sure about resale value. A visibly modded car on the used car market is often seen as a car that was driven hard. That would lower its potential re-sale value.
I would expect a modified car to be more difficult to sell than a completely stock car. Modify your car because you like the car better as modified, not with an eye toward re-sale value.
As for better VWs in the future: my experience has been to expect delayed introductions, sometimes a loonng delay. My 1982 diesel Rabbit was old enough to vote before there were suitable replacement Rabbits in the form of Golf TDIs. Drab, grey A2 diesel Jettas just didn't interest me, and there were NO A3 Golf TDIs in the U.S.A. at all, even though VWoA had promised them.

I agree wholeheartedly. Mod your TDI for whatever you wish to use it for not expecting to get money back at resale but to increase intrinsic value and safety in your turbodiesel for yourself.

The HD Bilsteins are on both our TDIs with OEM springs and they are excellent investment that you realize every second you are behind the wheel.

Likewise the Upsolute Chip, Eurospec Injectors, Borbet wheels, and Z rated tires on both TDIs.

For my wife's birthday I am springing to get the VW OEM Burl Walnut shift knob for her NB since she had one like that when we were in high school in her 1967 Karmann Ghia

Go for it now, the future is uncertain until it happens. Plus, our TDIs can easily last another 15-20 years of so (and already they are a CULT ITEM).

There will never, EVER be a PD 150 in the U.S. Mark my words.

If you require a Jetta wagon you'll want to wait a year and see what happens.

The Pumpe Deuse system is cool, but people tend to get overly excited about it. It's just a means to increase injection pressures and improve efficiency and emissions performance a bit. You can get just as much power from our TDIs for less investment and only a small milage penalty compared to a PD. And our injectors are less likely to have problems running on miserable North American fuel. When VW was here doing their coast-to-coast Lupo thing they flew in quality European diesel for it and hauled it in a PD TDI-powered Transporter van. But the Transporter was fuelled along the way with regular old by-God USA diesel. They made a decision to refuel at a truck stop somewhere in the southwest rather than waiting until they crossed the border into Mexico, where they could have got some decent fuel. The PD system immediately choked to death on the crappy U.S. stuff and they were down for several days waiting for replacement injectors.

-mickey

Thanks for the feedback guys! I tend to agree with your points, but will offer a devil's advocate scenario regarding resale...

2003 Passat V6-TDI Wagon Silverstone/Black spotted on dealers lot.

Following ad posted at Fred's Classifieds:

FS 2000 Golf-GLS-TDI 5M
Satin Silver / Black
62,000 meticulously maintained miles
TB changed at 59.5K at local GTG
PCV Bypass at 5,000 mi.
AMSOIL Series 3000 Synthetic 5W-30 after
break-in
Power Service Supplement each fillup
Amsoil Cetane Boost " "
UPsolute Chipped or back to stock
Bilstein HD's
Katzkin perforated leather

Perfect condition, buying wagon...
Highest bidder takes it!


Well ???

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by SkyPup:
For my wife's birthday I am springing to get the VW OEM Burl Walnut shift knob for her NB since she had one like that when we were in high school in her 1967 Karmann Ghia

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ohh the Carman... That surely brings back sweet memory

As You obviously love to fiddle with your car, why not invest in two of those? That would surely be a solid investment The Carman Ghia is extreemly popular with the "Young rich in-crowd" here in Europe. I guess that will become the next re-import article from USA, now that most of the Jaguar E's has been re-imported

Oh, well if ya posted it on FRED'S, well that's a totally different story then!

By '03, you'll have logged so many entries on this site that anyone could get a very clear picture of what kind of owner you are, and thus how the car was treated just by what you've elected to talk about all those years.

I tend to think that having a chipped car would make a better impression than an unchipped one, performance-wise at least, but could potentially be a deal killer to anyone who equates performance with abuse.

My $.02, BeetleGo