Short commute but love TDI's - what to do?

Hello, I have been driving my 2003 TDI wagon (in sig below) for almost 6 years now. I love this car - best I've ever owned. About a year ago I took a job much closer to home and now my commute is only about 8 miles and about 15 minutes. I've read a lot about how short trips aren't great for a TDI engine. My car is fantastic mechanically, but cosmetically its showing its age a bit. Its not rusting out from under me, but the rust is setting in a bit and I'm wondering if its time to sell it to someone who can pile on the 100-200k of miles that this car has left in it before it rusts out. I'm probably driving it only 6-7k or so per year right now.

I love driving my TDI, but I don't need the mileage anymore. I'm trying to decide whether I should just sell the TDI and buy a gasser. Hold onto the TDI a bit longer until some of the repaired CR's start to become available again? Or just continue to drive my old car until it eventually wears out?

I have new car fever now that our new Touareg is parked next to my old car. But maybe that will pass. In terms of replacements I've pondered a whole list of different cars. Something new each day it seems. Older XC70, G35x, GTI, eGolf, Leaf....and the list goes on.

But my real question here is should the short commute preclude me from owning and driving a TDI? Is it really much worse than driving any combustion engine for short trips?

My commute has been about 7 miles since before I bought my first TDI in 2000. I still managed to put on about 20K miles a year. In total, I've put on aobut 250k miles over 17 years on the 2000 beetle and the 2010 jsw.

Two things that I think about: One, you're still getting better mileage than the equivalent gasser. Two, take it out and open it up at least monthly. Find somewhere, like I95, that you can whip it up to highway speeds and take on ramps in third at 70 to blow uot the cobwebs.

I guess I should mention that while my commute is short it is plenty fast. I travel about 5 of the miles on a 55 mph road. And its about 2.5 miles of uphill at 55 mph on the way home. I have no problem getting it up to 4k rpm to clean it out every few days.

I'm in the same boat. I started having more problems pop up since I quit driving long distances. I bought a gasser, but I'm driving the TDI until it fails in such a way that it will cost more more than a couple of hundred to fix.

Although, the reason I say that is because my car has been abused and neglected and it would literally take thousands to get it back up to par now.

Also, the reason for buying the gasser early is the family needed a reliable vehicle to take trips in.

The issue has more to do with engine temperature than distance. If you can get the engine warmed up and then exercised then you're OK.

Would you use this car for any other driving, long distance trips? It's only a nominal cost for me to keep an extra car (or two) on my insurance policy: I just call in and tell them when I need to use. As such I can park something for an extended period of time: I do this with my farm truck- it can sit for months.

Fuel costs, or rather affordabiility, is going to swing more in favor of our TDIs: this is my forecast; I've been pretty good on my forecasting.

I retired this year and drive a few miles each day, and some days, not at all. I'm keeping my 2003 Jetta TDI. No big deal that I only drive a little now. Once in a while I'll go loosen it up a bit.

What am I going to do....sell it and drive a Honda? Not me!

KITEWAGON said:

I guess I should mention that while my commute is short it is plenty fast. I travel about 5 of the miles on a 55 mph road. And its about 2.5 miles of uphill at 55 mph on the way home. I have no problem getting it up to 4k rpm to clean it out every few days.

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That's similar to my commute. The roads I take are all posted at 45 once I'm out of the 'hood and only one traffic light near the begining and one near the end. Some fun curves in the middle if traffic allows.

my dad's had his TDI since 1999 and drives about 6 miles to work every day. he has 366K kms on it now and no short-distance related problems. only things that I've seen everyone else deal with. the mileage on the car is more from 'other' driving, road trips, etc.

Keep it and take an occasional road trip. You'd probably regret selling it if you see it leave your driveway for the last time. Spray some Rust-Oleum Rust-Reformer on the rust spots.

Put a coolant heater in it and it will be at temperature whenever you decide to drive it. No reason your short commute can't be done entirely with a warmed-up motor...

Drive more, worry less.

OlyTDI said:

Put a coolant heater in it and it will be at temperature whenever you decide to drive it. No reason your short commute can't be done entirely with a warmed-up motor...

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That wouldn't be cheap to keep plugged in all day. A webasto would be better, fully warmed in 10 mins. If you don't want the hassle just drive a gasser. The End.

I have had a short commute since I bought my car in 2004. Nothing bad has happened. Runs great. I'm at 260,000km now.

tdidieselbobny said:

You'd probably regret selling it if you see it leave your driveway for the last time.

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This is exactly why I still have it. I've driven other cars such like a 1.8T Passat. And I can't wait to get in my car and drive home! So it sounds like my worries over short commute are unfounded. It makes the TDI un-needed, but it's not like its detrimental to own it and of course it gets out for a few trips each month. Plus I open it up at least once per tank to keep the intercooler clean.

So now the only thing that I need to do is figure out what (if anything) I need to do to help me fall in love with the car all over again.

-The headlights are an an issue. My ebay Ecodes aren't great, mostly on lowbeam. I need to figure out if this can be fixed by pointing them up higher or if I should invest in a set of HID/projectors.

-The FM reception is awful. I can live with this but if I'm going to keep the car maybe I should fix it. I know it doesn't cost too much but I've been wary of peeling back the headliner to deal with installation.

-The backlight for the HVAC doesn't work. I'll probably live with this one unless its cheap and easy.

-The seat heaters failed and melted the seats. This annoys me but I'll probably just leave it unless I can find a set of Recaros or something else close by that I can bolt in. Some heated black leather seats would be awfully nice.

-Probably time to get it down to KMH motors for a timing belt. Might as well change it early since the next belt will likely be the last.

-I think that just leaves the rust. At this point its just cosmetic, but I should probably try to clean it up just to slow it down. Or maybe look for a body shop willing to do cheap fixes. The hatch seems like the hardest to deal with since its around the corners of the glass. I should probably hunt some salvage yards for one and just have it sprayed.

Thanks for the advice people. Feel free to PM me or respond here with advice to deal with any of the above.

I had a 6 mile each way commute for 4 years, all at 30-40 MPH. Used my wagon because it wouldn't hurt it: left the CR at home. No ill effects, despite it frequently not getting up to temperature on cold days. I wouldn't worry about it.

Headlights likely need adjusted, few people do this as you'll notice on the roads.
Antenna base needs replaced, it's not a bad job on a wagon.
HVAC backlight won't be hard, but tedious, you'll probably find it's not just a burnt out bulb.

all replacement lights, ebay, TYC, DEPO, and so on are absolute garbage optically. my daily, a 2001 civic, came with DEPO lights that looked nice but the beam was everywhere except the road. I scored some Stanley lights at the junk yard and refinished them. It made a world of difference in lighting. Alternatively if you are keeping those housings, do a projector retrofit. I did one on my 98 Civic and love the light output and the clean cutoff. I used Morimoto projectors. Previous to Morimoto, I had done a BMW 3 series bixenon retrofit in my other 98 Civic, but it was a major pain... the projector was just too big. Love the looks too.



the burned seats, I went to the junk yard and got new seat upholstery on the cheap. You can see the results in the Golf pic gallery, I have a thread about the car.

FM reception, yes, the antenna base. Do it, it's not a big deal. Buy the OEM though, the ebay ones aren't very good for getting better reception.

HVAC lighting, should be a thread here or the vortex on how to do it; see if you're up for it.

For your HVAC lighting, set your fan speed control to "2" and pull out. Use a piece of vac hose to pull out the pill bulb, can't remember the number but it's like a $3 bulb. Use the vac hose to put it back in. You can also use needle nose pliers but you risk shattering the bulb if you break it...

How much do you guys in USA, pay in taxes for your older diesel cars per year?

frosz said:

How much do you guys in USA, pay in taxes for your older diesel cars per year?

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For me here in Michigan, it's based on weight class and value of the vehicle when new.

frosz said:

How much do you guys in USA, pay in taxes for your older diesel cars per year?

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Too broad of a question. Each state is different and then some areas within those states have different tax rates. In many states, you only pay taxes when you buy the car, new or used. In my state, North Carolina, I pay a personal property tax on each vehicle based on what the state says it is worth. For instance, my 11 Golf has a value rating of $11,000 and a tax bill split between the county and city of $170. The amount goes down every year but I'm not sure the value ever goes to zero.

frosz said:

How much do you guys in USA, pay in taxes for your older diesel cars per year?

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Here in MN, there is a car property tax/registration/license tab fee. My JSW is at the bottom of that, it's around $64 a year, and some of that is deductible on taxes. Of course, indirectly, there's whatever fuel taxes you pay for the diesel you use. And sales taxes on consumables and service. But that's the direct cost.

I'm in the same position as most of the posters here -- putting very few miles on the car. It can sit (and has sat) for days.

I try to bunch together uses for the car -- unless there's no alternative, I do not take it for a five-minute run to the grocery store or an event. There even are times when I will take the long way to wherever I'm going just to put some time on the engine and get it up to operating temperature (the gauge is notoriously inaccurate in telling you the real coolant temperature and nothing from the factory tells you the oil temperature). This is also the car we take on long trips (why get half the mileage with our other vehicle?)

It's all balanced out. I don't get the screamin' mileage some folks do (especially in winter, but then winterized fuel and winter tires come into play there, too). It does seem like the car needs more maintenance, but it's an illusion. The maintenance interval is no shorter; I just have fewer miles on the car at the time of the work.

For a while I considered selling my JSW while it still was worth $$. We have another vehicle. But it's long paid-for and it doesn't take up that much in fuel, maintenance, or insurance. And it's very convenient to have to pick up the granddaughter or the items that won't fit in my wife's car. The JSW will be here untili it's no longer economically wise for me to keep it around.

We pay a ridiculous amount in Sweden (And other EU Country's), it's between 400-600$ per year for older diesel cars (without particle filter).

You can cut the cost in half if you re-register the car as a 2 seat lightweight truck, which I have.

If the car is older then 30 years, it will be labeled as a "Veteran" and you will no longer need to pay any year-tax for the car.

1 liter diesel cost about 1.5 USD. (6 USD per gallon).

Yes I'm whining

I go out of my way to extend the range of my commutes which means getting up very early to go work out; there are other places alot closer. Same with the coffee shops I frequent. This allows some highway mileage as well. Maybe 25 to 30 mile round trips.
This last tank netted just over 38 mpg's.

In ontario all cars are the same; around $20 per year for historical vehicles (>30 years old) and $106 per year for all other passenger non-commercial vehicles.

That's to get a sticker on your plate. There aren't additional 'taxes' per say, as they are rolled into our gasoline prices. We pay about $1.10-1.20 per liter right now, so I often go to michigan and fill up at $2USD per gallon. Don't remember the last time I filled up in Canada, the prices are too ridiculous.

Got my personal property (Excise in MA) tax bills yesterday. '99.5 Golf, $43.75; '97 Passat, $48.75; '02 Jetta, $47.50. The one that cracks me up is the '93 Mercedes: $110.

Hi, noob here considering a new or newish 3.0 Q7 TDI for the wife/kid hauler. I just posted on the Audi Q7 subform but then ran across this post. Our situation and driving pattern is similar but even more exaggerated: lots of very short cross town trips on weekdays (under 2 miles in distance), and usually one or two weekend trips of over 30 miles one way. We live in a temperate part of California where winter low temps don't usually go under the mid 40's (F) if that makes any difference.

So, would this kind of driving pattern be sufficient to keep the engine happy?
thanks for your insights,
Peter

phoosty said:

Hi, noob here considering a new or newish 3.0 Q7 TDI for the wife/kid hauler. I just posted on the Audi Q7 subform but then ran across this post. Our situation and driving pattern is similar but even more exaggerated: lots of very short cross town trips on weekdays (under 2 miles in distance), and usually one or two weekend trips of over 30 miles one way. We live in a temperate part of California where winter low temps don't usually go under the mid 40's (F) if that makes any difference.

So, would this kind of driving pattern be sufficient to keep the engine happy?
thanks for your insights,
Peter

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No engine is going to be happy running only 2 miles at a shot (unless a motorized scooter).

phoosty said:

Hi, noob here considering a new or newish 3.0 Q7 TDI for the wife/kid hauler. I just posted on the Audi Q7 subform but then ran across this post. Our situation and driving pattern is similar but even more exaggerated: lots of very short cross town trips on weekdays (under 2 miles in distance), and usually one or two weekend trips of over 30 miles one way. We live in a temperate part of California where winter low temps don't usually go under the mid 40's (F) if that makes any difference.

So, would this kind of driving pattern be sufficient to keep the engine happy?
thanks for your insights,
Peter

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Why would you consider a diesel? Your driving is a perfect candidate for a plug-in Hybrid. Or electric. Tesla Model X, perhaps?

I kept mine even though my commute is now 4.1 miles one way. I just preheat the coolant with a Webasto. Use the weekend to drive longer distances to keep everything in tip top shape.