Regretting TDI after driving TSI

Hi there,
Dropped of my car to VW dealer for heater core replacement. I was given Golf 18 or 2019 like last time. Loaner.
I believe it's also DSG, and it is TSI.

I felt that TSI was much more quiet and less vibration.
My TDI is like a tractor and vibrates much more.

Regular gas here in VA is around 2.10-2.30 now but diesel 2.60-2.80..
I guess when I was calculating mpg I didn't think about diesel being more expensive than regular in my area. In DC regular and diesel was almost the same, I guess that's why the dealer I bought my car had a lot of diesels..
I drive about 100 miles a day round trip. My TDI will get 45-48 mpg with light traffic.(68mph cruise control)
TSI got 45 mpg with light traffic (68mph cruise control)

But I felt much more safe when I drove my TDI, this car feels very lightweight.
And also DSG feels very improved compared to my car's silly DSG.

What do you guys think?
I love my car, high torque, decent mpg, diesel reliability was always attractive to me.

TSI dont have DSG, its tiptronics.....

For TDI, its guaranteed to go 400k miles or longer with routine maintenance.

TSI will NOT survive that long to 400k more likely 200-250k miles cuz they rev more than our TDI’s.


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calimustang said:

TSI dont have DSG, its tiptronics.....
For TDI, its guaranteed to go 400k miles or longer with routine maintenance.
TSI will NOT survive that long to 400k more likely 200-250k miles cuz they rev more than our TDI’s.
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My dad had a 1.9 TDI Rabbit bought brand new in 2006. We drove 100 k miles in 3 years all around the Europe and sold it for %40 less than sticker price
That's why I chose TDI. Also engine reliability..
I guess only bad side is Dieselgate fixes ruined the mpg advantage..

Yeah Dieselgate ruined my TDI with 4 failed HPFP’s then CP3 and CR170
Truly woke ip the beast in my JSW.

Ive been extremely happy with her now with the set up.


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franky67 said:

My dad had a 1.9 TDI Rabbit bought brand new in 2006. We drove 100 k miles in 3 years all around the Europe and sold it for %40 less than sticker price
That's why I chose TDI. Also engine reliability..
I guess only bad side is Dieselgate fixes ruined the mpg advantage..

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There was never a TDI in a Rabbit And 2006 was the last year for the TDI until 2009 in the US
My 2015 Jetta is better after the fix....

I get reminded daily of the awfulness and fragile nature of the EA888 engine family. Trust me, you are far better off with the TDI.

The wonderful water pump failure on the newest variable ones are the latest... MIL comes on, you need a $1000 repair done, and the car isn't even worn through its first set of tires.

There's no reason you need to keep a car you don't enjoy driving. I would expect a golf to feel lighter and more nimble than a passat.

I had a TSI passat as a rental for a week on vacation.... i despised the way it drove. It was jumpy, i seriously couldnt leave a stop sign without feeling like i had a 5 speed and i was 16 again, and the TDI at highway speed just seems more solid. Throw in engine reliability (esp once the components with issues are "gone") and i would never consider the gas version.

franky67 said:

My TDI is like a tractor and vibrates much more.

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You make it sound like a BAD thing!

All joking aside, drive what you like better. I'm actually quite impressed that you were able to achieve 45 mpg with a modern gas car. I can barely squeak out 40 in my TDI Passat!

jck66 said:

You make it sound like a BAD thing!



All joking aside, drive what you like better. I'm actually quite impressed that you were able to achieve 45 mpg with a modern gas car. I can barely squeak out 40 in my TDI Passat!

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Well it varies on how the road conditions are and how heavy foot you are and what tires you are using... hilly roads and a lot of stops and go will indeed make 33-40 mpg. If you drive a gasser you will not make 40 mpg in that condition. Guaranteed.

I live in central FL and drove a brand new 2019 Jetta 1.4T TSI and it struggled 38-40 mpg while my TDI easily do 45-55 mpg on mostly flat roads.


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calimustang said:

TSI dont have DSG, its tiptronics.....

For TDI, its guaranteed to go 400k miles or longer with routine maintenance.

TSI will NOT survive that long to 400k more likely 200-250k miles cuz they rev more than our TDI’s.


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Click to expand...

All 4Mo Golfs have DSG for an auto, granted he didn't have a DSG/4Mo and got 45 MPG, so it was def an aisin unit.

Also the block/head will prob last 400K but the rest of the engine/drive line of a TDI will prob need just as much work as the TSI (heater cores coolant blockage, let along the emission system).

In reality, I suspect less than 10% of the '09+ tdi's will ever see 400k miles on the odometer- and that's not accounting for the many thousands that were bought back and crushed.

calimustang said:

TSI dont have DSG, its tiptronics.....

For TDI, its guaranteed to go 400k miles or longer with routine maintenance.

TSI will NOT survive that long to 400k more likely 200-250k miles cuz they rev more than our TDI’s.


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When I worked for Vw, I had a customer that had a 15 Golf Sportwagen with the 1.8T that had just under 500k miles when it needed a new engine.

Probably the exception to the rule as he was a cross country medical courier. But certainly not outside the realm of possibilities.

oilhammer said:

I get reminded daily of the awfulness and fragile nature of the EA888 engine family. Trust me, you are far better off with the TDI.
The wonderful water pump failure on the newest variable ones are the latest... MIL comes on, you need a $1000 repair done, and the car isn't even worn through its first set of tires.

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Oilhammer, are you seeing low mileage expectations with the Golf R TSI engine? I thought I would check as it may be an upgrade path for our GTI with which has an FSI engine.

tomo366 said:

There was never a TDI in a Rabbit And 2006 was the last year for the TDI until 2009 in the US
My 2015 Jetta is better after the fix....

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Sorry, forgot the tell that I was living in Europe that time.
Portugal. Car arrived in May 2006.
1.9 TDI 4 door Golf. Can provide pictures if you want..
I thought they called it rabbit here in the US.

Lex Tdi said:

I had a TSI passat as a rental for a week on vacation.... i despised the way it drove. It was jumpy, i seriously couldnt leave a stop sign without feeling like i had a 5 speed and i was 16 again, and the TDI at highway speed just seems more solid. Throw in engine reliability (esp once the components with issues are "gone") and i would never consider the gas version.

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I totally agree with that. I agree that my TDI is very solid comparing to TSI.
I think the only bad side was mpg's were very close..

jck66 said:

You make it sound like a BAD thing!
All joking aside, drive what you like better. I'm actually quite impressed that you were able to achieve 45 mpg with a modern gas car. I can barely squeak out 40 in my TDI Passat!

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Well it is not a very bad thing, but just comparing to the TSI.
Last time they gave me a loaner auto Golf I had 48mpg. Well, no traffic and 55-60mph cruise control.
I will attach a picture soon.

This is the golf TSI-avg speed 60-65-no traffic
https://ibb.co/0fZ5d17
That's my best in TDI avg speed 60-65-no traffic
https://imgur.com/FAZLTRi
Both in VA, I-64 interstate -60-70°F

When my car was at the dealer for dieselgate fix--almost a year ago-- I also had a loaner (VW Jetta 2018)
I drove it to work for a week, and while my 2010 Jetta TDI was averaging 45-46 mpg or more the TSI averaged no more than 35 mpg in similar conditions and route. And it was very boring to drive even though it had digital instrument panel and other high tech features.
I am pretty impressed you were able to squeeze 45 mpg.

tdi54 said:

When my car was at the dealer for dieselgate fix--almost a year ago-- I also had a loaner (VW Jetta 2018)
I drove it to work for a week, and while my 2010 Jetta TDI was averaging 45-46 mpg or more the TSI averaged no more than 35 mpg in similar conditions and route. And it was very boring to drive even though it had digital instrument panel and other high tech features.
I am pretty impressed you were able to squeeze 45 mpg. I should add, my car also has a tune from GDE which allows me to gain considerable mpg.

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Wow. I guess I was very lucky had a crazy mpg.
I always drive with Cruise control and my foot barely touches brake( I switch lanes if someone's slower than me).
AC is usually 1/6 or 2/6. I don't know what makes the difference,but I was impressed with 45mpg.

tomo366 said:

There was never a TDI in a Rabbit And 2006 was the last year for the TDI until 2009 in the US

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You are right they did not have in the US.
This was in Europe.

This is the only one showing that it was TDI, a drunk guy threw a bottle or stone onto it. Insurance covered tho.

2006 Golf 1.9 TDI
That was me an the TDI back in 2006. Censored the face tho
TDI-2006

I have the opportunity to drive many different cars (Volkswagens and other manufacturers), one of my LEAST favorite vws is a passat auto with a 1.8t, the manual is so much better I felt like i never knew how it would respond to the throttle. The jetta is better (did not drive the golf very much). As far as fuel mileage, weather, speed and distance all play a role. My record in my ‘05 beetle 2.0 auto is 43 mpg (driving from fl to nc at 55 mph). Wish i would have had my tdi back then (2007-08).

When I had my car in for an oil change and they busted the cap for the oil filter, they put me in an R-line Jetta for a loaner. To be honest I was very unimpressed, a few things I liked, most of it was not okay with me.

Compared to my GSW it was faster yes, but at the cost of constantly shifting with the I think 8 speed it had, and far worse economy. If I had to guess around 32-35 mpg average, where my wagon holds better mpg on these hills getting on the low side 37mpg, and flat out 46 doing 75mph on flat ground. I am hardly ever on flat roads aside from road trips.

I liked the new tech, the auto dual zone HVAC was nice, this was an option on my TDI if I had the SEL trim but mine is only the SE. I also liked the Apple car play and bigger screen along with the digital gauges. So essentially I liked the tech of the car and hated the rest lol. The headlights were nice and bright white. The led options put out a good amount of light in my eyes.

The seats sucked, ride quality was so so at best. Handling was far more squishy than my GSW. That makes me hate the Jetta platform and like the golf platform even more. Steering felt twitchy and the gas pedal was very sensitive and with the suspension being squishy it liked to almost squat it’s butt really hard on normal acceleration.

Consensus, my wagon was a better choice for my needs and wants shy of a couple tech features. But at the end of the day, this is a commuter car and can be replaced with another when I feel the need.


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Going from a DSG to a torque converter auto of the TSI's is very odd feeling. drove a 18 gen1 tiggy 2.0t, 16 GWS1.8t, 17 passat 1.8t, 15 jetta 1.4t all with torque converters.

If you gave them the boot the torque converter lock up was semi predicable after the first or second down shift, but the rest of the time i seemed more like a CVT more than anything, especially with stock codding of the delayed throttle response.

As far as the tsi its the rev range where the power is vs the TDI, you gotta be 80% of your grabbing two gears to get anywhere. Stock programing has the autos shoot up to tallest gearing possible, 1200 rpms doing 45 in 6th soon becomes 3000RPM in 3th to maintain/gain speed up a hill.

Didn't the Tig have the DSG by '18? Somewhere along the line they did I thought, then they went back to the Aisin.

The newer Aisins have a different (completely) shift map, and they have the freewheeling and neutral at stop feature. And a MUCH more aggressive lockup strategy. In other words, they are doing what Mazda started doing (and others), and making their slushboxes mimic a manual or clutch-type autobox.

Time will tell if the Aisin valve bodies hold up better for longer. That continues to be a common thing, I do a LOT of those. But none yet on one of the newer versions.

I still will never understand not just getting a manual if it is available. I just despise what I feel is such a critical link to driving to be taken away from me. Many of the newer automatics do behave pretty well, though. And durability being garbage aside, GM also seems to have always been able to do pretty good shift mapping and general autobox behavior pretty well. Even the GM slushbox equipped BMWs behave better than the ZF equipped ones (I feel myself wanting to throw up as I type that).

Most VWs that have manuals (GTI and R aside) are base versions. The current Jetta in base trim is pretty depressing. Golf is better. You can get a Jetta GLI with a manual, but there's that pesky EA888 engine...

Conversely, Hyundai and Mazda offer "Sport" trim levels with manuals. Mazda now only offers the 3 with a manual on the hatch in top trim level. It seems to be nice, but I'm not sure I can get past its appearance.

Ironically, Toyota is promoting its new platform Corolla with a manual, both hatch and sedan. But, you get a Corolla. More coffee, please.

Regarding total mileage, very, very few cars of any type get to 400K miles. My Wagon is about to hit that milestone, and most owners would have disposed of it years ago. Unless you're really, really fond of the car it's often not worth the money and effort to keep any car going that long. Obviously I'm attached to mine.

I actually do not mind the styling of the new Corolla, both hatch and sedan. They along with the newer Camry do seem to have a more swooshy appeal. However, the styling may look pretty dated pretty quickly though. But they feel SO CHEAP inside. Like looking at the dash hard enough might crack it.

oilhammer said:

I actually do not mind the styling of the new Corolla, both hatch and sedan. They along with the newer Camry do seem to have a more swooshy appeal. However, the styling may look pretty dated pretty quickly though. But they feel SO CHEAP inside. Like looking at the dash hard enough might crack it.

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Lol I agree. I have seen a ton of them with cracked dash few years old in Florida. FL gives no mercy.... my old 2011 JSW held up just fine in FL for 8 years with almost 300k miles.


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Some of the new automatics are really aggressive in the torque converter lockup as Oilhammer mentioned. I just watched a 'Drag Times' youtube vid where he took the new Toyota/BMW Supra down the quarter mile. The gear shifts sounded a lot like a dual clutch due to the tc lockup.

oilhammer said:

Didn't the Tig have the DSG by '18? Somewhere along the line they did I thought, then they went back to the Aisin.

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The 18 Tiggy Limited loaner (last of the Gen1 hold overs before the Americanized long body Gen2 took over) still had a slush box. Agreed the lock up was amazingly aggressive it seemed like it was locking up in any gear it could then to only grab two gears when needed.