New engine track record for VW?

I've had a long standing personal rule about not buying cars with the first model year of a new engine. Given my prior experience with Saabs it was clearly well founded, but I find myself in a curious position with the '09 TDI JSW. It appears to be the right car and I'm in the market NOW... waiting for the '10s isn't really an option.

So my question is this: What is VW's reliability track record with the introduction of new TDI engines over the last decade (or so)?

I'm not interested in paying $25k for an extended "beta test" of a problematic new engine. Conversely, I'm WELL aware of the overall solid reputation of VW diesel engines and it certainly sounds like other bugs in the A5 Jetta have been pretty well worked out. No one out there in the "car review" community has data about the CR TDI's longer-term reliability but I figured the folks here might be able to at least make an educated guess. Thanks!

-Nate

Consindering the engine is brand new there is no track record for it.

The 1.9s on the other hand, have enjoyed great success.

I bought an '04 pd 100 the first model year for this in the US. PD's had been running around in the EU for a few years before the PD was introduced in the US. Have some folks had problems with them Sure. I've got 255,000 miles on mine and have had no major failures. I did junk the EGR cooler, and my DMF is getting a rattle in it, but all in all it has been rock solid realiable. VW is putting a lot of eggs in one basket with the introduction of the 2.0CR in the US.

Too early to speak to the CR's track record specifically, of course...but for what it's worth, my impression after 10K+ trouble-free and very, very fun miles is that the CR might just prove to be a masterpiece. Pulls like a mule, runs like a deer, sips like a tea-totalin' granny.

I'm hard-pressed to recall many (any?) real engine problems reported here on TDIClub so far (at least from folks who are feeding it the right fuel and aren't trying to chip it), and my impression is that all problems reported thus far have been nothing more than what you might expect of any car, any model year.

My advice: go for it. You want it...you know you do.

Oh I WANT to go for it, just need a little more reassurance before I get really serious about it.

We're headed to the Detroit Auto Show Friday so hopefully I'll get a chance to poke around the inside a bit (and convince the wife it's big enough!).

-Nate

NateinAA said:

I've had a long standing personal rule about not buying cars with the first model year of a new engine. Given my prior experience with Saabs it was clearly well founded, but I find myself in a curious position with the '09 TDI JSW. It appears to be the right car and I'm in the market NOW... waiting for the '10s isn't really an option.
So my question is this: What is VW's reliability track record with the introduction of new TDI engines over the last decade (or so)?

Click to expand...

The 2.0-liter engine is not new -- it is the same 1968 cc inline-4 (81 mm bore x 95.5 mm stroke) that's been sold since in various platforms since 2003.

What is new is the common-rail injection system... which really ought to be more reliable than the pumpe duse injection system.

What else is new is the diesel particulate filter system. Since this is part of the emissions system, it has a longer warranty. And by the time the extended warranty has expired, if the DPF fails, you might want to just delete it entirely (unless your state has a smog test).

Given a choice between the 2.0 PD engine and the 2.0 CR engine, I would choose the CR. I would also choose the 2.0 CR over the 1.9 PD. I still like models with the VE engine best of all, but those haven't been sold new since 2003.

Actually the Common rail system isn't new either, it's just new on the VW engine. So how good a job did the engineers do putting the proven technology of the CR system onto the proven reliability of the VW block?

I would wait. I didn't with my 2004 PD engine and am not happy with my descision, even though I wouldn't have seen the problems we are having with the engine system until a couple of years later.

Overall, I'm very gun-shy about any new engines. I amon the verge of dumping the PD and finding a 2003 Golf if I could pick one up for $1500 with a bad turbo.

The fact common rail injectors have been kicking around a few years is reassuring. I trust Euro engineers to get things right for performance and the "new car experience", problem always seems to come back to unintended consequences of new tech years down the road. That's pretty much what ruined Saab for me, but mixing proven parts in a new combination is VERY different than an "all new engine." "All new" sounds great from a marketing perspective, glad to see I'm not the only one it makes a little nervous though!

-Nate

The block and common rail may have been around now for some time but the emissions and some of the other systems are new and only in the U.S. market. I'm on the list for a wagon but am in NO RUSH to get one yet.....

Oh dear, I hope mine lasts and lasts, at least until VWAG gets over world-car cute.

Please VWAG build a small TDI utility vehicle, 4x4, better maintenance ergonometrics, some load carrying capability - LOW COST - a TDI Haflinger.

jasonTDI said:

The block and common rail may have been around now for some time but the emissions and some of the other systems are new and only in the U.S. market. I'm on the list for a wagon but am in NO RUSH to get one yet.....

Click to expand...

Well that's as honest an opinion as I can ask for, thanks. Turns out decent wagons with acceptable performance are a lot harder to come by these days than I thought

-Nate

I'd rather have a 335d wagon anyway......speed junkie that I am......

Hehe well no kidding, but I need the wagon AND a happy wife, so a BMW isn't in the cards for me

-Nate

Yeah...at almost 2-1 in price....

On most German cars, the new engine is sold in Germany for around a year before it comes to the USA. Don't know for sure about VW.

http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/ctd/1001605832.html

You have a few to choose from per the Minn listing. Go for it. I just went from MN to VA and back...other than some oil burning from break-in, I averaged 40.5 mpg and now have over 6200 miles on it. GET THE CAR "waves hands like a magic guy".

You CAN get them for invoice now, BTW

adjat84th said:

You CAN get them for invoice now, BTW

Click to expand...

If not for less... (I heard a rumor...)

Check out TDI-Club member Chris of Langhorne VW... he's been known to come up with a deal or two for the folks here... http://forums.tdiclub.com/member.php?u=27618

Yuri

Man, if only I still lived in PA!

-Nate

NateinAA said:

Man, if only I still lived in PA!

Click to expand...

Many people make arrangements to buy the car from him, fly over to pick up the car, and drive it home... I'm sure his list of clients' locations would impress you...

Yuri.

lkchris said:

On most German cars, the new engine is sold in Germany for around a year before it comes to the USA. Don't know for sure about VW.

Click to expand...

VWs 2.0 ABA and AEG , and 2.5 were designed for North America.

This engine, the CBEA, 2.0 has been out in Germany since Sept 2007 in the Tiguan. In 2008 a more powerful version came available in Germany, 170 hp, 300 lbs/ft torque. Same thing diferent tune?