cost of owning a tdi

how much more/less is it to maintain a tdi v. a gasoline engine?

i've heard that the glow packs or whatever are kind of expensive to replace and have a relatively short life.. is this true?

how much is regular maintenance? thanks.. i may be joining the tdi people soon

search.

Parts are pricey, and you need to stay on top of your regular maintenance. DO NOT BUY a TDI and expect it to take the same amount of abuse that an old chevy pickup with a carbureted 350 can. You are probably not going to save money by getting a diesel, you will however get a vehicle that will live a long time if well taken care of.


...and search is your friend.

i had a 1999 jetta 2.0 before this one, and that one.. had a lot of problems.. is the tdi more reliable?

Welcome to TDICLUB, bmonster.

Whether you will save money with a TDI depends on many factors; the most important one is, how many miles do you drive?

If you drive a typical 15k miles/year, then there are any number of gas-engine cars that will cost you less to own.

But if you drive 30k-50k miles/year or more, then there's probably not a better car sold in North America.

If you drive somewhere between 15k and 30k miles a year, then it will depend on things like:
1) how much of the routine maintenance can you do yourself?
2) do you live near one of our TDICLUB gurus, who can help you out when you run into a problem you can't handle yourself?
3) are you buying new or used? and if used, what condition is it in, how well was it maintained, and how much you have to pay?

Tornado's dead on.

It's hard to find a decent VW mechanic that knows a TDI at a dealership. (In my experience) Though that is easily remidied with two factors: if you like tinkering with your engine and TDICLub. There is a guide to any type of maintenance you'll ever have on your TDI and maintenence isn't nearly as bad as you may think. Though the big stuff (timing belt changes, intake manifold cleaning etc. is best through/with a guru)

I would estimate that between my milage and self maintenance, my TDI is 1/3 the day-in-day-out costs of an SUV. Maybe 2/3 the cost of a Corolla type car. $35.00 gets me 450 stop and go city miles. Gets me 550 urban driving and up two 800+ tanks on open highway. $30.00 gets me an oilt change every 3K. Dealership wanted to charge me $950.00 for a glow plug/harness change, did it myself in 1 hr for $60.00.

Glowplugs are more expensive than sparkplugs (60/four) but you replace them at 75K.... By not going to a stealership and owning a Vag-Com(aftermarket diagnostic tool) I bet I've saved 5-10K on total maintenance over 5 years. Others may have different stories. I highly recommend the decision to go TDI.

Glow plugs? I have 215,000 miles on my originals...Where are you guys getting 75,000 miles to replace them? These aren't like gasser spark plugs!

Cost of ownership for a TDI is CHEAPER after the first 100,000 miles. Once you get past the first 100K it's money in the bank. The higher the price of fuel the quicker the payoff.

The trick to owning a TDI is simply follwing the manual for servicing. If you like changing oil every 3,000 miles and doing things just because you are bored then DO NOT buy a TDI.

Mileage dependent servicing:
Service intervals and costs if you do the servicing unless noted:
-Tire rotatiions - 7,500 miles - Free if you do them your self
-Oil and filters - 10,000 miles - $60.00 (Best oils + filter)
-Fuel filter - 20,000 miles - $50.00
-Air filter - 40,000 miles - $30.00
-Tires - 40,000 miles - $500.00
-Timing belt/water pump/pulley's/serp belt/coolant - 100,000 miles - $350 parts + $300 labor approx.
-Automatic transmission fluid change - 100,000 miles - $80.00 parts + $125.00 labor
-Manual Transmission fluid change - 100,000 miles - $40.00 fluid (OEM) + $40.00 labor
-New struts Bilstein - 125,000 miles - $600.00 + $250.00 labor
-Injectors (new nozzles) - 150,000 miles - $350.00 + $150 labor approx
-Clutch - 400,000 miles - $600.00 + $400.00 labor (modify the car and you will doing this right away due to torque limits on the pressure plate)

Time or Use dependent maintenance:
-Pollen air filter - 6 months - $30.00
-Brake Fluid - 2 years - $8.00 + $100 labor approx.
-Brakes rear (new rotors plus pads plus brake fluid) - $120.00 rear/ $140.00 front (pads and rotors and 1.5liters of fluid) + $100 labor approx
-N75 - $85.00 + $20.00 labor
-MAF - $120.00 + $20.00 labor
-Glow Plug - $13.00 - $10.00 labor
-Fan Control Relay - $140.00 + $30.00 labor
-Wheel bearing - $90.00 + $180.00 labor
-C/V boot + grease $40.00 + $100.00 labor

The point of all this is that the servicing of a TDI is actually LESS than on a gasser vehicle. The rest of the servicing is going to happen to ALL cars regardless of what motor you have. The TDI breaks even around 100,000 miles simply due to fuel economy EVEN if fuel cost per gallon is higher!

DB

Jetta TDI $.46/mile
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2006/volkswagen/jetta/100544988/cto.html

compared to a hybrid Civic $.45/mile
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2006/honda/civic/100660627/cto.html

Toyota Prius $.47/mile
http://www.edmunds.com/new/2006/toyota/prius/100668257/cto.html

The problem with these comparisons is that they do not factor in the increase in TDI efficiency once it gets 60,000 miles on it. Fuel economy ratings are predicated on NEW engines, the TDI gets the lowest fuel economy when new where gasoline engines get the best. Compare the vehicles once they get 60,000 or even 100,000 miles on them and the TDI will in fact beat them!

The other issue is that once the battery packs in Hybrids start to get some age on them they lose their punch and now you have reduced economy and recovery of waste from the "otto-cycle" engine. I realize they like to call their engines a different cycle but if it sucks in gas, squeezes it, burns it and blows it its an "Otto-Cycle". Once the battery's lose capacity the owners seldom realize it. Grant it, this won't happen until the cars have more than 100,000 miles by then the car is probably with it's second owner.

Wait for Hybrid owners to chime in once they get 200,000 miles on the car, then again Americans don't keep cars that long now do they...

DB

Drivbiwire said:

The problem with these comparisons is that they do not factor in the increase in TDI efficiency once it gets 60,000 miles on it. Fuel economy ratings are predicated on NEW engines, the TDI gets the lowest fuel economy when new where gasoline engines get the best. Compare the vehicles once they get 60,000 or even 100,000 miles on them and the TDI will in fact beat them!

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I didn't see that big of an efficiency improvement during/after the break-in period. My first tank netted 49mpg right off the bat. Plus, the more time you spend on this site, the more mods you add, the lower your fuel economy goes anyway. Not to mention the costs of adding those goodies.

When I bought my TDI Golf back in '00, diesel was I think $1.50/ gallon. I ran some numbers. Assuming a 2.0L got an average of 28mpg and a TDI averaged 45mpg, and given the additional cost of the TDI engine was $1250, it took 70k miles to break even. That is, by 70k miles I'd saved enough in fuel to pay for the upcharge for the engine. Beyond that, I was saving $1250 every 70k miles.

Fast forward to the post-Katrina $3/gallon prices, which is close to where we are now (I paid $2.95/gal for B20 yesterday). When I did the caclulations las summer, the TDI engine now pays itself off in only about 35k miles, and every 35k miles you're saving $1250 compared to a 28mpg gasser.

Those are rough figures from my foggy memory, so do yourself a favor and do some figg'rin yerself if you want accuracy. But driving a diesel is only getting MORE justifiable.

In simple words, YES! You will save alot of money driving the TDI.

40-50MPG adds up real fast @ $3.00 / gallon. Your wallet will notice the difference. Change the engine oil with the correct stuff, timing belt every 80K and you are set. Timing belt (100K service) is ~$800-$1000.

Drivbiwire said:

The problem with these comparisons is that they do not factor in the increase in TDI efficiency once it gets 60,000 miles on it. Fuel economy ratings are predicated on NEW engines, the TDI gets the lowest fuel economy when new where gasoline engines get the best. Compare the vehicles once they get 60,000 or even 100,000 miles on them and the TDI will in fact beat them!

Click to expand...

In each and every month for the last 10 months, I've gotten better fuel economy than in the same month in the previous year.... basically starting at about 105k miles and now at about 155k miles.

When does fuel economy stop getting better and start dropping off? (Assuming same driving pattern and no problem with injectors or intake/EGR)

Good points, Drivbiwire.

Drivbiwire said:

The problem with these comparisons is that they do not factor in the increase in TDI efficiency once it gets 60,000 miles on it. Fuel economy ratings are predicated on NEW engines, the TDI gets the lowest fuel economy when new where gasoline engines get the best. Compare the vehicles once they get 60,000 or even 100,000 miles on them and the TDI will in fact beat them!

The other issue is that once the battery packs in Hybrids start to get some age on them they lose their punch and now you have reduced economy and recovery of waste from the "otto-cycle" engine. I realize they like to call their engines a different cycle but if it sucks in gas, squeezes it, burns it and blows it its an "Otto-Cycle". Once the battery's lose capacity the owners seldom realize it. Grant it, this won't happen until the cars have more than 100,000 miles by then the car is probably with it's second owner.

Wait for Hybrid owners to chime in once they get 200,000 miles on the car, then again Americans don't keep cars that long now do they...

DB

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