Recent content by DrSmile

A fitting epitaph. It's called "The Lion, The Polygamist, and the Biodiesel Scam" https://www.wired.com/story/lion-polygamist-and-biofuel-scam/ It's a pretty gruesome gutting of the industry.

Sold today.

I'm in South Orange NJ

2005 PD Mk IV 5 spd Silver Jetta Wagon GLS For Sale I am the original owner of this 2005 Mark IV Silver 5 speed Jetta Wagon. Wife doesn't drive stick, nor does the new child... Clean title, $3500 OBO looking to move it fast in Northern NJ / NYC. This car has 129,000 miles, it has the...

Just replaced the tensioner, belt and alternator pulley on my 05 PD. The tool makes it very easy, just make sure to spray some penetrating oil between the alternator and the pulley... made it pretty easy to get the pulley off with everything in the car. Took about 5 minutes to reinstall...

I just bought a '17 Honda CR-V for the wife with a 1.5 liter turbo, and the problems of a small turbo engine are really amplified in that big of an SUV (almost mid size) with that small of an engine. As long as you're just cruising, such as highway driving , it gets impressive mpg (33-37mpg)...

So I'm buying the genuine VW modules from ECStuning for both front doors, but the rear ones are pricey even there. Is there any reason I shouldn't buy the OEM non-genuine ones for the rear, given that they don't involve keys? Over the last 4 years all my modules have failed, I'm not looking...

Bought my 05 new in 04, waiting for something reasonable to be available (Cruze diesel hatch 6 spd would work, but who knows when / if they will sell those in any quantity), I'm generally tremendously disappointed by the cars manufactured today. Mostly CVT based small SUVs that are zero fun to...

Epitaph to this thread.... as I prognosticated, not only did this never go anywhere (except pull money out of rich men's pockets) in 12 years but the Ecomotors website seems to now be unofficially dead. It joins the ranks of the algae diesel company Solazyme, the Zeroshift transmission, and the...

Saw an F-pace diesel at the mall (as a show car on the mall floor). The sticker price was $50K with options, combined mpg rating was 33mpg. It was an auto, not sure if the manual will make it to the USA. If it is available as a manual I'd be all over it as it looked very, very nice. And yes, I...

I actually test drove a stick and a CVT Forester (2017)... I was fully expecting to hate the CVT but the new programming made it feel very good. I was shocked to really HATE the 5 speed. The engine just isn't designed for a stick, there was zero power until high rpms. The turbo model is a...

So the diesel hatch is "expected" to be available in the 3rd quarter of 2017... That's a long time away. I've heard this song and dance before... I wouldn't get my hopes up until it's actually available.

I'm sort of in the same boat as you, my bought in '04 '05 wagon is starting to feel old and I'm looking at the Chevy Volt or Bolt to replace it. I opted not to go with the Volt so far because I didn't like the rear seating area (giant hump) or the blind spots, and overall I still didn't like...

It was the same driver side tail light connector that was the culprit for this code on my mark IV 05 Jetta wagon. Thanks for the thread, it saved me a lot of headache, cleaned the connector and used my Xtool to clear the code.

A 9 year epitaph to this story... Solix no longer makes diesel, instead it now sells "algae-based, natural ingredients that benefit health-conscious consumers." I guess supplements require far lower volume production... In retrospect it seems everyone involved in diesel in any way, bio or not...