Are gas vw jetta/passat worth it vs diesel?

[matt4x4]

I've been reading the forums so the ideal vw diesel is 2003 so I've been looking everyday but there is little, but today there are some gas ones available.
Can I get good gas mileage on gas, what kind of a difference between the diesel.
What years are good for the gas vw jetta and passats?

Thank You for reading my questions.

I just check out this site for fuel mileage and I dont really know how accurate they are

Gas Mileage of 2004 Volkswagen Jetta

Search by Model. Search by make for fuel efficient new and used cars and trucks

fueleconomy.gov

2004 1.8 4cyl manual 28mpg hiway 21 city
^auto 19/27




Backstory

I was originally going to get a Jeep Cherokee with inline 6 4x4 because I love off roading but its fuel mileage is about 8km per liter of fuel in Canada here, a liter now is $1.46cdn/liter so I been also looking at Suzuki Sidekick or Geo Tracker but again very little available, they have the 1.6L and I can offroad them but those to are expensive when they come up for sale.

I decided I would buy a dirt bike and use that off road, probably enduro and 300cc on up, used to be 385lbs but lost 100lbs on doing a half ass keto diet, now I weigh 273lbs, plan is to get to 250lbs but ideally 225lbs, so I think 250-350cc's is fine.

Back to the vehicles - So I figure I should just go with a gas car or a diesel car, get a trailer to haul the dirt bike and do side gigs like landscaping and handyman services to make extra money.

On the list of course is the vw jetta and passat because I am tall and need the room, I have not sat in one yet but I know I dont want a golf or bug.
Other cars Focus, Neon, various imports toyotas hondas mid size, probably lean towards 4cyl and want automatic, but if the price is right I'd go manual and I can drive that, and I think it would be easy to get used to, wouldnt even think about it.

Anyways thanks for reading the story.

 

[pkhoury]

You'd be surprised. I'm 6'4", which is about 193cm, and I fit in a Golf and Beetle just fine. My Golf is really my daily driver, but on my 2013 Sportwagen, I can't have the seat all the back, otherwise, I'll never be able to press the clutch. Any of the mk4s are slightly limited on leg room, but I still don't have any problems, and prefer my 2002 Golf for the most part.

For a TDI, I'd avoid the automatic on a 2000-2003. There should be more than enough threads to detail why this is.

 

[hskrdu]

There are several gasser engines for the MkIV Jetta/Golf/Wagon/Beetle, and others sites (and posters) can provide more info. The three engines you'll see the most are the 2.0L I4, the 1.8T I4 (in earlier 150 and later 180hp), and the V6. The 2.0 tends to have fewer issues than the others, but the 1.8T can get the best FE, especially on the highway / light foot. (Her) old 1.8T hit 40mpg on a 500+ mile trip from MD to MI, but averaged about 34. The 2.0 ("2.slow") is not especially thrifty.

To echo what pk said above, I'd avoid the auto trans on any of these, especially the earlier ones, although the 2.0 doesn't seem to wear it out like the TDI. The auto trans cars see a significant hit to FE and are notably more maint needy. Plus, much less fun.

The Golf, Jetta, and Wagon are the same interior from the B pillar forward, so there there's no reason to avoid the Golf based on driver height (VW tends to design cars for taller Germans). The hatch in the Golf is also much more useful for off-road adventures and cargo.

I can't speak to towing, but we have a large thread dedicated to it (TDI, not gasser).

If you aren't looking for a TDI, there's no need to focus only on 2003 / MkIV. I prefer the MkIV overall, but there are some newer gasser VWs that are ok. I had the 1.4T in a Jetta and saw 41mpg? from Minnesota to Winnipeg.

Honestly, if you want an auto, decent FE, and favor reliability over fuel economy, a cheap I4 gasser might be a better route.

 

[TurboABA]

Do you drive a lot? In my neck of the woods, diesel is more coin than gas these days, so unless you're looking for longevity or TQ, it's not really worth it when many sub compacts can be had cheaper and will cost you less at the pump (or very similar).
What kind of budget and servicing aptitude are you working with? Some people can deal with basic maintenance on a gasser, but are totally lost when it comes to a diesel.... and to some it doesn't matter as they just go to a garage to get things serviced.

Diesel will be better for longevity and towing, but will probably cost you more initially and unless you keep it for a long time, you may not get ROI.
Gasssers will be more plentiful in terms of being able to find one, but they will have their own issues (I recall the MK4s used to have an appetite for coils).

Ultimately, it comes down to what you're most comfortable with, as just about anything has its pros and cons.

 

[oilhammer]

Except for some of the newer ones, and it is mostly due to improved gearing, VAG gas engines tend not to be very fuel efficient. We (North America) didn't get the smaller gassers here, only the larger and/or more powerful versions. So the few diesels we got easily best those.

 

[matt4x4]

I never owned a diesel before, I have owned 2 Jeep Cherokees, 1 Grand Cherokee, a Jeep YJ, a 1998 Blazer with its 4.3L V6, 1988 dodge d150, then I need to think, High school was a honda civic station wagon, datsun truck, ford taurus was parents car. I can drive manuals, civic was, like riding a bike it will come back and it will become automatic, just scared to take the leap. Easy to fix, I know.

Oh I have read a lot, even written notes down about 3 years ago. Read all about the diesels, they are very high kilometers here and they want a lot of money for them, with some parts I guess injectors costing a lot to replace. I am in Calgary, Alberta, Canada where there are lost of diesel trucks for the oil patch, I have not paid attention to gas station that have diesel as I have not driven in 10 years, just e-biking. I used to love driving. I was thinking about $6k max Canadian dollars, probably prefer to be around $4k and having a station wagon now so I can sleep in it rather then camp or get a hostel or motel room when I travel, yes I want to go on long road trips across the country. 1300km to Vancouver, up to the the Yukon, and east to the east coast probably 3400km, so we're talking $700 in fuel right there at 10km/L (new Hyundai Elantra that I rented back in 2016 got 10km/L) vs $950 in gas for 5000km in a 1988 Jeep Cherokee auto, 4x4 that I measured at 8km/L.

As a matter of fact I just saw a Golf station wagon on my daily Kijiji searches. I would say in the next month or two I will buy something as I am looking every day but waiting for something to come through money wise, and I will have to triple check if the authority will allow me to have a manual. I got a buddy on the same program I think his car is a manual, bmw m5 or something.

Mechanically speaking I can fix stuff.
Lets see what I have done - Oil pans on the street, drive line joints on the rear axle right where it broke down, do my own oil changes in the parking lots of autoparts stores, accessory belts, radiator fan, thermostats, valve cover gaskets, spark plugs/wires, replaced a computer on a 1988 van I slept in, fuel pump and wiring in the same van. The usual easy stuff. Trying to remember anything hard I done, just replaced a rear axle in the gravel parking lot of a junk yard with a friend that was mechanical.

I always watch Motor Trend and lean towards off roading episodes.

OK so I can put the Golf on the list but I cant put the bug on there, I do want 4 door, I do want station wagon, I do not want to new I just cant go much newer then 2008, why that year. Avalanche and trucks got cylinder deactivition which is a no go, some ford flex and the domestic suv got the stupid water pump on the timing chain which is no good. I dont know what the funny business is with vw yet for newer.

I just want ultimate reliability.

Last note, so I will get the driving kick out of my system with said 5000km road trip, but on a day to day basis, I require a minimum of 100km a month from the authority, and I get by good enough on my ebike, so I figure in the city of 1.3M people 250km a month max with some short road trips nearby for hiking in the mountains and such in the meetup groups.

 

[ezshift5]

I put 50,000 miles on my cool VW TDI JSW 6M. Fuelly calc'd about 44 MPG for me - about 35H/65C.

Using the buyback bread I got me a new Jetta TSI 1.4L. After 43,000 miles - same conditions - this little 4 - per Fuelly - gets about 92 per cent of my late (and lamented) JSW TDI 6M.

That's my story.
(Incidentally - over that circa 43,000 miles driven - no issues surfaced)


ez

 

[miningman]

2003 tdis are ideal but ONLY if you can do all your own maintenance. Then only YOU can determine what is truly important... fuel efficiency , towing ability , off road ability. Make up your mind and go forward. Despite what you presently believe , theres lots of tdis available in Alberta.