Checking in at 11,000 miles

[Champ203]

Just an update for those who lurk around here or might be contemplating purchasing a Jetta TDI.

In the past 4 months I've racked up 11,000 miles. I commute 36 miles round trip to my office and by the end of most days (I'm in sales) I have put 80 - 100 miles on my car. Add in a few out of town trips and all of the sudden the first oil change is behind me.

Trips to dealer since new: 2

One for horn recall
One for oil change and multipoint inspection.

Average MPG: 41.2
# of Fill-ups 21
Lowest MPG: 38.4
Best MPG: 47.7 (twice - 400+ mile trips)

Everything works well except:

(1) A/C makes a lot of noise but doesn't cool the car down very quickly (I live in South Carolina and its HOT here)
(2) My bluetooth doesn't work very well. People that I am talking with say they can only hear about every third word so I've gone back to using a headset.

Would I buy another one? You bet.

Peace,
Don<><

 

[Savageman69]

good stuff don. My air works good here but not as hot here also lol. I love my tdi thats for sure

 

[freponyryd]

The A/C sucks for south Georgia too. When I left work yesterday the temp read 104.

 

[WVU TDI]

I'm surprised to hear you guys complaining about the A/C, the unit in my '10 Golf is as good or better than any car I've ever been in, and while it might not get to the 100* you guys see, its pretty regularly 95* here with the 75* dewpoints you guys are used to.

Maybe that's just something else they cheapened on the next gen cars?

 

[pipes p]

it was 23c where i live (75sh F) and i found it did not cool my car down very well. my car is blk on blk but it should do better than it does!

 

[LordHz]

I also live in Georgia and the A/C definitely struggles sometimes, especially when first starting up. The fan at 3 or 4 in mine is very noisy and gets worse when in "Max" mode. My 1989 Toyota Landcruiser, which is all original, has a much colder A/C.

 

[opticalmike]

Take it in to an A/C shop and ask about recharging your system with a different gas, or perhaps they can correctly recharge it with the correct amount of 134a....which results in colder temps.

 

[NickBeek]

My car rolled 13k miles last week. It promptly turned on the DPF light then added in the CEL and flashing GP lights for good measure. It has been sitting at my dealer a full week today waiting for a new ECM. Before this I was in love with it. Well I still am, but over a week down waiting for parts is unacceptable. As far as the A/C it could be better, but it could be worse too.

 

[Champ203]

Sorry to hear about your downtime

That isn't encouraging as I am loading my family up for a 5000 mile trip at the end of July. I will hope for the best... Did your dealer put you in a loaner?

Thanks,
Don

 

[mcleanclan01]

I do have a 2011 golf tdi, so it's a year newer but I have no issues with Bluetooth. It could be the phones Bluetooth instability (maybe not pushing enough power).

 

[NickBeek]

That isn't encouraging as I am loading my family up for a 5000 mile trip at the end of July. I will hope for the best... Did your dealer put you in a loaner?

Thanks,
Don

In all fairness, the car still ran fine and did NOT leave me stranded. Yes the dealer did give me a loaner.

The dealer has been fairly good about this. I was a little frustrated that they were so busy last Tuesday that they couldn't get me an appointment until Thursday, but they did do some checking and got the ball rolling before Thursday. I just wish VWoA had the parts here already.

 

[740GLE]

I've also noticed on my 2010 the AC struggles to keep up in stop and go driving after the car bakes in the sun all day. Even with fan set on 3 and recirc on it's pretty bad. If i'm on the highway it'll keep up but wouldn't call it super cold.

I'm thinking some llumar tint to block the heat should help as i have gray and titan black.

 

[skinnyb]

My 2010 sedan used to have a few issues especially cooling down the cabin after sitting in the sun till I had my windows tinted. I have noticed most Jettas on the road have tinted windows especially darker colors like mine (black). I am beginning to wonder if it is simply for aesthetics or if for more practical reasons (I did mine for both reasons). We have had some low 90's with high humidity here the last couple of weeks and I can definitely tell the difference.

 

[Dieselfitter]

it was 23c where i live (75sh F) and i found it did not cool my car down very well. my car is blk on blk but it should do better than it does!

That is because we like 15c (60f) in a car in Canada !

 

[tcp_ip_dude]

I have a '10 Sedan, absolutely no cooling problems whatsoever for me and we've broken two records this week with ambient temps of 101F and 100F respectively (with dew points around 80F no less). Granted, the air coming out the vents is noticeably cooler at sustained highway speeds, but more than adequate during stop and go driving, I can drop the setting back to '2' after 5-10 minutes, even '1' sometimes if it's late afternoon/evening sun and it keeps up fine.

I do use the 'recirculation' setting, have 35% Llumar window tint, car is White Gold w/Cornsilk interior and use a sun screen on the front window when it's parked; which I think all contribute to make a big difference. I had my car tinted as soon as I got it in April, so I don't have a comparison w/o the tint in hot weather.

Also, no problems with Bluetooth paired to an iPhone 4, use it quite a bit every day, confirmed to sound good on both ends, even at highway speeds (I do cut the fan speed to '2' or lower when on the phone)

 

[i64w2gohome]

Happy with my Golf, just turned over 18k miles. None of the issues cited above, but my sun roof did blow out at highway speeds in February. All repairs covered by VW, but I really missed the car while I drove around in dealer-provided rentals (Audi A4 auto & Toyota beige something).

 

[spiydr]

What do you mean "blow out"? Like it shattered or got sucked out the roof or something??

That would scare the *&%^ out of me.

Happy with my Golf, just turned over 18k miles. None of the issues cited above, but my sun roof did blow out at highway speeds in February. All repairs covered by VW, but I really missed the car while I drove around in dealer-provided rentals (Audi A4 auto & Toyota beige something).

 

[TDI_Timmy]

I have a '10 Sedan, absolutely no cooling problems whatsoever for me and we've broken two records this week with ambient temps of 101F and 100F respectively (with dew points around 80F no less). Granted, the air coming out the vents is noticeably cooler at sustained highway speeds, but more than adequate during stop and go driving, I can drop the setting back to '2' after 5-10 minutes, even '1' sometimes if it's late afternoon/evening sun and it keeps up fine.

I do use the 'recirculation' setting, have 35% Llumar window tint, car is White Gold w/Cornsilk interior and use a sun screen on the front window when it's parked; which I think all contribute to make a big difference. I had my car tinted as soon as I got it in April, so I don't have a comparison w/o the tint in hot weather.

Also, no problems with Bluetooth paired to an iPhone 4, use it quite a bit every day, confirmed to sound good on both ends, even at highway speeds (I do cut the fan speed to '2' or lower when on the phone)

I am with tcp_ip_dude on both things here - and I have a 2011. Granted we haven't had 100* days here, but mid to upper 70s and the AC has cooled great. To cool it quickly I turn it to max cool AC and recirculate come on automatically and the inside gets pretty chilly - I keep it on recirc and back off from max cool about 2 notches and kick fan down to 2 and we were pretty comfortable. I possibly would keep it closer to max cool if it was really hot. Right now around town pretty much driving with windows down - occasionally have had them up and it has been more than adequate.

Also, no Bluetooth issues with either of our iPhone 4's. Sometimes just streaming music via Bluetooth gets a little quirky.

 

[masterflex164]

My '10 JSW TDI has a great AC. You'd think this American Jetta would have an AC up to par with the needs of the American market...

 

[NickBeek]

One day short of two weeks in the shop, one new ECM, and she is good as new.

 

[Phatboyboogaloo]

I have an '11 Black, w/ titan black interior - my 1st black car and it has been COOKING down here the past couple weeks. I've been riding my 30 minute commute with the fan on max AC and recirculate almost the whole ride home. Thing that sucks is that it is VERY loud to the point you can't carry on a decent convo in the car without backing it down to 3. I got my windows tinted earlier this week and can already tell a BIG difference - AC doesn't seem to have to work as hard.
I just bought my TDI about 5 weeks ago and my bluetooth was not working well as described in the original post. I have a HTC Thunderbolt (Android) and people said it sounded like I was talking in a tunnel. Day 2 I was so frustrated I pushed a little too hard on the bluetooth button in the overhead console and pushed it through the housing (really need to back off the P90x)! I swung by the dealership and they removed the plastic pieces and were able to snap it back down into the housing. Since then my calls have been crystal clear. The microphone is also up in that housing and I wonder if there wasn't a wire loose or something obstructing it. The casing that the bluetooth button is in was definitely loose, but seems fine now.

 

[Phatboyboogaloo]

Take it in to an A/C shop and ask about recharging your system with a different gas, or perhaps they can correctly recharge it with the correct amount of 134a....which results in colder temps.

My AC is plenty cold temp wise, even gives me an ice cream headache if I blast it directly on my face too long. Just seems to take a coons age to cool the entire car down. Even tho it sounds like you're standing behind a F15 preparing for takeoff with it running on Max AC.

 

[EastNC]

I also live in Georgia and the A/C definitely struggles sometimes, especially when first starting up. The fan at 3 or 4 in mine is very noisy and gets worse when in "Max" mode. My 1989 Toyota Landcruiser, which is all original, has a much colder A/C.

Your Landcruiser has a much-superior R12 A/C system.... ahhh the days of freedom in the USA when, well, nevermind lol...

My AC seems to cool well once the heat load is reduced quite a bit, probably a consequence of the reduced refrigerant amounts used in modern cars. Physics being what they are, massive cooling is difficult/impossible without capacity in the system.

Or, it could be the shiraz talking.

b

 

[zarrinvz24]

I've heard that R12 is going to be making a comeback, apparantly R134A is worse for the environment than freon is. . .

 

[Rgarza06]

good to know don, i have 8800 on mine which i bought last december and got tinted the very next day compliments of the dealership limo all around , i live in south texas and it gets hot here as well and the a/c seems to be putting up just fine, i do use my tdi daily as i work in town, i drive mainly 20 miles round trip to work and back and sometimes when i need to run errands in town and i have taken 3 trips to san antonio 300+ miles as im from the lower rio grande valley and the car has performed beyond what i thought it could, ive never owned a car, all trucks in my family and when i told them i was buying a diesel they were all happy until they saw me roll in with my black tdi haha they loved it at first sight and loved the mpg this baby gives us. i will be taking in the car for that HORN RECALL when i have to take it to change the oil since the dealership is about 30 miles away, i have also been using PS grey bottle on and off on every fill up with zero problems as well as the member who posted above

 

[Billnla]

I have the '11 black with the Titan black interior. No sunroof. Let me tell ya, it gets really hot here in southern Louisiana. Have had quite a few days alerady this year in triple digits and a bunch just below. A/C works well, just when all of the interior stuff gets that hot takes a while to cool it all down. Will be getting it tinted in a couple of weeks. Hope that helps. Just turned over 10k miles this weekend. Will be taking in this week to get the first oil change done. Feel pretty good about my dealership. When I brought it in for the horn recall they were very good in the service department, even washed and vacuumed the car aftewards. (And I didn't buy the car there) Asked about getting some oil to top it off if needed and they knew right away that it took "special" oil. Put two liters in the trunk for me. I will be asking to see what is put in it when it gets changed this week. So far been really happy with the car. This is my first VW, if you don't count the dune buggy in my avatar from a few years back.

 

[BlueGraphite'10TDI]

My 2010 has great AC, and we have consistently been seeing 116-120 here in southern AZ. Once I'm on the highway I have to turn the temp up to 72 and the Fan to 2. I do not use the recirc function. Even in stop and go city it can keep up adequately. I do have dark tint though. Limo on the back 3 windows and legal on the front, which is 35%.

 

[speedeep]

I'm surprised to hear you guys complaining about the A/C, the unit in my '10 Golf is as good or better than any car I've ever been in, and while it might not get to the 100* you guys see, its pretty regularly 95* here with the 75* dewpoints you guys are used to.

Maybe that's just something else they cheapened on the next gen cars?

My 2010 Jetta TDI (Black/Black) cools down much more effectively on a hot day than my 2011 Jetta TDI (Gray/Black). The 2010 will freeze you on high, the 2011 just cools you on high. They are both adequate, the 2011 just seems to cool down slower and doesn't cool down as well.

Without digging into the mechanics of the system, the outward differences are no dedicated ducting/outlets for the rear seats and a different control panel on the center dash.

 

[BretAZ]

The AC in the Jetta is better than the AC was in my 2010 Prius. At first, I thought it was going to be great as it would cool the car off quick, and get very cold. Anything over 110, it will still cool, just doesn't get cold like some of our other cars. I think it was 118 on saturday, and it didn't do to bad. Not the best, but not the worst either.

 

[elconquistador]

Got my car tinted today! Already can tell a difference!