prsa01
Veteran Member
The reasons many of us first got involved with TDIs and/or diesels in the first place have been slowly disappearing with each successive generation of the car.
Economy - Longevity - Performance
Being a cheapskate, the original reason I decided to try an A4 tdi was for the tremendous mileage. In owning several, I came to appreciate other of the TDI benefits.
Excellent range
Relatively straightforward maintenance
Great people available to work on them at reasonable cost
Vw rust warranty
Low end diesel power
Unfortunately, primarily due to emissions requirements, the most significant (to me) benefits have been eroding with each successive generation.
Range - My A4 and b4v each had 800 mile or greater range; A5 & jsw 600 or less
MPG - A4 always returned better than 50 mpg mixed driving; A5 ~ 44; jsw ~40
Of course e with jsw any of the simplicity is gone with the hpfp and emissions systems
The number and availability of people knowledgeable to work on them is dropping quickly as the number of a4s (and total tdis) drops and the newer ones have complications and/or warranties as barriers to independent work.
Meanwhile, many direct injection gas cars now epa test at very near the same mpg on, generally, cheaper fuel. Oil hammer has been very helpful in letting us know that many of these engines have issues and complexity as well. Tdis used to consistently beat epa in real world while gas tended to deliver less than tested. Not sure if either of those is still the case.
The A5 & now jsw are bigger, heavier, quieter, nicer cars. The jsw definitely has much more stock power than my a4/b4v had. It's nice not having the diesel smell and soot of the earlier cars as well. I haven't taken a long highway trip yet and hope the jsw will do at least slightly closer to the older cars mpg at sustained higher speeds.
I purchased the jsw, replacing an A5 with 330k plus, in part due to the extended warranty covering the expensive bits until 2024. After that, depending on how reliable it has been I'll decide whether to keep. My understanding is that a delete would improve mpg fairly significantly at that time.
Bottom line - the car seems a very nice vehicle, and when combined with the warranty, I think was a very good deal. It just seems that the eventual cost of the emissions related items (after warranty) pretty much eliminates longevity without a delete which in many states isn't an option.
Like most of life, trade offs
Economy - Longevity - Performance
Being a cheapskate, the original reason I decided to try an A4 tdi was for the tremendous mileage. In owning several, I came to appreciate other of the TDI benefits.
Excellent range
Relatively straightforward maintenance
Great people available to work on them at reasonable cost
Vw rust warranty
Low end diesel power
Unfortunately, primarily due to emissions requirements, the most significant (to me) benefits have been eroding with each successive generation.
Range - My A4 and b4v each had 800 mile or greater range; A5 & jsw 600 or less
MPG - A4 always returned better than 50 mpg mixed driving; A5 ~ 44; jsw ~40
Of course e with jsw any of the simplicity is gone with the hpfp and emissions systems
The number and availability of people knowledgeable to work on them is dropping quickly as the number of a4s (and total tdis) drops and the newer ones have complications and/or warranties as barriers to independent work.
Meanwhile, many direct injection gas cars now epa test at very near the same mpg on, generally, cheaper fuel. Oil hammer has been very helpful in letting us know that many of these engines have issues and complexity as well. Tdis used to consistently beat epa in real world while gas tended to deliver less than tested. Not sure if either of those is still the case.
The A5 & now jsw are bigger, heavier, quieter, nicer cars. The jsw definitely has much more stock power than my a4/b4v had. It's nice not having the diesel smell and soot of the earlier cars as well. I haven't taken a long highway trip yet and hope the jsw will do at least slightly closer to the older cars mpg at sustained higher speeds.
I purchased the jsw, replacing an A5 with 330k plus, in part due to the extended warranty covering the expensive bits until 2024. After that, depending on how reliable it has been I'll decide whether to keep. My understanding is that a delete would improve mpg fairly significantly at that time.
Bottom line - the car seems a very nice vehicle, and when combined with the warranty, I think was a very good deal. It just seems that the eventual cost of the emissions related items (after warranty) pretty much eliminates longevity without a delete which in many states isn't an option.
Like most of life, trade offs
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