TDI for my daughter? Opinions....

[SchmerdtzTDI]

Thinking of buying an '02 TDI Beetle with 138k for my college student daughter...she's no car geek and our budget is modest. I do a lot of my own car work, but strictly minor stuff. Should I buy it for her?

 

[migbro]

In a word, no.

 

[PeterV]

you have a lot of reading here.. But 5 speed ONLY. the autos are problematic for those not mechanicaly inclined. To be honest I put my daughters in Corrolas. they are for the most part more forgiving with neglect.

 

[migbro]

I bought a Volvo V40 for my son who is not, let's say, a born driver. Strong, reliable car, mechanically simple, lots of airbags.

The TDI is too quirky, too difficult to find knowledgeable mechanics and too expensive to fix. It only makes sense if you're driving many miles which a college student won't. Buy your daughter a Corolla or a Civic.

 

[PeterV]

Some insight! From Herm TDI

"In general terms VW service and repairs do require some unique special tools to service this car correctly. This leaves the shop in the position having to purchase these unique tools to use again in a limited basis. This is something that many shops reject and they try to perform the repair without the proper tool and the resulting repair is often less than satisfactory. This leaves the car owner having to get the car properly repaired and often a confrontation with the repair shop that did the shody service. In the end...the shop or machanic dislikes VW's in general and has a negative opinion of all VW's.

TDI Specificly,
The majority of local car repair shops lack the required specific car knowledge to service these engines. Most "certified" machanics have never had any detailed engine training specific to the VW diesel engine. Their training consists of general diesel theory (no spark plugs and no coil packs) and ignition has something to do with heat and compression.

When they are confronted with a TDI that requires more than an oil change the machanic will pull out their generic OBD code scanner and then try to figure out
"What the hell does that code mean".

This results in having a machanic performing outside his "comfort zone". You'll end up paying for the machanic to learn to fix something that he / she has little if any specific knowledge to repair the car.

This results in a machinc having to spend several hours to fix something that a skilled TDI machanic would have repaired in far less time.

This is why there are many people that have the opinion that VW'as are a money pit to own.
I have heard many stories from owners that made me cringe at money wasted on faulty repairs.

The worst I've seen...was a 2002 NB and the owner was stuck with a $450.00 bill to replace one (1) glow plug."
__________________

 

[bobbiemartin]

I would say, like most things, the answer is “it depends”. We bought an 02 Golf TDI (automatic) for our daughter back in late 06. She was in her senior year of HS and had decided to attend a local university. It was a 35 mile drive each way, so she needed something economical. Now graduated, she still has it, with over 185,000 miles. It now has transmission issues that we are currently sorting.

Overall, it has been a good car for her. We have a very good TDI shop close by, so service and repairs have not been an issue. She has no car savvy at all, but since she was living at home while in school, I was able to stay on top of the service and repairs.

Will your daughter be close by or far away? If not near you, will she take care of service and repair? Is there a competent TDI mechanic where the car will be? If the answer is no, I would stay away from the TDI. A Corolla is probably better, or even an Echo or a Scion XA are basically bulletproof transportation. But if she has a long commute and the car will be regularly serviced, then no reason it wouldn't work well.

 

[Dezertedsky]

I don't think I would go with the TDI either, but I would definitely stick with a V-DUB if you can find one in your budget that is non-TDI. I've had an 01 Wolfburg Jetta 1.8T that I traded for my Current 04 Passat 1.8T and just recently purchased an 06 Jetta TDI DSG. I am finding out that the TDI is going to require a higher Maintenance budget than I expected. Even with the better than Average gas mileage I think it's going to be a wash when Diesel is going for 4+ bucks a gallons and Unleaded is only 3.75/Gallon. VW's are great SAFE cars. No They're not as forgiving as some other asians cars, but they have an advantage of being a lot more fun to drive and a lot more solid feeling to them (IMHO). Good luck with your search.

 

[fruitcakesa]

Our daughters first car was an 82 MB 240d auto, she put 30k+ miles on that car in 3 years of high school with no problems other than running out of fuel, a no no for a TDI but cake with a Benz. I did minor service on it but it was pretty faultless.
Anyway she "outgrew" the Benz when she went to college and replaced it with ta da... a 04 Golf 2.0 gasser.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

I bought both of my sons TDIs when they started driving. Neither are anything close to car guys, no mechanical aptitude. Both cars have been dead reliable except for my younger son's inclination to drive into things. I bought my older son a '98 Jetta in late '04. He's driven it about 150K including several long road trips to Atlanta, Minnesota, and a 10K trip cross country summer before last. He used it for a pizza delivery job for 4 years while in college. Until three weeks ago he was using it to commute 70 miles a day in Boston traffic to a new job. My younger son's experience is similar: he's been to NC, Florida, and all around the midwest in his TDI, and also uses it to deliver Pizza (still in school).

Occasionally things go wrong, but we're fortunate to have gurus both here and where they've gone to school in Western MA. But the failures have been few, and not really TDI specific.

Find a good car, put some effort to get it into shape, teach her a few basics, and it'll be fine. My kids have been heroes among their friends (especially in High School) because they had the cars that required the least fuel and dollars to go places. And I was always happier to have them driving their friends than to have someone else driving them. It's worked out.

One more thing: You've got a great Guru in your back yard in Santa Maria, Matt-98AHU here. If you have a car nearby you should have him take a look at it before buying.

 

[tditom]

Here's a vote for a Corolla or Civic.

 

[05_passat_tdi]

Only thing I can add, is that when a passat was in a bad accident the occupants survived. This is you daughter, tdi or not you should have something for her that is safe.

 

[csstevej]

I agree with Indigo, I've got one in college, he has his car TDI minor issues and another one a senior in high school.

 

[TDIBUGG]

I bought my New Beetle while attending college and my father told me that he would not allow me to buy it unless I did a full extensive research on TDI's. Being a woman, people do subject me to being a complete dunce when it comes to cars, especially TDI's. You need to know your stuff when it comes to purchasing a TDI and extensively understand the pros and cons of the year/model you are purchasing. If your daughter is not willing to do the "small" jobs her own or understand the works of a TDI then I would not recommend it. Good luck!

 

[fricknbug99]

8 years ago I bought my daughter a Beetle tdi 5-speed with 83,000 miles. I know the owner and the history of the car. 2 times people have run red lights and tried to kill the Beetle,no one was hurt in these accidents. I've cussed this car for chintzy window clips and switches. But its a great,fun to drive car with 201,000 miles. 2 years ago I leased her a new chevy cruze,2 weeks later she wanted the Beetle back,better mileage more fun to drive. If you can do the maintinance or have a trusted mechanic and if its a manual trans she will probably like it.

 

[MeOmYo]

If you can find a reliable mechanic where she is going to school and don't mind/can afford maintenance, go for it.

If you cannot find a reliable mechanic in her area, don't do it.

 

[abranz]

I just gave my daughter my dodge Dakota with 318 and kept the NB tdi for myself. The vw has required far more attention than the dodge and I really don't want her thinking she needs to drive everywhere having a 45 mpg vehicle. With the dodge she'll have to think $$$ every time she starts it. Lol.

 

[IndigoBlueWagon]

It's a two-edged sword. The car gets more use, but you know who's driving her around and in what vehicle. The latter always helped my peace of mind.

 

[jimbote]

Another vote here for honda civic .... Dead reliable with a min of maintenance and mid to high thirties FE

 

[runonbeer]

Here's a vote for a Corolla or Civic.

Hey, doesn't your daughter drive a TDI?

On the way home from work last week I saw two different girls driving along in their little Hondas. One was making a hellacious rattling noise and the other was pumping out a steady blue cloud of smoke.

 

[tditom]

Hey, doesn't your daughter drive a TDI?
....

Yes- I'm trying to help others from my own experience
A newer tdi, or an older one with a known maintenance history and access to a trusted tdi specialist is the exception.

 

[mac11]

get her a bicycle and an apartment on campus. college kids dont need cars. just more ways to get them in bigger trouble.

 

[vwa1]

Migbro is right on in my experience. Volkswagens and TDI's in particular, can be "quirky". A boring soulless toyota brand japanese driving appliance is more than adequate in the situation you seem to be describing.
But sometimes, just sometimes, you want to pull the dimmer switch back and have the lights go out completely, or maybe hit the turn signal and have the car interpret that input as a command to just sound the horn for maybe oh, i dunno, five minutes until you can find the horn relay or the horn itself and frantically yank wires off until the goddamned noise stops because its 3 in the morning and you are in north Omaha and holy crap, jump back in and lets get the hell out of here... So yeah... Once again, I have to remind myself that I grew up with Mk1's, and though I remain skeptical, I bet VW has that kind of thing sorted by now... maybe.

 

[turbocharged798]

get her a bicycle and an apartment on campus. college kids dont need cars. just more ways to get them in bigger trouble.

Not every college student lives on campus...

 

[mac11]

Not every college student lives on campus...

You people are so humorless

 

[ItAintRodKnock]

I personally say YES.

First off, gasser or tdi, I personally hit a bear at 60mph and then hit a tree head on at 50mpg and flipped one and a half times. The car held up beautifully, I was perfectly safe, and only sore the following day, no injuries.

I would opt for the tdi for her, manual only of course.
From my 4 years of experience with ALHs you basically just have to do the oil changes and fuel filter changes. These motors aren't really problematic the auto trannies are.
Get her to change the oil on the 10,000 mark(150k,160k,170k,180ect) it's easier to keep track of that way.

They are reliable, economical, and pretty damn safe.
However, if you believe your daughter would forget about the oil a lot and all that, but her a civic.

I wouldn't go with a gasser 1.8t or vr6 and certainly not 2.0, those will also have 180k+ commonly and they do not hold the age as well as the tdis, In my experience.

 

[Barnitz]

College Student here currently driving a TDI.

I like working on it, and am a 'Car Guy'. I stick the the maintenance schedule and check the oil regularly etc. Listen for new noises. Preventative Maintenance.

If your daughter is interested in learning about the car, then yes.

College brings a lot of stress. Worrying about your daughter worrying about the car shouldn't be one of them. If the school is close and you will have a chance to look at the car once a month or so, then it wouldn't be too bad.

I'd go with a Honda for her. There's always the risk of something happening to it at school. Get a manual. Someone tried to steal a car on my campus, but left it because they couldn't drive a standard.

 

[Jarrod B]

Keep to a gas car for college. Most college students I see don't do maintenance unless the parents are involved.

 

[jessabug]

I had a 2.0 New Beetle all through college. Great car. The 2.0 with the 5-speed is a pretty solid combo. Plus, no turbo to worry about, it can take conventional oil (though I ran synth), and regular 87 octane. Pretty cheap to keep going. I'd say if she wants a VW to go with the 2.0 5-speed. I am a car person and definitely keep up on maintenance but still not sure I would have wanted a TDI then. And lack of funds kept me from doing maintenance when I wanted, which is not good for a TDI.

Otherwise, I'm on the Honda/Toyota bandwagon.

 

[RichC]

Thinking of buying an '02 TDI Beetle with 138k for my college student daughter...she's no car geek and our budget is modest. I do a lot of my own car work, but strictly minor stuff. Should I buy it for her?

The lessons of "thrift" learned by students owning and caring for a TDI are worth the few mechanical issues IMHO.

We bought my daughter her 2001 VW Jetta TDI 5-speed when she learned to drive. She's loved the car ever since and has watched fellow students go through car after car ... and guzzle gas ... as she tracks her 46.3 mpg on Fuelly. Yes I've received anxious calls for a variety of temperamental issues, but I prefer to think of those as character building moments or lifetime teaching opportunities ... besides they could happen in any car, even a Toyota or Honda.

Now that her Jetta TDI has brought her through high school, college, medical school and in her residency she is reluctant to buy anything but a TDI ... and has pretty good resale prospect for a high mileage car too. Now that she earning money she could go the route of those with big car payments, but instead is planning to connect with a TDIClub guru to have her timing belt changed again.


Did I mention that I'm proud the lessons the TDI helped instill and love the confidence and independence those few TDI-gremlins may have taught her ... and one last thing, I can't help but smile when "she" has to drive because few other friends know how to drive a stick!

I'd say "yes" get the TDI ... your daughter will thank you.

 

[BobnOH]

popular topic
I would get her a honda/toyota/nissan/subaru