Volkswagen exec reaffirms commitment to diesel: ‘Now it is absolutely clean’

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
Cars from the 30s may be great, but really aren't usable on today's roads or in today's traffic. Not fast enough, don't corner well enough, not safe, don't stop well. But many are elegantly designed and extremely well made. The other thing that strikes me about cars from the 90s on is that they are almost all reliable. Cars used to break. And wear out. Even new cars. That's far less common now.
That was kind of a tongue in cheek response as this kind of thing has been said over and over again through the years as people remember their cars in the past. Will probably continue into the future as those remember their cars of the past. Not really about my car in particular.
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
"There's some people that won't use a form of transportation they can't breed in their barn or fuel from their field."

Lots of them still doing just fine this neck of the woods, the Amish are a
vibrant, and growing, community.
 

turbocharged798

Veteran Member
Joined
May 21, 2009
Location
Ellenville, NY
TDI
99.5 black ALH Jetta;09 Gasser Jetta
That was kind of a tongue in cheek response as this kind of thing has been said over and over again through the years as people remember their cars in the past. Will probably continue into the future as those remember their cars of the past. Not really about my car in particular.
I disagree, there were era's of cars that we great and some there were not so great.

50-60's were a great era for cars, durable, powerful(no so fuel efficient). Reliable for the tech available at the time. 70-80's were trash, slow cheaply made, ugly. 90-00's were good again, fuel efficient, clean burning, well made cars. These cars would make 100's of thousands of miles no problem. Nice blend of modern tech but it was simple enough to keep it reliable. 2010+ looks like things are heading downhill again. Over complicated, over computerized rolling dumpster fires. Seriously even most engines today are trash Too fragile and too complicated.

Problem there are a mindset of people who equate new=better. I call it like it is, there's a lot of new things that are trash compared to what was used ago. And vise versa is also true.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
I disagree, there were era's of cars that we great and some there were not so great.

50-60's were a great era for cars, durable, powerful(no so fuel efficient). Reliable for the tech available at the time. 70-80's were trash, slow cheaply made, ugly. 90-00's were good again, fuel efficient, clean burning, well made cars. These cars would make 100's of thousands of miles no problem. Nice blend of modern tech but it was simple enough to keep it reliable. 2010+ looks like things are heading downhill again. Over complicated, over computerized rolling dumpster fires. Seriously even most engines today are trash Too fragile and too complicated.

Problem there are a mindset of people who equate new=better. I call it like it is, there's a lot of new things that are trash compared to what was used ago. And vise versa is also true.
Your opinion. One mans trash is another mans treasure. I am sure I could find someone who loved a car from the era you denigrate.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
The fragile nature and high cost is what much of the newer stuff brings to the table, sadly. Which is why new car sales are down, and the manufacturers are all scrambling to figure out why. When it seems pretty obvious to me.

In the mean time, we'll keep refurbishing the older stuff. We just sold $1200 worth of power steering lines on a 2006 Chevrolet Trailblazer yesterday. Why would someone spend that much on something so "old"? Because it is still in decent shape, and a new one cannot be purchased. The "new" Trailblazer is a car based Mexican built Chinese parts infested turd. This 2006 is a big sturdy full framed truck with a big strong inline 6 and a simple and easily rebuilt 4L60E slushbox. While not necessarily my choice of vehicles, the owner's decision to fix it and keep it has at least some merit in that regard. Plus, it is an "extra" vehicle for him and gets used when such a vehicle is necessary. And so long as parts remain available for it, it will easily outlast anything GM would sell you today I think, especially given the fact that they do not even MAKE anything that equates to this today.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
A significant amount of our sales at IDParts are to 2005-2006 Jeep Liberty CRD owners and shops that care for them. Jeep only sold about 12,000 of these vehicles in the US, and that was 15 years ago, but owners keep them going. The off-road abilities along with being a great tow vehicle for a smaller trailer is appealing to many people. And, like the Trailblazer, there's nothing out there that can take its place.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
I just bought a one owner 2002 Suburban in excellent condition for $1200. Grandfather gave it to 16 year old grandson who hated it. Parents said if he made straight A's they would get him something different. He made straight A's and I got the suburban. I specifically watch for cars like this as I like having something cheap yet in excellent condition around. It is good for towing, family outings or when company is in town and other things like this. The Beetle does the majority of my commuting needs but every now and then it is nice to have a truck or SUV like this. Pretty straight forward to work on and I am familiar with this engine/body combo due to past sub/Tahoe/truck experience. Parts are fairly cheap too.




 
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IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Nice find. So I guess there is a benefit to living in Texas. That is a clean Suburban. Here it would be rusted out. And sometimes I think GM made 90% of that gen Suburbans in that color.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
True. When I look at VWs that are in the Southwest they always have fogged headlights and falling headliners. And failing clear coat.
 

turbobrick240

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Nov 18, 2014
Location
maine
TDI
2011 vw golf tdi(gone to greener pastures), 2001 ford f250 powerstroke
I can see why a 16 year old might want something else. He'd probably spend all of his income on fuel for that beast. The older vehicles in solid, decent condition always catch my eye when I go down to Tx. Last time I saw an '84 rabbit pu with zero rust. The paint was awful, but you only find them up here half rusted to nothing in somebodies back yard.
 

Lightflyer1

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Sep 13, 2005
Location
Round Rock, Texas
TDI
2015 Beetle tdi dsg
The family has money. They live in an affluent part of town on the river front. I doubt the kid paid for anything vehicle related. The car he was getting he couldn't possibly afford. Nothing against the kid though. Sounds like he is doing his part in what his parents expect of him. Fogged headlights and headliners are much easier to repair than rust, though. Much cheaper too!
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
A significant amount of our sales at IDParts are to 2005-2006 Jeep Liberty CRD owners and shops that care for them. Jeep only sold about 12,000 of these vehicles in the US, and that was 15 years ago, but owners keep them going. The off-road abilities along with being a great tow vehicle for a smaller trailer is appealing to many people. And, like the Trailblazer, there's nothing out there that can take its place.

Cool! Never knew the vehicle existed. ~$9k on the used market.
Too bad you can't get it with a manual tranny. Presumably it could be
tuned for more power. Listed FE ain't the greatest.



Lol, here's a nice one for cheap;



https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/spt_used_cars?px8324=p6&sourceContext=cargurus&cgcid=4651&cgagid=6217616&ax8324=66601602&query=cargurus.com&matchType=e&msnKeywordId=82944495605371&msnAdId=82944551774305&networktype=s&device=c&tgtid=kwd-82944495605371:loc-190&physloc=46295&msclkid=c5d2d9c06b73118446fa87e80683f89e&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=cargurus-US-comp-en-srch-xx&utm_term=car%20guris&utm_content=NoProductCargurus2#listing=262314567
 
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IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
Green Diesel has tunes for them, and Jeff at Rocketchip owns one (or did) and has tunes for it. It'll approach 30 MPG which isn't bad for what it is. $9K is a crazy high price, unless the one you found is perfect.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
Actually a friend of mine has one, and it will tag 30 on the highway, which his 3.7L V6 one cannot touch. It maybe gets 22 at Interstate speeds. They are fun do drive around town, too. Lots of pep off the line. Probably not as refined of an engine as VAG or MB or BMW, but it gets the job done.
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
I just bought a one owner 2002 Suburban in excellent condition for $1200.
My brother used to have that same year Tahoe. Kept it in fairly good shape and running well until it met another half dozen cars on the NJ turnpike.
 

tikal

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2001
Location
Southeast Texas
TDI
2004 Passat Wagon (chainless + 5 MT + GDE tune)
False dichotomy

When the conversation turns into a "false dichotomy" in my humble view many people are turn off completely. Some years ago it could have been some TDI enthusiast telling how bad a gasser is and the 'best' is a TDI. Now I hear sometimes the EV vs TDI "false dichotomy".
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
The one I found on Cargurus (listed above) is $4k, 230k miles and a new tranny.
One owner, tow package, skid plates, bull bar, yada yada.
Sounds reasonable. If I had the space I'd be tempted, if only to tow a bigger camper.

C'mon IBW or Oilhammer, one of youse guys should add it to your collections.
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
We had one sitting in our warehouse for nearly a year. Perfect condition. Not my thing. I'm not an AWD fan, nor an automatic transmission fan. And the interior space isn't much, if any, larger than my Jetta Wagon.
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
"I'm not an AWD fan, nor an automatic transmission fan. And the interior space isn't much, if any, larger than my Jetta Wagon." IBW


Fair enough, how 'bout you Oilhammer? Or is the auto enough to turn you
off too? It certainly gives me pause.
 

jackbombay

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Location
Diesel knows best
TDI
A4 Jetta
the interior space isn't much, if any, larger than my Jetta Wagon.
Yep!

Its actually impressive how little distance the gas versions will go on one gallon of gas, it's like a heat generator that produces motion as an accidental byproduct.

The diesel ones are bordering on terrible for MPGs too, low 20's? The same as my MONSTROUS 2003 sprinter? And I have a house an office and a tool shed built into my sprinter? And I can load 2500 pounds of stuff in it and the MPGs are hardly affected?
 

jackbombay

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Location
Diesel knows best
TDI
A4 Jetta
"I'm not an AWD fan, nor an automatic transmission fan. And the interior space isn't much, if any, larger than my Jetta Wagon." IBW


Fair enough, how 'bout you Oilhammer? Or is the auto enough to turn you
off too? It certainly gives me pause.
Its a vehicle that isn't really good at much of anything, its not a fuel sipper, and its small, yea it has 4wd, so what, 4wd just gets you stuck twice as far from home.
 

Rrusse11

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2014
Location
PA Deutsch Country
TDI
2002 Golf, 5spd; 05 Jeep CRD
"4wd just gets you stuck twice as far from home." Jack

LOL! Good point, I've never found the need for it. Haven't got stuck yet
with FWD.
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I think going mild off roading and camping is fun, and that is what the Libby is great for, the diesel just makes it so that you can go a bit further and more easily bring more stuff. It is totally not a "necessary" vehicle for most people. And the Vanagon Camper synchro is become an almost unobtainable vehicle, many of which are selling for close to what you could buy some new vans for. We recently saw a TDI swapped one, with a bunch of nice upgrades and a full on restoration/modification sell for a whopping $62k. :eek:

A customer of mine just purchased a new 4WD Sprinter, and while it is essentially just a big empty cargo van, it cost less and that difference could allow you to outfit it nicely for camping and it is thrice the size.

For daily duties, though, getting to and from work and most of my general errands, my Golf is the bee's knees. Still love my B5 Passats though. And every time I load something into my wagon, I am astonished just how large its back end is with the seat folded down... and that says something from a guy with a Vanagon and a Sprinter next to it in the driveway. :p
 

IndigoBlueWagon

TDIClub Enthusiast, Principal IDParts, Vendor , w/
Joined
Aug 16, 2004
Location
South of Boston
TDI
'97 Passat, '99.5 Golf, '02 Jetta Wagon, '15 GSW
I don't camp, and don't have any particular desire to drive off road. Around here what people do is drive on or near the beach. I think that's a disaster for both the vehicle and the environment. Better to walk. And if I did want something motorized offroad it would be a dirt bike.

Customers who love these tell us they do a lot of towing with them. Apparently they're pretty ideal for towing a pop up trailer or small travel trailer. However, I read the other day that the new Ram 1500 Diesel gets 30 MPG highway despite weighing 5,800 lbs. :eek: All you need is $60K to get a fully equipped one. :eek::eek:
 

kjclow

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Apr 26, 2003
Location
Charlotte, NC
TDI
2010 JSW TDI silver and black. 2017 Ram Ecodiesel dark red with brown and beige interior.
My lifetime average at 33k miles on my 17 ram ecodiesel is around 23 mpg. Best tank I've gotten has been 27.
 

jackbombay

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Location
Diesel knows best
TDI
A4 Jetta
Vanagons in general have exploded in price over the last decade, luckily for me I sold my TDI swapped vanagon just before the prices really went to the moon... D'oh!

I've seen many of them for sale with an asking price close to $100k. Who knows what they sold for, but...

Its funny, in the Vanagon world, everyone is so sure that sprinters "have no soul", uh, ok, but they do have working cruise control, air conditioning, air bags, anti lock brakes, a solid transmission that won't need to be rebuilt every 80,000 miles, a solid engine, much better MPGs than a vanagon, 2 to 3 times as much interior space, 4 times the towing capacity, the capability to drive 80 MPH all day if so desired, etc... But yea, Sprinters are icky according to Vanagon owners, LMAO!


My lifetime average at 33k miles on my 17 ram ecodiesel is around 23 mpg. Best tank I've gotten has been 27.
Thanks for the real life numbers!
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
I've never once had to rebuild any of my Transporters' transmissions, and a few of them had functional cruise control (my Sprinter does not have cruise control), air-conditioning, and they could cruise at 80 (albeit the fuel consumption of a 2.1L waterboxer at that speed is quite literally twice what my Sprinter is).

I like them both. I'd have loved to buy a new Crafter (the ones that are all Volkswagen now), but they won't sell them here. I am happy I got one of the few 4 cyl diesel Sprinters though. The OM651 is an amazing engine. Shame they nixt it for our market.
 

jackbombay

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Mar 12, 2002
Location
Diesel knows best
TDI
A4 Jetta
I've never once had to rebuild any of my Transporters' transmissions,
Yea, but you didn't swap a 2.5 subie engine in there, or a TDI in there, or a 1.8t, or an SVX engine...

It's the common theme on the Samba, swap in a bunch more HP, then drive it "at modern speeds" then rebuild trans frequently. Of course nobody wants to acknowledge that the vanagon trans is very closely related to the bay window bus trans, which was designed to have ~50 HP run through it, and even less torque, they then triple the power input, then get sad when their rebuilt trans lasts 40,000 miles.


and a few of them had functional cruise control
Ok, but most of them don't.

and they could cruise at 80 (albeit the fuel consumption of a 2.1L waterboxer at that speed is quite literally twice what my Sprinter is).
Driving a vanagon at 80 all day is straight up abusive IMO, driving a sprinter at 80 all day is not abusive IMO. YMMV.


I am happy I got one of the few 4 cyl diesel Sprinters though. The OM651 is an amazing engine. Shame they nixt it for our market.
The 4 banger is a really nice van from what I read, if I needed to replace my 2003 anytime soon I would be looking for a 4 banger!
 

oilhammer

Certified Volkswagen Nut & Vendor
Joined
Dec 11, 2001
Location
outside St Louis, MO
TDI
There are just too many to list....
The 091 transmission was built for the 70hp Type 4 engine. I think the issue becomes more a case of abuse rather than wear, though. While I would never dream of putting one of those oil burning head gasket eating Subaru turds in there, I have done an AHU and several ABAs.

The later 091's weak spot is the 3-4 slider, which has an upgraded part available. I did have a syncro that had that problem (I sold it like that).

I have towed and worked my Transporters a bunch, and they held up just fine. I think driving a manual transmission properly is something that perhaps not everyone "gets" especially when asking it to be tasked with some extra work:



I've never burnt the clutch out of anything either. I tow stuff all over the place too. Even with my Golf.

of course, in my line of work we see plenty of things broken that leave me scratching my head. We've got a 2007 Civic Si here with the clutch so wiped out it won't move at all. And it doesn't even have 100k miles on it yet. What's worse is: it has already been replaced once before. Ya can't fix stupid, but plenty of opportunity to fix the stuff stupid breaks. :)
 
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