Who has mega miles on a TDI

Votblindub

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Location
NY
TDI
MK4 Jetta Wagon
Dailying my white car, its at 212,xxx miles now. Running fine. Good mpg, even if its auto. Everyone is telling me to buy a different car.
 

TornadoRed

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 3, 2003
Location
West Des Moines (formerly St Paul)
TDI
2003 Jetta TDI wagon, silver; 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, indigo blue; 2003 Golf GL 5-spd, red (PARTED); 2003 Golf GLS 5-spd, indigo blue (SOLD); 2003 Jetta TDI wagon, Candy White (SOLD)
Dailying my white car, its at 212,xxx miles now. Running fine. Good mpg, even if its auto. Everyone is telling me to buy a different car.
Everyone is wrong. It looks good and the engine is barely broken in. Throw a manual gearbox in there and it will be perfect.
 

Votblindub

Veteran Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2010
Location
NY
TDI
MK4 Jetta Wagon
Everyone is wrong. It looks good and the engine is barely broken in. Throw a manual gearbox in there and it will be perfect.
I have a spare 5 speed from my black car. I swapped to a 6 speed in that. Swapping a 5 speed into my white car will make into another project car for me and will cost me a bunch. I'm still finishing the wagon at the moment, so I'll keep driving it as is.
 

rrgrassi

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2006
Location
Royse City, TX
TDI
'06 Jetta TDI 5 speed
406000 on mine, and still counting. It is a daily driver, about 90 miles a day, mainly highway going about 80 mph.
 

csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
Car 1 at 421,xxx. Mine
Car 2 at 302,xxx. Sons
Car 3 at 289,xxx daughter 1
Car 4 at 269,xxx daughter 2
Car 5 at 300,xxx Spare car . Just put back together with serviceable head, two serviceable pistons, two serviceable rods new piston rings and a TB kit.

Top 5 are all MK IV TDI’s

Lol wife drives a Toyota Sienna with 230,xxx miles on it.
 
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whawker

Well-known member
Joined
Apr 1, 2009
Location
Austin, Texas
TDI
'10 Sportwagen TDI 6spd used to have '03 Jetta TDI wagon
Just turned 590,000 miles, not Km, will turn 600K in September or October. '03 ALH. Original engine(new cam and lifters at 500K), 2nd clutch, 3rd set of brakes (counting factory originals). New turbo every 250k, new injection pump at 500k. Original AC, starter motor, exhaust system. Engine uses (burns, leaks, etc) a quart of oil every 3000-3500 miles now.

An amazing power train. LOL, body not so much. Door locks, latches, power windows are regular problems or nightmares. Currently trying to solve short circuit in fuse 14 circuit, controls all four power locks, power windows, trunk latch. PITA.

But I would happily do this again, I expect to get at least 750,000 out of the engine.

By the way, Lance Allen, TDI guru outside Dallas, has done all my work the past bunch of years, Robby Plenge before that. Great guys!
 

wonneber

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Oct 12, 2011
Location
Monroe, NY, USA
TDI
2014 Jetta Sportwagon,2003 Jetta 261K Sold but not forgotten
Currently trying to solve short circuit in fuse 14 circuit, controls all four power locks, power windows, trunk latch.
Fuse 14 feeds the CCM behind the left side of the dash.
That also controls some interior lighting.
 

Aceshigh21

Member
Joined
Apr 18, 2019
Location
Indiana
TDI
Jetta
240k on my 2002. 52 to 55 mpg. Everything original. Some typical front quarter panel rust, clear coat gone AC is broken but I don't care. Pretty good for a high mileage 18 year old car (it was date stamped Sept 2001)
 

bigsexyTDI

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 28, 2005
Location
Kentucky
TDI
'98 NB, '04 Jetta
Just wondering, why do you prefer the NB over a Golf/Jetta?
First and foremost, they are profoundly more comfortable. I am a bigger guy and the NB offers more interior space for a driver and front passenger (admittedly not rear) than any car I have EVER sat in. I had a legit 7 foot roommate who refused to ride in my car until I finally forced him to sit in it and he was flabbergasted. He could put his feet straight out and he had headroom.

Secondly, because of the more central seating position they handle better and are arguably more fun to drive. When new this was even more so because all NBs came with at least 16" wheels factory, along with stiffer spring rates than its MKIV brethren. With the aftermarket, this didn't matter as much, but the seating position is still a big deal IMO.

Third, they are cheaper. Because of the stigma, they just don't seem to hold value as well. But hey, better for me ;)

Now I will admit, there are a couple things that are negatives.
1) The headlight buckets are the stuff of nightmares... I am convinced the engineer who designed them was a Sadomasochist.
2) As I mentioned earlier, the rear seating position lacks for leg AND headroom.
3) Tiny luggage space with the rear seat in place (although alternately HUGE luggage space with the rear seat flipped up) which is how I almost always ran mine.
4) Engine compartment is harder to work in than Jetta or Golf

Whew, that was a lot... but I think I hit it all. Sorry for the long response.:rolleyes:
 

sriracha

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 8, 2014
Location
805
TDI
2005 Jetta Wagon 5mt, 1982 Rabbit truck (gas)
I can't disagree with all of your points. I think the value of the New Beetle TDI just went up a bit, with your post.
 

Van Wylder

Veteran Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2011
Location
SE Ohio
TDI
00 Jetta sedan 5 spd. 03 Jetta wagon 5 spd.
500k+ between the two, had the 00 since the summer of 2011, put 107k on it. Its been a great car, and well worth the money I paid. I just bought the 03, currently bringing it up to snuff to start dailying it. Great cars, especially if you have a longer commute and/or country driving. Glad I don't live in a city with bumper/bumper.
 

Tankthecarman

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2017
Location
United States
TDI
2001 Jetta ALH TDI 5spd
I am the third owner of my 2001 5speed Jetta. It currently has 317,7xx miles on the clock. I am about to do a timing belt kit and will need to do a clutch soon also (I have almost all of the service records since new and cannot find any record of having a clutch replaced!). I did an EGR delete about 3 years ago and have a resulting CEL...otherwise it’s a BAMF! I get in the low 40’s around town and right at 50 on the Interstate. I have gotten up to 580 miles to a tank...but I was just too worried about picking up some nasty stuff from the bottom of the tank and damaging the injection pump to push it to actual maximum mileages to a full load of fuel.
 

Das

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 23, 2013
Location
Hampstead,NH
TDI
Silver 2002 Jetta GLS TDI sold377k , 2012 black A3 TDI wagon
355 on a 02 jetta no lights runs like a champ clutch replaced still on first turbo, a/c and injection pump
Replaced the rack and alternator
Bought in 1/12 no records
 

52172

Veteran Member
Joined
Oct 5, 2007
Location
Buellton, Ca
TDI
2001 Golf TDI GLS
i'm up to 442000 miles now and factory clutch lasted 280k. going to do 5th timing belt at 480k. We resurrected the car 3 months ago after hitting a deer at 85mph. Now i'm running glass projector depo lights! Couldn't replace the car if i tried!
 

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
It's great to see these numbers. My wagon will hit 200K in the next few days, basically all of it driven by me. And it's still my first choice of what TDI to drive. I'm hoping for 400, even with the mods it has.
I posted the above in 2009. Since I'm now at 417K, guess I made it! If I keep driving the car at the same number of miles per year as I have since 2002, I'll get to 500K in about 4 years.
 

DuraBioPwr

Veteran Member
Joined
Jan 28, 2020
Location
Eastern Washington
TDI
2004 BEW Jetta (5spd)
280K and running good. Cam went at 270K. Figured I got a good go of it! Just sucked because I had just done the timing belt 10K prior to cam going out. Oh well, practice make perfect.
 

1tdi

Veteran Member
Joined
Mar 21, 2004
Location
CT
TDI
Jetta 99.5 Black
377 and still going.
381,175
 
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csstevej

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Location
north nj
TDI
2001 golf tdi 4 door auto now a manual, mine, 2000 golf 2 door M/T son's,daughters 98 NB non-TDI 2.0, 2003 TDI NB for next daughter, head repaired and on road,gluten for punishment got another tdi 2001NB,another yellow tdi NB
436,xxx and counting. Mine golf
265,xxx Daughter #1 NB
285, xxx. Daughter #2 NB
400,xxx. Sons golf
 

pkhoury

That guy with the goats
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Location
Medina, TX
TDI
2013 JSW, 2003 Jetta Ute, 2 x 2002 Golf, 2000 Golf
Wow, this is an old yet rescurrected post. Ha, the title is super misleading. It's a diesel, so mega miles is subjective. I have a GMC 3500 with 110K miles (before I replaced the motor), but that's probably considered mega miles, because everyone knows the GMC 6.2L/6.5L is one of the s#ittiest diesels made (because the 8.2L fuel pincher, Oldsmobile 5.7L, International 6.0/6.4L, and Caterpillar 3208).

The least miles goes to my mom's 2014 Beetle with 13K. The most here goes to my 2004 Golf, with 341K. Then I have a 2010 JSW I'm trying to sell (my first diesel) with 250K, a 2013 JSW that's my daily at 97K, and a 2003 Jetta with 250K again. And then I also have a 2005 Jetta Wagon with 294K.

I don't consider any of these to be mega mileage, though once the Golf gets into the 450-500K range, I would consider it a high mileage vehicle.
 
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