I talked with an older gentleman on this past weekend about his TDI Jetta. He is not someone that I know. His son had car trouble in front of my house and had called him for help. My wife then came along and volunteered me. Not a big thing -he just needed a boost to get started and I have one of those portable power pack things. In any event, we had about finished with starting him up when father pulled up in the diesel. I took the opportunity to ask how he liked it. It was an 02 with about 80K miles on it and he was not happy with it. He says it makes good mileage and has lots of power but causes lots of trouble as well. It did not sound like he would have another of them.
I think if I wanted a small car for short local runs, I would get a Honda Civic. Randy -----Original Message----- From: mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com [mailto:mercedes-boun...@okiebenz.com]on Behalf Of Tim C Sent: Thursday, June 03, 2010 2:36 PM To: Mercedes Discussion List Subject: [MBZ] VW TDI: opinions? We're looking for a reliable third car (daily driver for wife, probably to retire and dispose of the Escape). Needs to be able to make short trips (<3 miles ever, like 5 miles a day total) without a lot of excess baggage, but as a SWMBO car it must be reliable in those trips for the next 5-7 years. Coincidentally, a friend of mine has offered me his '99 VW Jetta diesel for a very good price. - I like the idea of standardizing on a single fuel, however I know nothing about the operation of the VW diesel; I'd be a little frightened to always be making such short trips in a classic MB diesel but I know you all have said that carboning up isn't a big deal in newer engines. Does '99 and/or VW diesel count as newer? - The VW has a Frybrid WVO conversion; my friend has replaced the injection pump once [about a year ago, with new] and has run practically no VO through it since that time, but I don't know if I should be concerned about anything else. He got tired of the whole WVO collection/cleaning thing and eventually moved on to an Insight. The Jetta sounded like a regular diesel the last time I heard it, and seemed to run with reasonable power - but then I'm comparing it to a NA 300D. - The VW has 140K on the odometer, which in MBZ makes me think it could run for another 30 years; I'm not sure if that translates to VW though. Are the VWs relatively easy to work on, compared to MBZ or old Volvos? - Anything else I would need to look at? I'm not concerned about him pulling the wool over my eyes, but I don't know what he doesn't know about the car. Appreciate any thoughts. Thanks, -Tim _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com For new and used parts go to www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com
