Jetta w/ VR6 or 1.8t engine?

[beer]

Alright - What are the pros and cons of the VR6 V6 vs. the new 1.8t l4 engine? Just curious...

 

[iamwiz82]

VR6, though the gas mileage sucks big time compared the the 1.8T. I suggest you just get the GLX and not the GLS =].

 

[loup garou]

Good topic. I'm in the same debate right now as a new Jetta is my #1 contender for a new car this summer.

Obviously the main one is gas mileage vs. power. The 1.8T gets 23 / 29 mpg and has 150 hp, and the VR6 gets 19 / 26 and has 174. The gas mileage is really pretty comparable, and if you get the Turbo chipped, the HP difference is close to negligible....but, you void your warranty (my only problem with that route). How do the weights of the cars with the 1.8T and the cars with the VR6 compare?

I'm probably going to go with the GLX, just because I like all the little bells and whistles.

 

[vi edit]

VR6

Pros:
- More powerful
- Better resale
- No worry of turbo going out

Cons:
- More expensive
- Heavier than 1.8t
- Not as easily tweaked as the 1.8t
- Worse gas milage(by quite a bit)
- Takes premium gas
----------------------------------

1.8t

Pros:
- Can be tweaked and modded very easily, and for not a lot of $$
- With the right mods can easily be more powerful than the VR6
- Better gas milage
- it just "feels" faster, have to drive both of them to understand
- cheaper initial cost

Cons:
- Not as powerful as VR6 out of the box
- Has lower resale value
- Eventually the turbo will go out (might take 100,000 miles though)
- Requires premium gas

---------------------------------

Bottom line, if you have any plans to modify it, the 1.8t is the clear winner. If you just want to drive the car and simply add gas and oil, and can justify the lower gas milage and higher up front cost, go with the VR6.

 

[beer]

So the 1.8t can be faster than the VR6? How much $$$$ will that cost though?

 

[Emulex]

go to www.vwvortex.com and check out the forums. you'll get the correct answers.

Chipping the 1.8T voids the 10/100 motor warranty, plus by raising the boost from 7lbs to 14lbs you're adding a lot of stress on the turbo and motor.

The vr6's last 200-250K. I would expect a chippered 1.8T to make 100K probably less for the turbo.

My gf has the vr6 and its quite peppy, and the 10/100 ($1000 extra) bumper to bumper, covers EVERYTING.

 

[Viper22]

Go here also they have some kick ass forums.

VW Vortex

Viper22

2001 VW Passat GLX

<EDIT>Emulex Beat me by a few Sec.</EDIT>

 

[Emos]

As far as chipping voiding the warranty.....a lot of it actually depends on the individual dealer (at least with Audi which is a sister company of VW). Simply ask your dealer what their policy is (better yet, the service manager).
A four to five hundred doller APR ECU upgrade (chipping) will really bring out the true power of the 1.8T I chipped my Audi A4 'bout 4 months ago and the difference in performance is amazing IMO!
My friend has a Passat VR6 and my 1.8T actually beats her in the 0-60 range but she eventually overtakes me at the high-end. If you think you may modify your VW...go with the 1.8T!
As mentioned before....do some research on either the vwvortex or audiworld sites....Good Luck!

 

[gunf1ghter]

As far as the 1.8T being faster than the VR6 engine.... all that it costs is about $300-$500 for the chiptuning.... since the turbo is electronically controlled it can be setup to add more boost, change the fuel map, etc.

To get the 1.8T into serious scary territory costs about $5,000. But at that point you are putting some serious power to the pavement. You also wouldn't be able to do this if you had the auto tranny (can't handle the added torque).

 

[gunf1ghter]

one more thing... the 1.8T engine is not new.... it's been in the Audi for over 5 years in Germany.

 

[bUnMaNGo]

haha perfect timing... I'm going back home this weekend and my sister's gonna be getting a new Jetta... now I have a few friends that already own VW's/Audi's, namely a 2001 S4, 2000 A4 2.8, and a 99 Passat 1.8t. All of them say get the 1.8t, since it is more moddable- my friend with the 2.8 regrets getting it. You can chip the 1.8t for $300 and get 200hp/245torque, which isn't too shabby. However there's that warranty issue mentioned beforehand. There also is the new Wolfsburg edition, which is the 1.8t with 16&quot; bbs rims and sport suspension- anybody know what exactly the new sports suspension includes? One salesman said that it was just a strut bar, but I'm kinda skeptical. For those of you that are looking to get a Jetta, look at www.carorder.com- I spoke with a salesman, and he said that they're offering them for $200 over supposed invoice (the numbers that you get from edmund.com and what not). Carsdirect is around $1k over invoice. As for me, I'm printing out screenshots from both carsdirect and carorder.com and taking them to the dealer this weekend with me. Hopefully I'll be able to get just as good of a deal. Also, regarding GLX vs GLS, the GLS is just all the fluffy stuff like onboard computer, leather seats, leather wrapped steering wheel, etc. I personally wouldn't get all that fluffy stuff which costs a few extra thousand I'll post again after this weekend and say whether or not we got the car.

 

[loup garou]

Thanks for the tip about carorder.com, bUnMaNGo, but it looks like it's only for CA. I'm in Louisiana...too bad, seems to be some good deals. I have priced several cars on carsdirect and other similar sites, and I'm planning on doing what you are doing--printing out the prices, etc, and seeing how the dealers will compete.

 

[Emos]

Oh...another thing with modifying the ECU....if warranty is an issue, many people simply have a spare stock ECU that they swap in before taking the car in for a service appointment (costs extra $$$ though)
APR has an option with their new chips (ECMS I believe) that allows you to switch ECU settings from stock to modified rather easily.

 

[gunf1ghter]

carorder.com

Hmmm..... yes, I used them to buy my A4 about a year ago... I saved probably $1000 over the best price I could have negotiated the car for, but what a hassle.... carorder.com was operating at a loss and I had to ride their a** every day for a month to get the deal to go through.

They ended up writing the dealer a check for $1000 and people wondered why they finally folded with chapter 11. I'm amazed that they came back.