Considering purchasing a used VW TDI. They have great gas mileage and ive hear you can get a lot of miles out of them. Anyone have any ideas or info about diesel cars?
Pros/Cons of Diesel cars??
- Thread starter BiggieC
- Start date
Pliablemoose
Lifer
- Oct 11, 1999
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TDI Golf 02' here (actually wife's car).
Love it, it's the 2nd VW diesel I've owned, and the 3rd diesel I've owned.
Love it, it's the 2nd VW diesel I've owned, and the 3rd diesel I've owned.
The new generation of diesels from VW are miles ahead in technology than thier next closest competitor.
Turbo Direct Injection
No precombustion chamber
Electronically controlled fuel injectors
Very low exhaust emissions
If they were not so damn expensive to buy (Engine,ECM & wiring harness),I would have installed the TDI into my '74 bus,I ended up installing a corvair engine instead.
Turbo Direct Injection
No precombustion chamber
Electronically controlled fuel injectors
Very low exhaust emissions
If they were not so damn expensive to buy (Engine,ECM & wiring harness),I would have installed the TDI into my '74 bus,I ended up installing a corvair engine instead.
- Oct 28, 1999
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The biggest cons that I have heard of with the TDi's are the following -
1. carbon build up around tail pipe (black gunk, shows up bad on light colored cars)
2. availability of diesel fuel in some places
3. and most importantly - expensive required maintanence. If I recall correctly, the timing belt has to be replaced every 40k miles on these to the tune of ~$350 or so. They have some other regular maintanence that is fairly pricey as well from what I've heard. The flip side of that is that the diesel engines will last 2-3 times as long as a regular gasoline engine.
1. carbon build up around tail pipe (black gunk, shows up bad on light colored cars)
2. availability of diesel fuel in some places
3. and most importantly - expensive required maintanence. If I recall correctly, the timing belt has to be replaced every 40k miles on these to the tune of ~$350 or so. They have some other regular maintanence that is fairly pricey as well from what I've heard. The flip side of that is that the diesel engines will last 2-3 times as long as a regular gasoline engine.
if i had the $$ to buy a New vehicle i would look at a diesel,they are automatically much more fuel efficent,make lots of torque, and the engines Last a LONG time!
the only drawback is diesel fuel is a little more expensive compared to gasoline,
if you buy one,buy your fuek at a place that sells it a lot,not someplace the fule sits for a long time,
one minor probelm with fuel is the quality has to be good;e.g. go to where they do sell a bit of it,don't use "stale" fuel,
in the winter add a bottle of isopropyl [NOT methanol} dry gas per tank,or every other,and you should have No problems
where i work we have several diesel powered trucks,including some 2000 Ford super duty 350 pickups,
i prefer to drive the diesel trucks,over the gas jobs,as to having more low end power
My father had a turbo diesel VW Rabbit 5 speed, it got over 40 mpg at 65 mph on the interstate, one trip we took together we got about 46 mpg,going 60 mph avg.
Pliablemoose
Lifer
- Oct 11, 1999
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Pros of buying a diesel: Phenomenal fuel mileage, engines last forever.
Cons: Noisey, they stink, not as much power as a gas engine.
Cons: Noisey, they stink, not as much power as a gas engine.
N8Magic
Lifer
- Dec 12, 2000
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1. Not really an issue if you wash your car regularly (ie. every 1-2 weeks)
2. Depends on where you live. As long as you are near a major highway you should be able to find it no problem. I was surprised how many stations actually offered it once I started looking.
3. '02s and up require the belt to be changed at 80,000mi. (128,000km) as they have a newly designed belt.
Don't know much about VW diesels, but I owned a Mercedes 220 diesel for a while. And I worked on it also....had to put a set of injectors in at 38k. The previous owner had neglected regular oil changes and seized a piston at 32k. Oil changes on this car were critical....if you went past 2000 miles, it was difficult to drain.....black, thick, awful stuff came out..it would stain your hands bad. This thing had four places to drain....filter and pre-filter, pan, and cooler. I hated it.
It had glow-plugs that took almost two minutes to warm....then you could start it. Course if it was cold, say below 15f......It might not start at all, even with it's monster, expensive battery.
And it was noisy...the knocking was so bad, you thought a rod was about to go. Normal sounds from the thing.
Smelled...bad. Covered the back of the car with a sticky layer of black oil. I was constantly cleaning the thing.
Anyone saying a diesel outlasts a gas engine is crazy. It depends on how the engine is built....gas engines regularly last 300k or more. A cheap diesel engine (there have been quite a few built) won't last that long. It just depends....
I liked that Mercedes...except for the diesel engine.
It had glow-plugs that took almost two minutes to warm....then you could start it. Course if it was cold, say below 15f......It might not start at all, even with it's monster, expensive battery.
And it was noisy...the knocking was so bad, you thought a rod was about to go. Normal sounds from the thing.
Smelled...bad. Covered the back of the car with a sticky layer of black oil. I was constantly cleaning the thing.
Anyone saying a diesel outlasts a gas engine is crazy. It depends on how the engine is built....gas engines regularly last 300k or more. A cheap diesel engine (there have been quite a few built) won't last that long. It just depends....
I liked that Mercedes...except for the diesel engine.
They used to stink and smoke a lot. Granted, with the technology these days, it's much much lower, but there's still the association. The only people who seem to buy diesel (In America) these days are construction workers, people who need to haul s#it, or people who buy TDIs, because only VW's cars with TDI and Ford/Chevy/Dodge trucks have diesels, if i recall correctly.
Edit: I was going to say "Look at a 70's or 80's mercedes diesel, easily recognized by the smell and crap coming out of the exhaust", except the dude ^^^ did.
N8Magic
Lifer
- Dec 12, 2000
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I don't find them that noisy, and diesel emissions have improved PHENOMENALLY since the introduction of the TDI engine. I never have any smoke, and it doesn't stink like a big rig.
Power? 90hp and 155lb.ft. is enough for most people. If you want to step things up, you can do the following:
- Upsolute Chip and K&N drop-in filter = $425.00 = +35hp +50lb.ft.
- .205 injectors = $600.00 installed = +30hp +55lb.ft
TOTAL -----------> $1000 in upgrades and you have a 155hp/260lb.ft tire shredding monster.
Don't forget: People buy horsepower, but they drive torque.
My GF's dad loves his TDI Jetta. It's honestly not noisy at all, at least not from the inside. The engine does sound "different" but you won't even notice after awhile....cars with gasoline engines start to sound strange to you
Can't say how reliable it is since it's '02
Can't say how reliable it is since it's '02
A gas engine needs abundant of RPMs for the power to show(unless it has 5.0L or more which consumes more gas). For normal driving UNDER normal revs operation(especially with automatic tranny), a diesel is just as responsive as a gas engine.
Pliablemoose
Lifer
- Oct 11, 1999
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Timing belt (ripped from TDI Club FAQ's)
The replacement interval varies depending upon model but is generally 96,000 km for manual transmission models for the 2001 and prior model years, and 64,000 km for automatic transmission modeis for the 2001 and prior model years, and 128,000 km for 2002 model year regardless of transmission. The 2002 model has an updated belt and tensioner design which may be retrofitted to A4-chassis models of prior years to take advantage of the extended change interval provided that both the belt and tensioner are replaced. The extended-life belt and tensioner cannot be fitted to the older A3 or B4 engines because the belt is a different length and will not fit.
The replacement interval varies depending upon model but is generally 96,000 km for manual transmission models for the 2001 and prior model years, and 64,000 km for automatic transmission modeis for the 2001 and prior model years, and 128,000 km for 2002 model year regardless of transmission. The 2002 model has an updated belt and tensioner design which may be retrofitted to A4-chassis models of prior years to take advantage of the extended change interval provided that both the belt and tensioner are replaced. The extended-life belt and tensioner cannot be fitted to the older A3 or B4 engines because the belt is a different length and will not fit.
it's a misconception that you can add HP.
ie... say...
chip & filter gives you 35 hp.
.205 injector gives you 30 hp.
if you have both of these installed... you didn't increase your hp by 65.
you have to look at where in the hp/rpm graph the HP kicks in.
Originally posted by: vi_edit
On the TDI's....at about 1200 RPM
that's nice... since my integra has it's hp kickin' in at 8k rpm.
anyhow, what i was saying about hp kickin' in...
let say mod A. gives you the 35 hp boost at 1700rpm
and mod B. give you the 30 hp boost at 1500rpm
& the engine has 90 hp at 1200rpm...
the peak point is all over the place.
meaning... overall it improves the performance.
but it will never peak out 155 hp at any given rpm.
but damm... 1200rpm sounds pretty good... when my engine does jack at that.
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