Any late model VW turbo diesel owners? Opinions?

Just wanting to see if there are any late model (2000-2004) Jetta or Beetle Turbo Diesel owners out there and your opinion of each model? Looking for something to eventually replace the Corolla my wife drive to her work 45 miles each way. What kind of actual mileages you get in city/highway driving and have you had any maintenance issues? Anything to hinder the average owner from doing routine oil changes or any other maintenance that would normally be easier on another vehicle? What kind of mileages do you have on your's and are there any miracle extreme mileages that you know of with these turbo diesels. Wonder if anyone has ever considered a VW turbo diesel conversion into an Xj, haha, like the old turbo diesels offered years ago in the XJ....Thanks......Rusty

My sister owns an '04 and a friend from work owned (just traded for a passat) an '02. The '02 was an auto and my sisters '04 is a 5 speed. The automatics are pretty gutless on the bottom end. My sisters only has 5,000 miles on it and my friends had 40,000. Neither of them have had any problems.

As far as milage goes the automatic got mostly around the 40 mpg mark and the stick hardly ever goes below 50 mpg.

a friend at school has a tdi beetle, he gets 48-49 mpg, in eastern ky with the mountains, that is crazy...'02 model, no problems yet.

My uncle has an '01 Jetta TDi, and a co-worker has an '01 or '02 TDi Golf. Both love the motor, but hate the car - VW has been sorely lacking in addressing issues of quality control and repetitive problems. When the cars have no problems, they are great, but when problems arise (and they frequently do), VWoA is impossible to deal with. This is the main reason we sold our '98 Passat - it was a love/hate thing, and as we were on our third cylinder head in 15K miles (84K on the car), I got tired of the unpredictable nature and got my wife a Liberty. The head issues were just one of MANY problems we had, but I won't bore you.

If you do decide to go with the Vdub, you'll love how it drives, and hopefully you'll get lucky and get one with few issues. The motor has amazing torque for a 1.9 litre four banger. An aftermarket chip and a few simple bolt ons can have the motor pumping out well over 230 ft/lbs of torque, too.

My 02 Jetta is up to 62K miles, and has been nearly problem free. I did have an instrument cluster fail on me, but it was fixed under warranty and has been fine since.

I wouldn't go so far as to call the automatic gutless (seeing as I drive one) - it's quick enough for me. My commute is 50 miles each way and is mixed city/highway/traffic, and I'm averaging 42-44 mpg (about 520 miles from untopped full tank to warning light at 1/8 tank). If your wife is open to a diesel, take a long (>30 minutes) test drive and get a good feel for how it responds

Maintenance is pretty much the same as any gasser (no spark plugs tho), but replacing the timing belt on the Jetta/Golf/Beetle will require removal of a motor mount and replacement of some torque-to-yield bolts. Also, once the physical stuff is done, you need a dealer scan tool or equivalent (see www.ross-tech.com for the equivalent) to set the timing.

The 02 and newer models have a longer timing belt change (there's a thread on non-tech about an Acura TSX where I provided some TDI info), but the timing belt parts from the 02 and 03 can be put on the 99.5-01 engines.

Overall, if you can avoid the little things that AndyS mentioned (and odds are good that you will), this is a very good option to consider. For even more information, check out www.tdiclub.com and do some research.

HTH,

Rob