Volkswagen Beetle diesel, what do you know about them

[Silver Bullet Ram]

Here is the big issue I am having with the car. I typically see chicks driving them, or at least around here I do. I like the nostalgic fat fendered look though. I have heard of issues of intakes or intercoolers getting stopped up from an EGR. I guess there is a fix for this. Do the earlier "new" beetles have this same problem? Can I change the fuel filter myself?

 

[HoleshotHolset]

The EGR issue is really easy to fix - and shouldn't prevent you from buying one...



Once you 'fix' the EGR and clean your intake... you never have to deal with it again.



All TDI's have the potential for clogged intakes... not just the New Beetles.



I could teach anyone to change a fuel filter in a TDI in less than 5 minutes with hardly any tools at all... it's really easy... .



Matt

 

[Sageair]

A good friend of mine loved his diesel beetle until a jackrabbit caused $3,000 dollars worth of damage.

 

[Heavy Duty]

Originally posted by Sageair

A good friend of mine loved his diesel beetle until a jackrabbit caused $3,000 dollars worth of damage.

How did a jackrabbit do that kind of damage?



On another note, thanks for the input guys. I did try to buy a VW TDI yesterday. It was an '01 beetle and the dealer had the car priced almost $2,000 over top retail value. Wouldn't even consider my offer. Said that the diesels are now suddenly popular because of the price of gas. He stated as I drove off that they would sell the car and don't take too long in meeting their price. Ya-right, I'll wait.

 

[JLEONARD]

The EGR issue is really easy to fix - and shouldn't prevent you from buying one...

Once you 'fix' the EGR and clean your intake.

Yes... What Matt said. He basically guided me thru this issue. Intake still needs to be removed and ceaned, but that EGR system is bypassed.

And yes, fuel filter change will be cake the 2nd time around.



My first mileage check, with 1/2 tank used doing a CT to Long Island trip, at 80 mph whenever possible (one stint at 100 blowing away a camaro) I got 44. 1 mpg. I can't complain about that.

Jay

 

[RGardner]

i have a nb with about 24000 on the clock. average 46 mpg. what is the egr fix? and can i do it myself?

 

[HoleshotHolset]

There are a few ways to 'fix' the EGR issue...



The easiest involves a tweak to the ECM parameters so that the ECM won't call for as much EGR flow into the intake. Find someone in your area that has VAG-COM... that's the only way for you to tweak that setting.



This website... has a list of people all over the place that have VAG-COM and are willing to help out fellow TDI owners.



You should also think about venting/re-routing your crankcase vapors and keep them out of the intake stream... these vapors in conjunction with the EGR soot... is what clogs up the intake.



I eliminated the EGR/anti-shudder valve and installed a Dieselgeek 'Racepipe'... so the new owner of my NB TDI will NEVER have to worry about a clogged intake ever again.



Matt

 

[Silver Bullet Ram]

I just stopped and looked at a new beetle, do to rising fuel costs they won't budge off the sticker price. I refuse to pay sticker for anything.

 

[mhenon]

Got lucky on our Jetta

We bought our Jetta last year and man is that looking like a sweet deal now. With fuel prices outta sight and the Jetta getting around 42 in town we're driving it more and more and the Dodge less and less.

Our Jetta was a repo with about 9k miles on it so it wasn't even broke in. The only real pain in the a$$ is taking that belly pan off to change oil. I took some advice from "Fred's TDI" web-site and just started pumping the oil up from the dip-stick tube. Now an oil filter change takes all of 5 minutes.

This thing has power to spare and on the highway, you just put it in cruise and forget it. It takes a heck of a hill to force it out of 6th gear. And, the highway mileage is amazing. I know a lot of folks don't believe my posted mileage on the Jetta... so just go over to "Fred's TDI" and you'll see it's all true.

Someone once called the VW TDI the best kept secret in the US... . well... . the secret's out... go get one now... you're gonna love it.

 

[jarsong]

Save your money. By the time you take into count car payments, depreciation and the fact that after the election and stuff settles down in Iraq the fuel costs will come back down, it won't be worth it. The world won't support 2. 00+ Gallon in Gas in the US for very long. The US government is about to hammer OPEC and don't think we won't. What's bad for us is bad for the world in the end, meaning if our economy suffers because of this the world economy is in a real mess... . It's hard, but Be patient. I would like to get a TDI Jetta Wagon for the family car but the economics above rule it our pretty quick.

jarsong

 

[SMorneau]

Originally posted by jarsong

Save your money. By the time you take into count car payments, depreciation and the fact that after the election and stuff settles down in Iraq the fuel costs will come back down, it won't be worth it. The world won't support 2. 00+ Gallon in Gas in the US for very long. The US government is about to hammer OPEC and don't think we won't. What's bad for us is bad for the world in the end, meaning if our economy suffers because of this the world economy is in a real mess... . It's hard, but Be patient. I would like to get a TDI Jetta Wagon for the family car but the economics above rule it our pretty quick.

jarsong

I hope your are right about the cost coming down but i am not counting on it. While waiting on the drop it is nice to go 50 miles on a gallon of fuel that cost 35-40 cents a gallon less than gasoline.

 

[Silver Bullet Ram]

But... Diesel goes up in the winter time though.

 

[GFritsch]

I just stopped and looked at a new beetle, do to rising fuel costs they won't budge off the sticker price. I refuse to pay sticker for anything.



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Do you pay sticker for fuel? If not tell us your secret. Our TDI has saved us thousands in the last six years. No maintenance cept for tires, brakes fluids in 150k--YES I know I need to change the timing belt. It's almost an experiment now. Ready to buy a new car--but why? still gets almost 50mpg and drives great.

 

[DavidGardner]

Diesel cost more than reg unleaded gas where I live. Wish we could buy it for 30 cents a gallon less than gas. Still my Cummins gets a lot better fuel milage than any of my friends who are driving and towing with gassers.

 

[jarsong]

Originally posted by SMorneau

I hope your are right about the cost coming down but i am not counting on it. While waiting on the drop it is nice to go 50 miles on a gallon of fuel that cost 35-40 cents a gallon less than gasoline.

It's been high many times before and dropped. Adjusted for inflation it's about right now where it was in 1990 during Operation Desert Storm.

jarsong

 

[jcarey]

We have two jetta TDI's - GREAT cars. Mileage on the highway is low to mid 50's. Around town, I get mostly in the mid 40's, one tank was in the upper 30's. Our TDI's are 2003. They changed the engine in 2004, same size but a little more power, so that may affect mileage a bit.

 

[Ncostello]

A guy here at work had a diesel Golf. Not the newer ones but one thats several years old... probably late 80's or early 90's. Anyway... he and his wife put 80,000 miles on it. Clean car... no rust and in nice overall condition. One day this past winter it quits running and he thinks the engine or injection pump is shot. So he parks it permanently.



Two weeks ago he decides to GIVE the thing to a mechanic here. He sold it for $1. 00. The timing belt lost a few teeth... the engine lost timing and it quit. One brand new timing belt and some adjustments and now it runs like a Swiss watch.



He won't sell it to me cause I tried to buy it on the spot... They guy who sold it now feels like he should have invested a little time into the diagnosis. At the time he sold it he was figuring major dollars. He's sorry he did it... but not mad.

 

[mhenon]

Fuel Prices!

Look guy's, the rest of the world has been paying $3. 00 to $4. 00 for a gallon of gas for years. There's not much sympathy for our whining when the price shoots up to "half" what they've been paying.

It would have been nice if this happened slowly over a period of years but it didn't. The fact is ... the bubble has burst... and I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for prices to drop.

I feel real lucky to have the Dodge with the Cummins and now a Jetta TDI. They both are great in the mileage department. Now that I have two vehicles with diesel engines I can get my own revenge on the these b*st*rds. It's real easy. I'm running 20% bio-diesel. Do the math... 20 cents on every dollar stays right here at home. Tell me that isn't stinging somebody right where it hurts. And, as soon as we can get 50%, 80% or 100% bio-diesel... I'll buy that.

I know... we can't supply all of the bio-diesel needed to run this country. But, with the price of #2 this high... I'll use whatever percentage I can get.

There will be other options coming on line too (given these high prices)... . synthetic diesel, E-diesel (ethanol... don't scream too loud. . their working out the bug's... and making it work at up to 15% rates) and others. These damn truck will burn almost anything. . so let's see what happens.

Just don't sit by waiting for some foreign country or crooked politician to fix things up for us. It aint gonna happen!!!



Mike

I heard a great quote once and think it applies here:

" "You" are who you where waiting for".

 

[Silver Bullet Ram]

Everything keeps going except for the working mans wage. I got a 2% pay increase this year for the first time in 2-1/2 years. I'm not keeping up with inflation.

 

[Mike Ellis]

Back in the late 70's there was a period when the gas prices spiked for a while - I remember it was killing me with my 10 mpg full-size Blazer, at $1. 50 / gallon my hay-hauling money didn't go too far.



About that time VW introduced their diesel Rabbit, it was an honest 50 mpg car and people were literally fighting over them at dealerships, they were marking them up over MSRP and still had a waiting list. My uncle bought one back then, he drove that little car like a rented mule and it held up pretty well. Had a lot of problems with head gaskets but otherwise a decent car.



By the time most of the people got theirs, the gas crisis had passed and they soon fell out of favor, used to see them for sale for ridiculously low prices used... but they would have 200,000 miles on them so the owners got their money out of them eh?