Car Buying......Jetta TDI questions

[SA]

Anyone have any experience with diesel Jettas?
Looking at a 2009.  Long term maintenance to be done with them?
Would you get one or not?

We've never owned a diesel, so I'm a little hesitant.

((((Waiting on Harley to chime in with her extensive knowledge of vehicles )))))

[SA]

And I don't mind paying for carfax reports--but if someone happens to have unlimited access for a year--would you mind running a VIN for me?

[labbypaws]

Remember you have to warm them up and fuel is more expensive. You have to know where the diesel stations are no matter where you go. My neighbors, both of whom have had diesel trucks for years and years uploaded both of them.

[Deleted]

Waving to Liz....

First off I think VW makes AWESOME cars. My daughter did have bad luck with a used bug she bought but she now owns a 2012 jetta she bought brand new and has had NO problems with it. Hers is gas. If I were going to look at cars ....apart from my dream car of a 428 cobra jet.... I would look at a Benz. No they're not pretty but for some reason I have always loved the sturdiness and durability of a Benz. And it would be a diesel.

How many miles are on this one? Is it a stick or an automatic?

Diesels are awesome for many reasons. First off a diesel will get you dang near double the mileage than gas. So if a diesel has oh say 100,000 miles on it it's barely broke in. It's almost like the equivalent of 50,000 on a gas engine.

Diesels hold their resale value far better than gas.

Diesel engines are not meant to be babied. You really are supposed to get on them and make em work.

Diesel fuel used to be much cheaper than gas. Now that has changed and if you are doing alot of highway driving you will see about 20-35% better fuel use than with a gas engine. If a majority of your driving is short distances you will not notice better fuel mileage.

Diesels have more torque than gas and you'll feel the difference if you drive the same vehicle with the same motor size in a diesel vs a gas.

If you do alot of short stops and starts then gas is better. Diesels are actually made to just sit and idle and can do so for hours with no harm and very little fuel consumption.

And I personally LOVE the sound of a diesel running. It is a very distinct sound. Some people say it's too loud but I just think it sounds good.

Diesels do not have spark plugs. They have glow plugs . It might take a while if you're used to driving a regular gas engined vehicle because you can't just start and go. You have to turn the ignition to the first click and wait till the glow plug light goes off before you can start the vehicle. Older vehicles it used to take 30 seconds or so. The newer ones are maybe all of 5 seconds or so.

Depending on where you live....CO now right?....you might want to look into a block heater. I know in the older trucks if you didn't have a block heater and it was winter you probably weren't going to get it going after a night of cold but with the smaller cars it might not be as necessary.

One big consideration is if you don't wrench on your own vehicles. VWs are expensive to work on to begin with and diesels are more expensive as well. If you have a private mechanic wonderful but not all general mechanics work on diesels so make sure there is someone in your area that does know how to work on them if something should happen.

I would not bat an eye at buying a diesel. Todd's next truck which will be either an f250 or an F350 is going to be a diesel and we are looking for an older "beater" truck to just have as a farm truck for the country home. It will never leave the property and that is going to be a diesel too. The problem is finding older diesel trucks is like finding hens teeth because they run forever and people don't want to get rid of them no matter how old they are and also because they hold their resale value so well even if they're 20+ years old that prices are still insane lol.

General maintenance would be pretty much the same on a gas or a diesel but like I said diesels are work horses and usually need less maintenance than a gas engine.

[SA]

Ah Shawn! I knew you would have great insight.

We are going to test drive it this weekend and have an independent mechanic take a look at it. It's an automatic with 110,000 miles on it. It will be driven in CA. I called the VW dealership to see how much a thorough inspection would be and I told him about the year/mileage of the car and he said "Oh, so it's just barely broken in!".

I know for sure it will need some work. The lady selling it said it needs a new CV joint (and something else can't remember) that has the VW mechanic estimate of $600. I'm sure we will find something else it needs if we decide to get it checked. KBB in fair condition is $6800. She's asking $6K. We will offer no more than $5400 if we drive it and are interested and can get a good inspection. She is desperate to sell it and the dealership will only give her $4K. And of course, if the carfax report is good. I know not everything is reported, but it's a good peace of mind anyways.

[SA]

And I just checked Gas Buddy. Around my son's school, Diesel looks to be spot on with regular gas price wise. Some stations even cheaper than regular. Which actually surprises me because I checked where I live, and it looks to be about $.30 more per gallon.

[Deleted]

Yay on diesel prices being the same. Around here that is definitely not the case. And ya, like the guy said...110,000 really is barely broken in.

It does surprise me that it needs new or a new CV joint(s). Usually those will outlast a vehicle. Wondering if it's just the boot and a small leak. If it's been left to go too long check the alignment as that can really whack it out.

Good luck and keep me posted.

[SA]

AH! I stand corrected. It is a CV boot and front brake replacement.

I ran the vin. It was in an accident. Front airbags deployed. It was fixed as required. The car was not salvaged and still has a clean title.

Still pondering! Even for her asking price--it's $3-$5K less than any dealership has for the same vehicle/mileage.

[kritter]

How long ago was the accident?

[SA]

It was in 2012.

[Deleted]

I am choking now on the 600.00 estimate. Of course I wrench on all my vehicles but if you or hubby is the least bit mechanically inclined you can fix those two things for right around 100.00. The boot kit is about 30-40.00 and front brakes are only around 70-80.00. One thing to remember is if the brakes are really bad it may need new rotors and calipers.

Obviously the damage couldn't have been too extensive if they repaired it because just replacing the airbags alone is fairly expensive. Does it show any work done after the accident?

[val2525]

Be sure it can pass a CA emissions test. They're tougher than what you probably have in CO.

[Deleted]

Do you subscribe to Consumer Reports? If not I can post their review of that model (that's my bible for big $ purchases).

I'm on my second VW Golf. I love it to death, but the last one (2000 VR6) had reliability issues and a bunch of recalls.

[kritter]

Here are some consumer reviews...

www.edmunds.com/volkswagen/jetta/2009/diesel/consumer-reviews/#!created/desc/1/10/default/none/none

[SA]

We are going to look at it this weekend. I'm still unsure about it.

The great thing about being military and him being a student is I get the military exemption in CO and pay a flat $71/yr per car. We get to keep it registered in CO even tho it will be driven in CA because he has student status. AND---we will only have to pay CO insurance since it will be registered in my name and DS is still technically financially dependent on us.

We looked at just flying to CA and getting him a car, but it would end up costing us about $1K-$1.5K more because of taxes and licensing.  And then insurance will be about another $45/mo in CA.

[SA]

And DHS is somewhat mechanically inclined. He does all the maintenance on his '02 F150 himself ( still running strong with 105K miles on it). He won't touch the prius tho LOL! Pretty confident he could do some of the basic work on a VW.

[val2525]

Make sure DS has all that info in the car or on him - about the military exemption, you being CO residents, etc. I was reading on the LA forum and it appears in some areas the cops like to pull over out of state tags and check it out.

[labbypaws]

Have a body shop look at it too.