Purchasing help please

[cbyerlee]

So I am looking to ditch my POS Neon and trade it in for one of 2 used VW's to tide me over for a few yrs.

1. 2002 Jetta TDI with 150k manual tranny
Sellin for 8900 which according to KBB it's above market value
2. 2002 Jetta GLI with 118k miles with manual tranny selling for 6500

I know the diesel motors are super strong but nervous with it having 150k miles. I am leaning toward the TDI bc of the gas mileage but also know the GLI would be fun to drive

My other concern is even though the engines are solid all the other parts that may need to be replaced bc general maint.

Any help would be great

[Rockerchick]

150k on the TDI is just getting broken in. Plenty of 300k+ TDIs out there.

The biggest question is how much driving do you do? I love our TDI and our old VW diesel, but the premium you pay for the TDI, you will only really make it up if you drive a lot. I have a 13 mile round trip city commute to work, so for me, I wouldn't really make up the cost difference. My husband drives the TDI to work and its our trip car so we put more miles on it. We also got a heck of a deal on it

TDIs do sell for over market value. That price may be a tiny bit high, but its certainly not an out of the ordinary price for the car. Finding a TDI with less than 150k at that age is difficult. Depends on the maintenance history and stuff too though...timing belts are critical, correct oil must be used, etc.

GLIs are nice though. I have a 20th GTI and love every minute of driving it. Its faster than the TDI of course, and the 6-speed is awesome.

[cbyerlee]

I am not familiar with diesel cars so bare with me. Our work commute is really that far but we do do a lot of driving. Most of our family lives 150+ miles away. Is there any concern to be hard with the turbo? I know if they go they are pretty expensive to replace right?

Any other parts that may need to be replaced around the 160k mark

[Rockerchick]

The turbo is really an "it depends" situation. They can go sooner or later. On a TDI, its important to make sure you actually work the car out and stretch its legs fairly often. If you drive it easy, you'll get a lot of oil build up in the intercooler. Too much oil in the system is not good and can lead to a runaway (the engine will run off of oil/oil fumes because its compression ignition, not spark). But as long as you work it out a bit, it should be fine. The timing belt would be my biggest concern.

The biggest question is how many miles per year would you put on the car? My parents live 130 miles away and my in-laws are 300 miles away. But honestly, if we wouldn't have gotten the deal we got on our TDI (dead auto, 114k on the car, guy didn't know what he had) we probably wouldn't have bought one. Despite the long trips, we maybe put 10k on our cars a year. You just won't recoup the premium cost of the car, at least not quickly.

Now, not sure if that GLI is a 1.8T or VR6. If its the 1.8T you have to run premium fuel. And right now, premium and diesel are about the same price here and I get about half the MPG in my GTI as my husband does in his TDI. So he's winning out for sure there.

You should also maybe just drive both. Diesels are a different animal for sure. It has 90hp, but lots of torque. They aren't speedy cars, but they have a lot of pull off the line. If the GLI is a 1.8T, its going to be much faster and more responsive. You'll still have the turbo, so there will be some lag on that. The TDI has a VNT turbo and you don't really feel it kick in. Some like that, other's don't. Me, I like being pushed back into my seat when the turbo kicks in. But it is nice having pretty smooth power delivery with the TDI. A VR6 doesn't have a turbo, and its a very smooth power band. But the VR6 engines have their own issues too.

I love my GTI. Not sure I'd want to drive a mkiV TDI for a daily but that's just my personal opinion...my previous car was a 2.0 New Beetle so I did get a little bit bitten by the power bug with this car Its nice to have the TDI around for our trips and I love diesels in general. The lowest we've seen is 43mpg on the TDI. Its usually more like 46mpg this summer running the AC. Gotten as high as 52mpg highway with no AC.

[cbyerlee]

The GLI has a VR6. I would say we average 10-15k a yr. now that we haw our daughter we may be driving to my in-laws in FL instead of flying so it would def get a good stretch heading down there from PA. Im not good at buying used cars do any techniques to try out to get these guys to come down in price? I live in a blue collar area in PA so it's not like they can get away with jacking up prices.

[cbyerlee]

Also I didn't realize how different oil/ oil chnages are in TDI's. How often do you need to get them? What's the best oil or more economical? What's the average cost for a change

[Rockerchick]

We do all of our own changes. The recommended interval is 10k, but we do every 5k simply because of the limited amount of miles we put on the car. You need to make sure that the oil you use meets the proper VW specs. We use Rotella T6 synth. Synth is a must. The cool thing is that the filter is on the top of the engine and you unscrew the cap and replace the filter element itself. They sell oil extractors so that you never even have to jack the car up to the job. Much less mess. We haven't done one with the extractor yet but my FIL bought one for his cars and we have it ready to go soon.

[cbyerlee]

What's the average cost for oil/filter. I wonder how much VW dealerships charge

[Rockerchick]

We buy ours through our local VW shop. $8.50 for the TDI filter element, $9 for the 1.8T filter I bought, though I get the bigger filters for my car rather than stock size. We picked up some Rotella for I think, $23-ish for 1 gallon the other day on sale at Advanced Auto. My oil was cheaper for the 1.8T because I got it on special (5 qts + filter for $32). Regular price though, my oil would be more.

There is also plenty of TDI info at TDIclub.com.

[deagle]

b/c of VW questionable reliability

i'd get the one that was best maintained and in the best shape

[Rockerchick]

Do you ever post anything remotely positive? We get it, you don't like VWs. But don't come into a VW forum expecting a lot of people to agree/listen to you.

[cbyerlee]

The ideal one I would get would be the 02 TDI but I just don't think I would e able to afford it. Tey also have a 99 TDI, 1 owner with all service records and 155k for 7800. It probably looks like the GLI is the only one in my price range right now though which sucks bc of the gas mileage difference

[Rockerchick]

It should still be pretty good MPG-wise considering the power you get out of it. I get 23mpg solidly around town with AC on my 1.8T. 31mpg highway. yes, its not TDI territory, but its not bad. The VR isn't terrible for MPG at all.

[cbyerlee]

How is the vr6 engine compared to the TDI in regards to reliability

[Rockerchick]

Well, the TDI is a beast for sure. But my hubby's old VR6 Passat has 350k+ on it right now with its new owner. Now, that is a 12v VR6, the GLI will have the 24v. But I think those are even improved upon the 12v but I'm not 100% sure. Not super familiar with them.

[cbyerlee]

In the pictures of the VR6 it says Bora on the back. Consider me an extreme VW novice and fill me in on what that means

[Rockerchick]

lol. People put those badges on the car to feel cooler is all. Bora is the name of the Jetta in other parts of the world, that's all.

You may want to check the year again too...I *think* the GLI didn't start until 2003.

[cbyerlee]

Middle of 2002 the 24v GLI came out