I’ve got a Jeep Wrangler that I absolutely adore, but it’s terrible on gas mileage and on road trips. I need a new car. Note that I will be keeping the Jeep, but it will only be driven on really nice days with the top down and on really crappy days when I need the 4WD.
I want something kind of cheap (around $12K or 13K) that’s comfortable and gets good gas mileage.
The idea of a TDI really appeals to me. The gas mileage is great, and I like the idea of supporting diesel engines and biodiesel (if I can find a place around here that sells biodiesel).
Personally, I think the Golf is ugly. But this car would be more about economy and comfort than about looks.
Anyone have a TDI Golf? What do you think? What’s the consensus on the Golf’s appearance?
I think the new style front end is unappealing, especially the headlights. VW has adopted their own version of the corporate Big-Ass Grill[sup]TM[/sup] and it ain’t pretty.
I have a 2002 Golf TDI. I like that the car is pretty small (I drove a Tercel before the Golf, so that was important). I remember I used to think the car looked a little oddball, but I don’t notice it anymore.
Incidentally, the guy who sold me the car called me on Monday to see if I wanted to trade in for a new car. During the course of the conversation he mentioned the Golf was being redesigned for 2006. I haven’t seen it, so I don’t know what the difference is.
My TDI automatic gets around 35-36 mpg around town, which is good, but not as good as I figured. To get the great highway MPG I have to drive several hundred miles. But then I get 45 mpg so I can’t complain.
I bought the TDI because at the time I was wary of the relatively new hybrid technology, and I knew diesels had a long history. I will definitely trade my Golf for a Prius to get the much better gas mileage.
Having said that, I haven’t had any problems with the car yet, and everything functionally works well for me.
(In my fantasy world I sell you my Golf and get the Prius and live happily ever after!)
I’m sure somebody will be along any minute to swear how unreliable, crappy and generally worthless the VW cars are these days. And by the way, did you know, VW was complicit with the Nazi party during WWII?!
I know of no popular car maker that does not have their fair share of detractors.
For my money, VW does an excellent job of producing relatively inexpensive cars that still manage to give you the feel that you are driving a German engineered automobile. Whatever that may mean to you as far handling and ergonomics - you’ll either like it or you won’t.
Compared to your Wrangler, it will feel like a sport coupe. I know because I’ve owned VW’s and Wrangler. I could not wait to get rid of the Jeep, despite the fact it had 4 wheel drive and impressive off road capability. In fact, whenever I drove the Jeep at highway speeds I was in constant fear that I’d shortly be exploring it’s offroad capability in the nearest ditch. Never had that problem with any VW. I always felt very connected to the road in a VW.
My advice, FWIW, go with the Golf. I’m guessing with the price you quoted, you’re looking for a used car. If purchased through a reputable dealer (or good private seller) with supporting service history, you’ll enjoy it for many years to come.
I know the Golf is getting a redesign for '06… It’s been out in Europe for a while, so there’s pictures a-plenty at the UK VW site. I like the new design a lot more, but it’ll be out of my price range. I’m looking more at a 01-03 model.
The TDI only gets 35 mpg around town? That’s disappointing. I’d probably be buying a manual, but it probably wouldn’t be a dramatic improvement over the automatic. Most of what I drive is city driving, so a Prius would probably be better for me. The problem is that anything older than the '04 model is undrivably ugly for me, and the others are out of my price range.
Out of curiousity, how tall are you? I’m nearly 6’3" and a tad worried the Golf won’t fit me comfortably for extended periods of time. It’s hard to get a grip on the comfort issue with just a test drive, ya know?
I was really happy with my Golf, that I bought new in 1986. I had the four-door model, and it seemed quite roomy for such a compact car. The newer ones look a bit smaller.
I’m only 5’4" but I don’t feel like the interior is real scrunchy.
Yes, I only get 35 mpg with the automatic. That’s about what the sticker promised in the city, so it’s not “bad” but my Tercel sticker promised X city/Y highway and I consistently got right in the middle of both. So that’s what I expected with the Golf, too.
I’m 6’3" and really skinny. I’ve owned a '99 Jetta, essentially the same car, for a long time. Although the driving position is comfortable enough, I find the seats to be terrible. Even given my scrawny ass, the bolsters are too tight; I get sore hip bones on long trips.
It’s also had some reliability problems - primarily with the oxygen sensor, resulting in slightly poorer mileage (gas version, not TDI, though), and VW has always covered it. Overall, it’s been a good, reliable car. 110,000 miles…my daughter is currently driving it. I’d buy another one.
I can’t speak specifically for the golf but as a VW owner I can say I was not prepared for the general expensiveness of upkeep. VW’s seem to require more expensive everything. Parts that are easy to find and cheap to replace on other cars can cost you 2-3 times more with a VW. Plus having a mechanic that knows VW’s is a must. I made the mistake of taking it to a regular oil change place the first time and they told me all kinds of crazy stuff.
I like VW’s in general, they are fun to drive and good cars. I don’t think I would buy another one though, just from our experience with this one (it’s a Passat, not a Golf). Every time something needs to be done on it it’s a major expense, and we have discovered it is not wise to wait - we learned the hard way to take the car in the second something starts to go wrong. Some cars seem to give you more leniency. It could be different with a Golf.
I still have love in my heart for VW’s. Maybe someday I will buy another one, but my next car will be a Honda.
See, that always surprises me. We’re not talking exotic Italian sports car. There is nothing special about a VW that would require unique knowledge. Certainly not for doing an oil change.
The problem with QuickieLube places is that the guys working there are largely inexperienced/rookie mechanics who are just parroting stuff their 6 month veteran trainer told them.
As for parts availability, it depends on where you live/shop for the stuff. I’ve never had to wait more than 24 hours for parts.
Good luck with your Honda. I’d be interested to hear your thoughts after a few years of ownership.
That reminds me of something that mayhap be more apparent to most people, but since my knowledge of cars is limited to how to operate one, I was surprised.
For diesel engines, they recommend synthetic oil. I’d never used synthetic oil before, and was surprised to find out that it was more expensive than the regular stuff. However, the maintenance manual recommends oil changes every 10,000 miles, so it probably all works out.
Oil changes are not something I’d skimp on. I disregard the manual in this case and continue to change my oil in 5,000km or 100 operating hour intervals, whichever comes first. For the latter, I have a computer that tells me the hours of engine run time.
With synthetic oil, if the car you purchase isn’t already using it, you’ll need to do an initial flush with synthetic and then a fill. So it will cost you double for the first change. The advantage to synthetic oil, besides the allegedly reduced wear, is that you can leave it in for longer periods. My gearhead friends, tend to change it themselves at regular intervals not much longer than that of standard oil. They say the synth oil still collects the same amount of wear deposits and they don’t like to leave those floating around even if the effective viscosity of the synthetic oil is still high.
Scout122: Since you have pretty much the exact car I’m looking at, can you give me some input on features and options? It may seem like a small and unimportant detail to most, but after riding around in my Jeep, I would kill for automatic door locks and windows.
How about one of those fancy computers that tells you your gas mileage, distance til empty, etc.? Keyless entry? One of those sweet VW keys that folds into the keychain?
Okay, let’s see. The kind I bought (the GLS I believe) has the following:
moonroof
stereo with CD and tape deck (Monsoon stereo, I believe)
automatic door locks and windows
a billion airbags (including side airbags, which I believe is unusual)
one of those sweet VW keys (;)) - which is essentially keyless entry because it has 3 buttons: one to unlock the doors, one to lock them, and one to unlatch the hatchback
It doesn’t have the little gas mileage thing - just an odometer and trip odometer.
I’m not sure if it’s a California thing (it might be) but TDIs are not very common around here. There was one on the lot that I test drove, but it was black, and I wanted blue. They were able to find me a blue one, but it came pretty well loaded with all that stuff - I didn’t particularly care for the moonroof, but that’s all they had. I then had to wait a week or two for the car to ship across the country to me. (this is similar to the Prius conditions right now - because they are in limited supply, you often have to take what you get optionswise, which means they load them up with stuff simply because they can)
Oh, and of course it has air conditioning, anti-lock brakes. It has a little beeping icon that comes on when your washer fluid is low - that scared the shit out of me the first time I heard it. I heard the beep and knew I wasn’t low on fuel (it beeps and lights up an icon when the tank is nearing empty, too) and so was freaked out that something was wrong with the car. Then I saw the wiper icon lit up and I relaxed. (It’s a one-time beep, not a constant one - I wasn’t sure if that was clear or not) I have cloth seats, not leather, which quite frankly I prefer.
I’ve only rented a Golf tdi, never owned one. But the 2002 model we drove in the French Pyrenees that year was a blast. The car was a manual transmission, and the diesel engine had great low end torque which makes driving a manual a breeze. In addition, the turbo kicks in at about 1700-1800 rpm and pulls strongly to about 3000. I was doing nothing but grinning from ear to ear as I was driving up to the col du Tourmalet, shifting down when coming out of a switchback, punching the pedal to the floor, and the car just squirted to the next turn. Fun, fun, fun. Nice to drive on the expressways too. Handled great.
Looking at the EPA specs, the manual tranny gets much better milage. I can’t recall exactly what we got, since it was in liters and kilometers and I had to convert, but it was around 44-45 mpg.
hmm…35 MPG for a diesel, that’s not too impressive, heck, my 5-spd manual '02 Neon gets 35-40 if i drive it conservatively, does the sludgebox tranny really leech off that much mileage? 45 MPG for the 5 speed is more in line with what i’d expect from a diesel
aside from looking harder to find refueling stations, how different is a modern diesel engine from a gasoline engine, do you need to do anything different in cold weather (subzero temps), i know that diesels need to be preheated before you start the engine (at least our old Kubota tractor does), do you need to get reformulated diesel in the winter?
