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Date:         Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:27:59 -0800
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <vwdiesels@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <vwdiesels@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: New VW Rotten Unvieled // TDI?
In-Reply-To:  <009a01c86df5$e563fed0$6501a8c0@TOSHIBALAP>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

On 12 Feb 2008 at 20:06, Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:

> is, YOU taking care of your car are a 'Keep it working safely and well for > the most reasonable cost' Machine. Most professional car shops are > money-getting machines. A whole other world. You could have taken car of her > car is efficiently and practically as you did yours, So, not comparable Charlie > !

Actually, I did take care of her car - that's why I said her costs were for parts only. Mostly electrical stuff - distributor, fuel pump, alternator, tuneup parts, etc, etc. We've had over a dozen VWs in the family since 1980, about half gas, half diesel, and the diesels have been far more economical in repair costs over this time, even though they probably account for 2/3 the total miles driven.

73 Audi Fox 73 Audi 100GL 77 Rabbit gas 81 Rabbit D 82 Scirocco 90 GTI 8V 90 Corrado G60 89 Westy 2.1L 88 Westy 2.1L 82 Westy D 85 Jetta TD 85 Jetta D 86 Jetta gas 87 Jetta GTX 90 Jetta GTX 99 Jetta TDI 01 Jetta TD

I think there's a few more I've forgotten, but you get the idea. Only the 90 GTX and the '88&89 Westys went over 300k kms, while all of the diesels are between 300k and 600k kms. The '89 Westy is nearing 700k, but it's on the 4th 2.1L engine... :-) The I-4 gas engine is great, but some of the support systems are very trouble prone, just like the WBX systems. The most reliable gas engine was the '82 Scirocco with mechanical injection. The '73 100GL engine was bulletproof too.

I expect the electronics in the TDIs to be more costly as they start to fail and even things out a bit, but gas engines are also getting even more electronics. But comparing say an 80s/90s gas engine with an IDI diesel, there is no contest - the diesel is way cheaper to maintain; there are only a few parts to wear out besides the engine itself, and properly cared for, these parts last a *long* time.

Shawn Wright http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels '88 Westy 1.6TD 5 speed '85 Jetta Diesel 1.6NA


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