[Vwdiesel] I'm in love - Test drove a 2002 Jetta TDI this weekend

[LBaird119 at aol.com]

> My old diesel is more fun to drive though.
>  Maybe it's because it's old school or something, it just feels lighter and
>  more fun.

  I've never compared the actual weight but Jake and I got into quite the
discussion about weight increase in an 81 vs. 80 Rabbit.  You go to an '02
Jetta and there's bound to be quite a weight increase!
  I test drove a 98 Jetta, when new.  It was a nice car!  My only
complaints(?)
were;  the A pillar was in part of my view that I wasn't accustomed to, it
wasn't
as peppy as I was expecting but it had good pull, and the rear seat leg room
was no better than my A2 Jetta, which isn't enough better than my Rabbit as
I'd hoped it'd be.  Jake said he'd driven one too and wouldn't trade his
Rabbit
for it.  Not as fun and not as fast.  Of course his 0 - 60 was around 8
seconds
at the time!

  Yesterday Dad came by so I ran up to the shop with him to work out a
couple of things.  The way he'd been commenting on how fast his new TD
pickup is, I knew he'd "stomp" it somewhere along the way.  To both of
our surprise, my little 1.5 NA Bunny didn't let him pull away much at all!
I've REALLY got to get the turbo on that thing!  :)
  We managed to get the surging out of it (missing rear pump bolt).  We got
the engine vibration down a little as well as the drone.  The drone is still
terrible though!  :(  Other than that he LOVES the truck.  He drove it a
little
today.  It seemed to get worse when we tightened down the left and right
motor mount bolts. Can't hardly leave them loose though.  I guess the next
step is some Ice Sheet (poor, make that cheap, reasonable(?) mans
Dynamat).  Maybe we can change the resonance of the cab.  I'm about
ready to design a couple of mount hangers that incorporate mini sub hangers
that use A2 subframe mounts to hold the original mounts.  It's just a thought
so far.

>  Do you think the Big Three will ever get with the program and start
>  offering diesels in sedans as an option?

  I seriously doubt this.  :(  I'd sure like to find a good deal on a Euro
diesel
and tranny with low miles or even reasonable miles, to swap into my wife's
Caravan.  :)  Since they exist it's just a matter of looking hard enough to
find one, get it here and put it in.  That would be unique!  :)

  I just got off the phone with a guy I met at the turbo rebuilder's.  He's
trying
to rustle up enough clientele so that he can quit and go out on his own.  He
was talking about $400 to completely rebuild and balance our Garrets and
KKK's, so long as nothing major is cracked or broken.  So if anybody needs
one done...  :)
     Loren