[Vwdiesel] Great cars, using a little oil

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

My 85 Jetta TD engine is using some oil this year, and I am glad to read
that such a condition is not unusual. I was starting to worry a little bit.
I use Rotella 15W-40, and it is cheap enough that I can almost ignore the
cost of little oil consumption. It turned out to be an incredible car. I
bought it back in March of 1988, with 30,000 miles on the clock. Cost me
$6,000. And, I could probably sell it pretty quick today for at least
$1,500.  15 years, $4,500 depreciation, $300 a year depreciation. VERY
good. I probably never did so well on any other car in my entire life. And
I still like driving it. I respect so many things about that car, and the
fine engineering that went into it.

I spent two years looking for one after they came out with the new body
style for 1985. They were rare. Most dealers were allotted one Jetta TD as
a demo. And used ones were almost impossible to find. Many of the dealers
liked them, and gave them to family members when it was time to replace
them as demos. The odo stopped at 125,000, so I have no idea how many miles
are on it now, but probably more than a few hundred thousand. I put on a
new head gasket about 5 years ago, and a clutch 10 years ago, and a few
alternators. Had to get a used tranny about 1994, and the usual run of
brakes and CV joints and shocks and tie rod ends every 4-5 years.

I do have the original slick sales brochure from 1985, showing all the
models and all the specifications...16 pages, counting each side of each
piece of paper. Glad to scan anything from it and send it to anyone as an
attachment....pdf or jpeg.

Enjoy your clattery cars.

Doyt Echelberger
85 Jetta TD
84 Rabbit D
Ohio    USA
 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At 08:51 AM 6/20/2003 -0700, you wrote:
><<<Yes, the motor is tired but I made the
>trip fine and got great economy to boot.>>>>
>
>Yes, with the old motor in my Jetta TD, I got great
>mileage too, about the same as Greg got. And that
>motor was using a quart of oil every 500 miles!
>
>--Nate