[Vwdiesel] Got a VW diesel!

[Andrew Buc]

If you've been following this list in the last few days, you'll have 
seen my post about the abrupt clutch engagement on an '84 VW Quantum 
turbo diesel wagon I'd test-driven. Well, it's officially been mine for 
~24 hours! Now, the back story:

On Monday I decided to check the ads on TheSamba.com. I pulled up the 
most recent batch of classified ads and used my browser's "find" 
function on the string "diesel." I didn't say "Jetta" because that 
would have produced hits on gas Jettas also, and I didn't say "Jetta 
diesel" because I didn't know that the two words would be side by side 
in the ad like that. And lo and behold, up came this Quantum TD, and it 
was local to me! I'm not sure if I was even aware that there was such 
an animal! Anyway, I was favorably disposed to it because except for 
the diesel and being FWD rather than AWD, it was the same car under the 
skin as my Audi 4000 quattro.

I called the seller Monday evening, and I was the first person to call 
on the car. The seller proved to be a very decent, straightforward guy. 
I test-drove it Tuesday, my mechanic found only a couple minor problems 
with it yesterday, and I bought it yesterday. I drove it to work today. 
As it happens, I live maybe a mile and a half from Dr. Dan's Fuelwerks 
in Seattle, so on the way home I topped it up with B99. I greatly 
enjoyed figuratively putting my finger in Hugo Chavez's eye! :) The 
former owner had been running it on biodiesel for about a year, and it 
has Viton fuel lines and all that good stuff. I'm getting the hang of 
engaging the clutch smoothly!

It's in very nice shape on an absolute basis, never mind for a 22-y.o. 
car. The previous owner renewed the tabs a month ago, and it passed 
smog check with flying colors. A lot of stuff came with it: parts, a 
Bentley manual, a complete set of mounted Bridgestone Blizzak tires 
with a lot of tread. I think I made out pretty well on this. You can 
see photos of the car here: