[Vwdiesel] Was-It's peak oil, duh.-now- milage comparison

[S. Shourds]

Tony and Lillie wrote:
> So, this brings up a good point, as well as a question for me. Does anyone 
> have real-world milage figures or experiences for an A1 gasser with a 
> 5-speed? I'm curious if I actually get 1/3 better milage than a gas VW from 
> that era. I was thinking of also making a comparison of maintenance, as the 
> diesels seem to require less. However, when they do require it, it's more 
> expensive.
>
> And, that's only for the older ones. From what I see at the shop, the TDI's 
> are higher maintenance and seem to have higher instances of problems than 
> their gas counterparts. But, I haven't actually logged all the data that it 
> would take to ensure this is accurate.
>
> Tony Hoffman
>
>   

I did do the math to determine that just based on fuel alone, at local 
prices, my 48 mpg TDI costs the same to run as a gas car getting 38 
mpg.  Despite all of the fits with my TDI, aside from a bit of a 
difficulty involving suicidal cylinder heads, the problems I've had have 
all been cheap fixes partswise.  What's the killer is tracking them 
down.  If I was paying someone to do it, it'd be cheaper to let the car 
get reposessed.  I'd take a loan out on the car just to make sure it 
happened. 

Of course, on the A4 SI engine cars, there were the ignition coils that 
were no good and whatever was making them all burn oil like a '72 
Scottsdale.

Cost me just under $50 to fill up the TDI tonight.  Last time I spent 
that much was filling up Dad's '77 F150 truck.  And Mark, I know it's 
nothing by comparison to you, but cheap fuel is an American 
Right--that's why we threw the barrels of oil into Boston harbor.  Or 
something like that. 

-Shalyn

'00 TDI 48mpg
'85 TD 38 mpg--too expensive to drive now.