[Vwdiesel] tdi suggestions

[Travis Gottschalk]

All the tdi's have there strong and week points. The Passat that was made around 2005 year (that gen tdi) only came with an automatic and had balance shaft issues in the engine-if fixed you were good to go with that car. Also it was a PD engine and a 2.0 L. The new common rail engines aren't bad. Lots more HP but some emisions crap to work with. You can delete them if they fail but if they don't fail just keep them. The cost of deleting them is the cost of the new particle traps. But you gain a lot of HP and MPG if you do delete. The new passats are being made in the USA with uria instead of particle trap so they get better MPG from what I am hearing. Only make them in sedans though. Golf and Jetta have the particle traps. 99-03 was an ALH engine on the Bettle, jetta and golf. 90 HP motor. Reliable. Hard to find in low miles at this point unless you get and auto tranny with it which that auto is junk. The autos after 03 aren't bad. They get almost the same MPG and are pretty strong. The 04 engine was a BEW PD. 100 HP. Tranny in the manual was geared to lower the RPM a little in 5th due to the 10% more HP. Some cam issues but not all have that problem. I find reliable (same year I own of the Golf). The jetta wagon, bettle and golf stayed with the BEW till they stopped making diesels for a bit. The jetta sedan when it moved to a newer plat form -5th gen - got a BRM PD engine. That had a few more cam issues and not as many parts out there for it. Father owned one of these as well-not bad. Father owns the 09 sportwagon now-not bad. They all tow great. The sedans are hard to load thinks in the truck area compared to the hatchback of the wagon/golf. Golf is shorter then the wagon. Golf has better lights (the low beam stay on when the highs are turned on-jetta-lows go off). Don't know much about the bettles other then the back seat sucks to ride in (been there) and working on the engine is cramped. 
 
Basically-find a tdi and then read about the problems as they aren't the easiest to come by for a price you want to pay. 
Travis G