I'm looking at buying Jetta TDI and have some questions and concerns.
I'm 95 miles from the nearest dealer. Just how much routine and preventive maintenance should I expect to have done by the dealer?
I'm hoping to use it for 150-200 Thousand miles. What are the big cost items I should plan for? What about the turbo?
Is it realistic to expect the above life cycle?
Are there any special things I should look out for?
Maintenance is once every 10000 miles... Most of the time it's just oil changes or filters, they're pretty good for maintenance. You could find an indy shop close by and only need to goto the dealers every other time (that's what I do).
No know issues with the turbo's
Use diesel conditioner when you fill up, just in case the diesel is bad - it's a 50-80 dollar a year cost, an injector pump is 3000
Not all that much to look out for anymore, they are near the end of their product cycle, meaning all the bugs are basically worked out.
I would excpect 200+ K Miles from it. I'm almost a 1/3 of the way there and no problems (aside from MAF sensor and window regulators, these were earlier production problems, that have been rectified).
Big cost item for me is the Timing belt - every 60K Km's on the automatics... It's a longer stretch if you have a standard tranny.... It's mostly oil/filters... Factory brakes last 60K Kms rear, and 90K Kms front on average... The H rated tires on these cars will not last quite as long as say an S rated tire, but the H rated tires provide much better grip and stability... I was told to expect 70-90+ K Kms easily out of the new Nokian WR 91H rated 4-season tires I just bought.
I just spent around 1400+ dollars this past month on the car, so it's a little hard to say its cheap to maintain but at around the 100K Kms mark a lot of things need doing.
All the fluids, oil, coolant, brake $300 Transmission flushed/computer reset $250 Front Brakes (cross drilled Zimmerman's now :-) ) $300 New tires - Nokian WR's $600
The Diesel's are good cars, I would recommend the Jetta Wagon
I have a 99.5 Golf, and a friend of mine has a 2003 Golf and a 2003 Jetta Wagon - we are extremely happy with all three of our TDI's.
MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.