Jetta TDI automatic vs manual

In part it is personal choice. I would also suggest that you are likely to get better mileage with a manual transmission even if it does not show up on the EPA numbers.

If you are looking at a 2006 Jetta, then the "automatic" may be DSG (direct shift gearbox) which is really an manual transmission that shifts itself. There probably won't be much fuel economy difference.

Hi Sheila

I have a manual 2.0 TDI Golf and wish I had waited for the DSG. When driving a lot in the city, the lack of low down torque (below 1500 rpm) forces you to use the gearbox a lot. Where my Scooby Forester takes city corners in 3rd gear, the Golf needs 2nd gear to be able to accelerate after the corner. If however you mostly drive on highways, by all means get a manual. While inside the torque (above 2000 rpm), there is very seldom a need to change down.

Did I read that right? TDI and lack of low down torque in the same sentence?

Diesel'ers! please put me straight on this one!

Nope that's right. Off the line...nothing.. than BAM! My 05 Passat is a slug until about 1900 rpm, then it pins you to the seat. Suprises everyone that drives it.

Cecil

Must be the turbo spooling up? Which begs the question: Why didn't they use a supercharger on the diesel? (and I don't mean one with the reliability of a G60/G40 g-lader...)

Turbo is more efficient, which is the whole point of the Diesel in the first place.

However, if it's *lag...* maybe a BOV kit might help? Not accelerating from a dead stop, but between gears...

nate

There is no noticable lag between gears on my 05 TDI Passat. The auto shifts quick enough that you don't feel the turbo spool down. Just from a dead stop.

As I've said before, I like that feeling. My first VW TD (84 Jetta) felt just like that off the line, and it was a good feeling. The 2.0 TDI in the Passat is the first to really capture that feeling again.

Turbo diesel engines have lots of torque BUT in a very narrow rev band. On the highway between 2000 and 3500 rpm it pulls very strongly, but under 1500 it is poor. Ideal for highway cruising, but in town at 90 degree corners you need 2nd gear in order to accelerate away. The petrol turbo as in a Golf GTI has torque over a much wider rev range.

I think this is the wrong interpretation of the facts. I *BET* the gear ratios in that GTI are a whole lot different than the gear ratios in the TDI, and that 2nd gear in the TDI is probably close to 3rd in the GTI. VW diesels tend to have wide gear ratios to maximize economy.

While I agree with the statement that diesels deliver torque over a narrower range, it is at high RPMs that torque tails off, not at the bottom.

Hi Al

Remember where this thread started? Someone asked advice regarding auto versus manual gearbox. I just gave my honest opinion having driven a manual TDI (first a Jetta and now a Golf) for 183 000km. Have you driven a TDI around city block corners? If revs are too low the turbo just does not work! The moment it kicks in however, you must hold on to the steering wheel, especially with the 140bhp 2.0 16V Golf. I agree gearing plays a roll, but it does not alter the fact that you have to change gears a lot more if you have a limited revs range. That it one of the reasons the 2.0 Golf has 6 gears. I feel a DSG gearbox will be ideal in such a car if you drive a lot in the city.

I've driven VW diesels since 1978, so I think the answer is yes. All but the current Passat TDI were standards. The first (78 Rabbit) was

Yes, I agree.

My point was that it is the gearing in the TDI that does that as much as it is the engine. The reason you can't go around a corner in 3rd in a TDI is because the gear ratio pushes the RPMs down to "lugging" speed. I bet the person who said they could make corners 3rd in their Mazda 3 (I think it was) can't cruise at 100KPH (62 MPH) at 2100RPM like the TDI can. I think we agree.