Harry Wilke said:
I am shopping for a new wagon.
I currently have a 1990 legacy and a 1986 GL. Both still great cars, owned
since new.
I have driven the Legacy GT (5spd) and don't really "get" a sense of
significant improvement from my current Legacy (other than it's newer). Big
power doesn't thrill me so forget the H6. The other car I still want to test
drive is the '04 VW Jetta TDI. The big attraction is the phenomenal fuel
mileage (65miles/gal).
Any thoughts.
personaly i'd vote for the jetta on quality. i have a legacy, i'm not
terribly happy with it. my brother has a gti (same platform as the
jetta) and loves it. he has the 1.8T so i can't tell you about real
world experiences with the TDI. i've driven the TDI and found it has
sufficient power and think it's a pretty good engine. plus the vw
clutch and transmission are lightyears ahead of subaru in performance
and quality.
my main question is are you leaning toward the great fuel milage for
environmental reasons or cost reasons? my next car will probably be a
TDI (or big ford/dodge diesel) because diesels are much cleaner and
more efficient and better for the environment (hope i didn't just
hijack the thread for a big gas vs diesel discussion). and if you're
concerned about the environment that's great. but i need to point out
that the 65mpg isn't going to save you a whole lot of money.
actually, i've never seen 65mpg unless you're talking brittish
gallons, i usually see 55 quoted for the TDI. but let's split the
difference and say you'll get 60mpg on the TDI. on my legacy, on a
good day of nothing but highway driving, i'll get about 25mpg. let's
say 20mpg just so that i over estimate everything. that's 40mpg more
for the TDI.
in my area gas and diesel are the same ($1.40, but let's say $2)
let's say you drive 10,000 miles a year
10,000miles/20mpg=500 gallons=$1000
10,000miles/60mpg=167 gallons=$333
that's a savings on $667 over 12 months that's only $55 a month (an
over estimate!)
now, that's with all else being equal. the problem with the TDI
engine is that every 40K miles you need to tear apart the engine and
replace the timing belt (or else you WILL destory the engine). that's
a rather costly ordeal, i think in the $800 neighborhood (but you
should check on that price for yourself).
another thing to consider: if you spend a good deal of time in
traffic, it's not good to idle a diesel for a long time. i'd rather
not get into the detail here cause it's a bit off topic (google for
wetstacking), but you'have to make sure that you manually hold the
idle high (1500ish rpm) if you idle for longer than 30-60sec. plus
diesels are so efficient, that when idling there is very little extra
heat dissipated into the engine so in the winter the heater doesn't
work very good when stopped in traffic.
mike
