Okay ive been going throught this in my head for a hour now. I am panicking beacause of gas prices. I get my gas free because of my job but my gf has to fill up 3 times a week on average. After calculating it out my jetta payment (what she drives) is 450 a month plus 600 a month for gas. 1050 a month for her to go to work, and that dosent count insurance which is only 120 a month. But now there is a grand total of 1170 a month for her to operate a freakin jetta.[:@]

now im thinking about buying a diesel jetta. i think the formula for that would work like this 174 a month on gas, 120 a month on insurance with a total of 294 a month in operation cost (not to mention higher reliability and lower maintence from 18t to tdi). so subtract (call it 300) 300 from 1170 and i have 870 left which i still have to deduct a payment from. Not to mention i will prolly be upside down on the trade in. So ill have to put a few thousand down on it (there goes the corrado). but i think ill still save a few hundred a month on cost. If i put 2000 down it would be about 5 months before i actually start saving money.
[&:]

I have a headache now let me know if i figured any of this correctly.

 

yuo probably did, plus or minus here and there. the most important thought is- gas prices are gonna keep goin' up, so might be saving a hell of a lot more than that, if u consider prices to be over $4 a gallon, which I'[m sure we are going to see soon.

 

Yeah, owning a car is freakin' expensive when you add it all up.

Buy a Vespa. Amazing fun, cool style, great heritage and 70mpg.

 

I doubt if a jetta TDI is gonna cost 1/5th the gas of a 1.8T... from 600 down to 120 was it?

Also, the TDI's arent as reliable as one thinks (certainly not WAY better than a 1.8T)... they are bloody $$ to maintain, too.

But yes... I looked into getting a TDI myself. Was gonna trade in... audi for a golf... and the dealer wanted money from me. Same year car, 2000 a4 for a 2000 golf/jetta tdi... and I'd have had to pay thousands. SWEET. Maybe in crackville...

 

dude your nuts, the tdi's are the most reliable engine vag ever made they will even tell you that. A good frienf has a caddy pickup diesel from 1982 that still runs strong. Those engines are unstopable. VW knows it and thats why they wont give any breaks or incentive on them. Oil change every 10k if you really want to, and glow plugs every 100k maybe. There is no way to make money off of them after the sale. I spoke to people that get 700 miles a tank. The 1.8t is the most unreliable engine vag had during its running time, just like any forced induction engine.

But anyway i went to the dealership yesterday and was looking hard at a 2006 tdi jetta witha package one option. It was graphite blue with gray interior. After all the dealing it would save me 80 dollars a month after spending 5000 down. Its not worth it right now.

 

I drive 40-50k km a year. I recently got a A4 1,9 Tdi.

The upside.

price is lower for disel than for gas (0,5$)
The Tdi use about 60% of a petrol car with same power (130 hp).
Incredible range, i only fill up once a week now (used to be 2-3)
Torque is WAY up there (310 Nm, I LOVE it) "Torque wins races, hp sells cars." -Enzo Ferrari
Insurance is cheaper (less cars stolen, less accidents)
Service cost is lower (average service cost over 100k km).
I expected much longer heat up time for the engine (It can get COLD here), but was surprised to find it similar to my previous petrol cars.


The downside:
Higher purchase cost (about 3000$ here)
Engine noise. The A4 has good sound proofing, i just like the sound of petrol cars better.
The smell. Again this is subjective.
Repairs tend to be expensive, if they do occur.


I figured i save the extra cost in less than a year, i get a long-range car with high torque, for minor tradeoffs.

Just stay away from the autoboxes. They seem to fail much more than the engines.

 

very well said i agree 100 percent. The 06 jetta has better sound proofing than the 05 so i wasnt too concerned with that. My gf currently drives the 1.8t and is spoiled by the power but after she test drove the tdi she was very happy with the compromise. I never bothered driving it as it was pointless to me ill never touch it. She liked it but its gonna have to wait.