Thoughts on an older TDI Jetta?

I'm looking at an '03 GL wagon with about 200K on the clock. Yes, it has the 5 spd.

Recent maintenance, clean CarFax, $6500.

Any thoughts on what to watch out for, known issues, value, etc?

'03 was still the 'ALH' motor which is preferable over the '04+ cars.

Main thing is making sure timing belt/water pump are done, and decent maintenance intervals followed. Otherwise it should be ready to diesel on. Potential pricey failures on the horizon might be turbo failure, injection pump failure, or clutch/trans issues if abused.

I have 200K on my ALH Golf TDI 5-speed. stock trans/motor/turbo. I run Rotella T synthetic by the gallon on 10-15K oil change intervals and see no reason I won't drive mine till 300K. 45mpg+ lifetime average, though I do a lot of highway commuting.

Not cheap, but not out of line for pricing either if it's been maintained and is in clean shape. The '03 manual trans wagon is a bit of a unicorn in the TDI community. The biggest gripes are the general mk4 VW gremlins... door lock switches act up, soft touch plastic scratch and look shoddy, window regulator failure, etc. but the core drivetrains of the ALH diesel should serve you well.

...and if you haven't already, spend some time lurking and reading FAQ's at www.tdiclub.com

Thread jack

How do the automatics hold up? I can't convince my wife to drive a manual, but a Jetta or Passat wagon sure is tempting with a diesel.

In reply to xflowgolf:

+1 to everything he said. My car is a '03 TDi wagon. 276K miles with by-the-book service since new by me, myself and I. $6500 is a good price. If soembody offered that for my car I'd literally laugh at them (although mine is a GLS w/ leather). I'd need to see at least $10K to even consider selling mine.

Maintenance is everything with a TDi. Proper VW-rated oil. VW coolant w/ distilled water ONLY. Regular fuel filter changes (20K).

Online support is about as good as it gets, parts vendors are good, and they aren't terrible cars to work on.

My car has been the most reliable car I've owned. Most of the repairs I've done are common (MAF sensor and front wheel bearings) and those were done well over 100K miles ago. So far, the only repeat repair is the coolant temp sensor.

I don't know much about the automatics. Search or ask on tdiclub.com

deal!
I like tdi wagons

I love my '03 TDI golf. Warning: it will forever skew your idea of "fuel efficient". I haven't gotten less than 700 miles to a tank in mine (I drive on the hwy), and average high 40 mpg's.

I'd have a diesel shop check the engine before buying, a guy on the mercedes forum just bought a w126 diesel with a bent rod and they are very expensive to rebuild. A few hundred up front can save thousands on the back end. I don't know anything about VW diesels other than hearing a few that sound like something is amiss in the engine. Good luck!

njansenv wrote: I love my '03 TDI golf. Warning: it will forever skew your idea of "fuel efficient". I haven't gotten less than 700 miles to a tank in mine (I drive on the hwy), and average high 40 mpg's.

QFT.

I complain when I have to drive our '07 MINI Cooper since it "only" gets about 35 mpg.

At risk of being jumped, those cars are not known for their reliability, particularly electrics. And that is a ton of money for a VW with 200K, diesel or not.

In reply to Otto Maddox:

Few will really argue with that. About all I can say is my car has been stone reliable. Even the electrics, for the most part. Some seem to be better than others, for whatever reason, and the wagons in general seem be less troublesome than most.

I think wagon adds a bit of value but i have seen high miles tdi/5spd jettas of that generation dipping into the 3-4k range for the not-so-nice ones (as far as can be told from CL ads).

a tdi motor (not necessarily in its original car) of that generation is on my to-do list.

pops has a 99.5 tdi with the alh. Apparently the hot spot is 99.5-03. He has around 290k with a freshly rebuilt head thanks to that pesky timing belt snapping.

Overall the car saves him bundles on a long commute. Averages upper 40s to mid 50s, mostly highway driving.

Were getting pretty good at the t belts and the fuel filter replacements.

Highly recommended if you need a solid commuter. I find it a tad boring to tool around in.

I picked up a '00 Jetta TDI last year and it's been quite reliable. I replaced the T-belt and wp when I got it. Only problem was with the fuel filter. I guess the O-rings were going out and it was loosing prime, but after I replaced it I haven't had any problems. Yes, the interior is crap. Don't care much for the looks. It had 240k on it and now I have 278k. Averages 44-49mpg. Got it for $2500. $6.5k seems kinda steep to me.

Brotus7 wrote: Got it for $2500. $6.5k seems kinda steep to me.

Wagons are much more rare and often command a serious premium over the more common sedans. If your interior is crap, then it was poorly cared for. With a bit of light cleaning, the interior in my car still looks far more expensive than the $21K I paid for it (new).

Just sold a 98 with 320K miles. Best mileage it ever got was 40. Held up pretty well but no power. My 240 volvo with auto was faster.

Having driven an alh/5spd jetta and my own 2.1/5spd 78 242... the TDI was a LOT faster. lol

Although, i have never lost a race to a tdi. I raced a modded one with a stock (acceleration-wise) dodge dynasty and beat the snot out of it repeatedly until he chunked a 20oz soda bottle out the window at me. I think what he needed was less attitude, more mods, and to give up after it didnt work the 2nd or 3rd time.

Don't know the pricing, but I know that we still love our '03, which sadly has an automatic. I am hoping that it soon becomes mine (looking at a new car for SWMBO), and then I will be looking for a manual to swap in. Few problems, major issue was the seat heaters, which essentially died after the recall to "fix" them.