- Location
- Grand Junction, CO
Thought I'd start a thread to detail my ownership of this car.... little back ground first. This is my first non-diesel Volkswagen, I have owned VW diesel powered cars for over 10 years and have put over 200k miles on 3 different VW's. I have found them reliable, comfortable, efficient and low maintenance. I bought my first TDI when I was traveling for work, my job paid mileage but any money that you save of fuel goes in your pocket for maintenance, etc. I was driving as much as 2,600 miles in a weeks time so saving a little money on fuel was a pretty big deal. These days I work locally, but there's always a chance I could go back on the road. I still wanted something reliable and efficient, so I picked up another Jetta... a '14 with the 1.8T engine, manual 5 speed transmission and leather interior. The car is lightly used, it was a lease return and had 30k miles on it.
Since VW offered to buy back my TDI for $11k due to the TDI Emissions Scandal, I was able to pay for the '14 Jetta outright! :greg:
Just a few thoughts driving this thing... it's a SE model, so it does have a few creature comforts like leather seats, heated seats, power everything, etc. But other than that, it's a pretty boring car to drive, very plain Jane IMO. The 1.8T makes its power totally different than my '09 TDI, which was setup with a Stage 2 Malone tune. The diesel made all it's power down low, you could short shift the car all over and it was easy to exceed the speed limit. The 1.8T lacks bottom end power, it drives just fine but the gas turbo doesn't seem to hit full boost until almost 4k RPM and from there it pulls HARD to the 6k redline. The manual transmission is tight, but the throw on the shifter is huge. The suspension is comfortable, not too loose and not too tight. I love how the rear suspension is now independent, versus a solid beam of the previous cars. The windows aren't tinted and it's been awhile since I've driven a car w/o tint.... I hate it!
So far I have 400 miles on this tank of fuel and was averaging 36 to 38 MPG with mostly highway & freeway driving...
Since VW offered to buy back my TDI for $11k due to the TDI Emissions Scandal, I was able to pay for the '14 Jetta outright! :greg:
Just a few thoughts driving this thing... it's a SE model, so it does have a few creature comforts like leather seats, heated seats, power everything, etc. But other than that, it's a pretty boring car to drive, very plain Jane IMO. The 1.8T makes its power totally different than my '09 TDI, which was setup with a Stage 2 Malone tune. The diesel made all it's power down low, you could short shift the car all over and it was easy to exceed the speed limit. The 1.8T lacks bottom end power, it drives just fine but the gas turbo doesn't seem to hit full boost until almost 4k RPM and from there it pulls HARD to the 6k redline. The manual transmission is tight, but the throw on the shifter is huge. The suspension is comfortable, not too loose and not too tight. I love how the rear suspension is now independent, versus a solid beam of the previous cars. The windows aren't tinted and it's been awhile since I've driven a car w/o tint.... I hate it!
So far I have 400 miles on this tank of fuel and was averaging 36 to 38 MPG with mostly highway & freeway driving...
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