TDI or Hybrid

[Jinx]

So it looks like I need to find a commuter car. Would love to be around $5k but willing to go $10-11k for a good deal.

Doesn’t need to be super fancy but with a 70 mile round trip commute daily I would like to get some decent mileage.

My current car is 2016 Hyundai Sonata hybrid that in the last 90k work miles it has needed tires, wipers, and warrentied relay. The average is easily over 40 mpg and just a pretty solid car.

So I am curious what people have had good or bad experience with other hybrids or even VW TDIs. What years are good, what years to avoid, known problems, etc.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Jesser04]

Sounds like you already have the car you’re looking for.

 

[The_Lobbster]

TDI's are sweet, but pricey to maintain, and purchase usually. 1997-2003 AHU, 1Z, and ALH engines are very reliable, and fairly cheap, but those cars are showing their age now. 04-07ish BEW, and BRM TDI's are known for eating camshafts often, especially if you don't use the proper oil. The 09+ common rails are all around very solid cars, but some of them have HPFP issues, which can be a pretty expensive repair if not under warranty still. If you do decide to buy one, try to find one that has had the timing belt replaced fairly recently, within the last 10-20k miles I'd say. Honestly in my mind, if you're getting 40+ MPG with your gas burner, it's not really cost effective to jump to a diesel. Gas is usually cheaper than diesel, so for the fuel costs alone, you'll pretty much break even each tank. Maybe over the course of a few years you might save a little money, but not a ton, and by the time you have to do maintenance, there goes your fuel savings. Just my .02

 

[Bart]

Greg just posted his Jetta in the for sale section that looks like a great car. Not a TDi though.

 

[Unimog]

It's probably sixes unless you love diesels. I have four vehicles and four of them are turbo-diesels! I love the torque of a diesel and how they just hum along on the highway. The maintenance and fillup intervals on the 2000-2003 Jetta are as good as it gets. Oil changes with synthetic at 10k miles. Re-fuel them every 750-800 miles is just so convenient! Timing belts are a little bit of a pain at every 100k miles.

 

[Spork]

I was using my 2003 TDI for about a 70 mile round trip for the last 10 years, the only issues I had were my alternator had to be replaced twice, the pulley has a viscous coupler on the front that goes out and the clutch was replaced at 200k. The timing belt isn't cheap if you're having someone do it and it needs to be done about every 100k. I think it was about $1k to have it replaced at the Volkswagon dealer in Draper. I changed jobs so I'm just driving to the train station everyday and so now I'm lucky to hit 30 miles a day. It's been 4 weeks since I filled up.

Diesel always seems to be more then gasoline, sometimes as much as 80 cents more. Honestly if your Hyundai is getting 40+ it's probably cheaper to run. My Wife has a CT200H Hybrid and gets about 43mpg according to her computer, the tank is only like 10 gallons so she doesn't have the range of my VW. It's a small person car, I feel like they've taken the wrap around cockpit design too far. The traction control sucks in the snow on it also.

one other thought, most the hybrids I've encountered have a CVT transmission, if you wanted a manual the diesel is the way to go.

 

[2002maniac]

The market is pretty well flooded with 2013-2015 TDIs that we're bought back by VW and fixed. They have an extended warranty on any emmisions related equipment. The torque is fantastic and mileage is great.

2015 was a 1 year only model that had some updates and refinements which make them a little bit nicer but I wouldn't turn down a good deal on a 13-14.

 

[TurboMinivan]

<devil's advocate>

If you're looking for a 70-mile commuter which costs very little to drive, why bother paying for gasoline (or diesel) at all? You could easily pick up an electric Fiat 500e for under ten grand, and their drivers commonly report getting 100 miles to the charge. If you have a charging station at/near work (or, quite frankly, even just an available 110v wall outlet), it makes even more sense.

</devil's advocate>

 

[pELYgroso]

I have an '06 TDI Jetta that I need to sell. It's been a great car but we just have too many vehicles and this gets used the least. Has about 160k miles. I'll be in the $4-5k range for it if you're interested.

 

[Jinx]

Sounds like you already have the car you’re looking for.

Changing jobs and turning in the company car...

 

[Jinx]

<devil's advocate>

If you're looking for a 70-mile commuter which costs very little to drive, why bother paying for gasoline (or diesel) at all? You could easily pick up an electric Fiat 500e for under ten grand, and their drivers commonly report getting 100 miles to the charge. If you have a charging station at/near work (or, quite frankly, even just an available 110v wall outlet), it makes even more sense.

</devil's advocate>

Oh, its is on the list, but it hard to by a car that you can only commute in...

 

[Jinx]

I have an '06 TDI Jetta that I need to sell. It's been a great car but we just have too many vehicles and this gets used the least. Has about 160k miles. I'll be in the $4-5k range for it if you're interested.

Hmmm...

Pm your number and I will reach out.

 

[Jesser04]

Could you buy your company car? I know the company my dad works for sales us all his vehicles when he is done at a fair price might be worth asking.

 

[Jinx]

Could you buy your company car? I know the company my dad works for sales us all his vehicles when he is done at a fair price might be worth asking.

I was hoping for that but they said they wanted to keep it.

I have had the car since new and it’s been babied for the miles.

 

[TRD270]

So i'm in the same boat, I had a '02 TDI that I kinda regret selling as it turns out I didn't need to. However that thing was starting to nickel and dime me. Also used to have a company car that I no longer have and i'm driving a little over 80 miles a day right now.

Good news is the car market is saturated right now so you can get pretty good deals. I looked at Mazda's, Hyundai's, VW's, Ford's and Kia's. After many test drives I was pretty sure I was going to buy a Kia Optima, virtually the same as they Hyundai Sonata but I liked the interior a little more. Then I was ruined and test drove a Ford Fusion. Was at the same price point as the Hyundai and Kia. The interior on the fusion is nicer IMO. The materials are still cheap but not as cheap feeling or looking. Its also noticeably quieter inside, and the biggest thing for me was the much more comfortable seats (for me anyway). I'm about 40%city 60% hwy on my commute and my tank average so far has been 34-35mpg. If i'm all city it is closer to 30. For what it is I really like it.

If you watch you can find really good deals on any of these cars because the rentals have flooded the market. I found a non rental 2016 with 40k with a few upgrades for $10,400. No complaints.

Ohh yeah mine has the 2.5 4cyl, I test drove the baby ecoboost and wasn't impressed. Didn't want to deal with the extra complexity in the long run for minimal fuel economy gains.

Also I really wanted a Camry, but I didn't feel it was any nicer than my Fusion and for the equal trim and mileage it was an additional 8k.

 

[Jinx]

Ok speaking of the fusion. Anyone had personal experience with the plug in Energi?

First 30 miles or so are all electric?

The other car getting my attention is the TDI Passat. Just a little bigger, better riding car with mileage that is the still 40+.

So any info on either of these would be great.

 

[Jinx]

Ok, just to follow up.

I narrowed things down to the TDI Passat, the Hyundai Sonata (like my old company car) and the Ford Fusion Energi. From that point it was just getting the right car with decent miles, a color I didn’t hate, and for a price that didn’t make me rethink everything.

I honestly thought the Energi was too new and such to be in the budget and the ones that were in budget had a 100k showing.

Then one popped up in Park City. I called the dealership, found out it was a lease return/trade in, 35k for mileage, clean title/car fax, and close to budget.

I drove up took it for spin and really liked the car. It took a minute to figure out the infotainment system but other than that it went up and over Parleys with some pretty good spunk.

So it was up to the salesman if he wanted to sell a car that night. I pinned him down to discuss only “out the door” pricing and through some basic haggling got it for within $1k of what I wanted to spend. He gave, I gave, both pretty happy.

I have been waiting to post this until I went through the first tank of gas to see how it did. For a quick background. It is a plug in hybrid, so it will run on electric alone then switch to a traditional hybrid with a mix of gas and battery.

I get 18-20 miles per charge, I plug it in overnight and then I plug it in at work (free charging) so in I week I get 180-200 of gas free electric miles in a normal week. It took me 10 days and 730 miles to get to a point where it was worth stopping for gas.

It was getting 42-43mpg in hybrid mode before the electric miles so it worked out to 60+ mpg on the first tank.

I am curious where a commute only tank will figure out to.

 

[Bart]

Congrats on the new whip, it sounds like a nice ride. I wonder how long charging will be free once more people go to electric. Obviously some entity pays.

 

[Jinx]

Congrats on the new whip, it sounds like a nice ride. I wonder how long charging will be free once more people go to electric. Obviously some entity pays.

Yeah, it is a nice perk of the new job, the charging station is run off an app and these ones are free for employees. I should be able to use the same app at different charging stations but it will just charge my card.

I am curious if I will notice the home charging on my electrical bill. I make a point to charge in "non-peak" hours where it is supposed to be cheaper... With the wife running the AC all summer I doubt it will see it at first.

 

[Jinx]

Ok, just for kicks and giggles, I thought I would follow up on this side experiement.

I have been too lazy to tally the whole summer of receipts and miles, but on this last tank it worked out to:

868.6 miles total
426.9 electric miles
76.5 MPG
21:31 hours of driving
11.35 gallons at $2.92 = $33.15