How expensive are TDIs to maintain?

October 5, 2010 5:57 AM

How do maintenance costs of TDI cars compare to gas engines? Or hybrids? Shopping for cars and while fuel efficiency is a factor, I need to know the long-term costs as well. What are you experiences with TDIs?
posted by smelvis to Travel & Transportation (6 answers total)

Best answer: Dasein basically said everything I would. I have a 2000 Jetta TDI with 280K km. The engines last forever (and my car is indeed in the process of falling apart around the engine, my father's lasted to 475K km until it was written off in an accident). Maintenance on the engine is not bad: the oil change interval is very long, though the synthetic oil costs $30-$40, other maintenance is minimal (fuel and air filters are easy), the timing belt needs to be done after a while (not sure on the latest generation, mine has a 128K km interval), glow plugs need to be changed occasionally. Repairs on the engine are infrequent, but can be expensive: turbos can have troubles, certain sensors tend to fail. Repairs on the rest of the car are more frequent and more expensive than Toyotas or Hondas. There tend to be electrical gremlins (weird alarm troubles, flaky windows, stereo problems, I have a list to deal with right now) and parts are more expensive (brakes, suspension, etc). An extra $1K or whatever a year in repairs makes a big difference to total cost of ownership.

They are great if you do a lot of highway driving. They pull smoothly up steep hills at 110km/h in 5th gear where gas cars are downshifting to 3rd and they do it on very little fuel. I would not buy one if you drive a lot in stop and go traffic. I personally wouldn't buy one again, but then I don't drive that much. A VW TDI is way more fun to drive than a Honda Civic or anything like that (not only because the TDI engine has so much torque, but also because it is just a nicer car in general).

Sorry, I have no basis for comparison against a hybrid.
posted by ssg at 6:41 AM on October 5, 2010 [2 favorites]

Whatever car you decide to go with, maintenance cost is inevitable. I have a TDI (and I like it) but I also set up a maintenance savings account when I purchased the car. By maintenance savings account I don't mean weird extended warranty or dealer offered service plan -- I mean a physical, money in the bank savings account earmarked for future maintenance. I set up automatic contributions and fund the car maintenance account each paycheck. The amount per paycheck is minimal but in the several years I've owned the car, the fund has grown such that when maintenance costs do come up, I've pre-planned for them.

Repair cost, I think, can be reasonably managed by expecting repairs to come up and budgeting for them in advance.

I've been really happy with my TDI. It's got power, starts up in the frigidity of winter, and loves zipping along on the highway at 50MPG.
posted by countrymod at 7:28 AM on October 5, 2010

I have had a Golf TDI for 8 years. I've been very happy with it. I had no issues beyond regular maintenance for the first 8 years, but over the past year, I had to have my EGR valve cleaned out due to loss of power. I also had some electrical issues with my A/C. The electrical stuff can get expensive. Furthermore, I replaced both back and front brakes over the past year, but this was an expected repair.

I've used my car in heavy snow and blistering heat, and it's performed very well in both (one of the nice things about a diesel is that it's very hard to get the engine hot!). You do have to watch for fuel gelling in the winter. Oil changes are on the expensive side ($100+), but you don't need to do them very often.

In my experience, TDIs are zippy and reliable and fun to drive! I highly recommend them.
posted by analog at 7:40 AM on October 5, 2010

Response by poster: Thanks all!
posted by smelvis at 8:28 AM on October 5, 2010

Go to tdiclub.com for a lot of info on cost and maintenance of owning a TDI. Also be aware that VW of America has been, uh, 'unresponsive' with regard to a major problem affecting 2009/2010 Jetta TDIs: look up 'high pressure fuel pump failure' for those cars.
posted by TDIpod at 8:52 AM on October 5, 2010

I thought of a good comparison for the cost of ownership for a TDI: in my experience, maintenance and repairs for a TDI will cost you about the same as an American car. The TDI will last a lot longer, but you'll spend about as much per year as you'll spent keeping an American car going. I budget $200 (Canadian dollars) per month for maintenance, repairs, tires, etc. on my 10 year old Jetta.
posted by ssg at 8:21 PM on October 5, 2010 [1 favorite]