TDI Opinions

[TwoPlAnKs]

After weighing up some thoughts from my Saab turbo petrol thread, I've decided that's just too expensive to run compared to my current economical car (1.4 petrol polo)

I'm looking at TDIs, either the saab or a vw bora maybe.

What are people's opinions of these now? I hear they are the way to go for a lot of people with incredible fuel efficiency and enough power to keep folk happy.

I'm especially excited about mid range acceleration - the nearest 3 lane motorway is more than 100 miles south of here, and even 2 lane roads are few and far between so overtaking quickly is quite important, and something my current car lacks big time.

The economy is ace too - I do about 10,000 miles a year and going by the official mpgs, I'd actually save about £100 in fuel a year switching to the bora, which is much bigger and faster than the tiny polo. And the diesel is in a lower car tax band. Seems too good to be true to me and makes me wonder if it is.

Are TDIs OK to drive? I'm test driving one next weekend hopefully and want to know what to expect. Any huge fanboys or haters on here?

[Gherkin]

The VW TDI's are really superb engines. I used to work at a VW dealership and loved driving them. The top TDI engine when I left a few years ago now was 150bhp and it went like stink!

Can't really comment on Saab as I have never driven one but from what i hear they are good also but hear a lot more praise for the VW's

[zelnik]

VW TDI all the way for me..

I just picked up an 56 plate 170PS GT Sport Golf to sell (We're trade) and my brother gave me a lift to collect it in a Brabus Smart.

We both drove economically on the 20 mile drive home and I must say I did concentrate very hard to keep the fuel eco great and staggeringly it used roughly the same amount of gasoline as the Smart did, in terms of money wise.

Mostly A-Road driving of course otherwise if it were city driving the smart would win hands down.

If it's a manual they do take a little time to get used to them as you have much more torque but give it a week or two and you'll not want to go back to petrol, unless of course it's a sports car!

[Phreakster]

I used to drive a 2005 2.2Tid Saab 95 automatic and it was amazing, the gear changes were very smooth and it would beat a lot of cars off the mark. The seats are superb for motorway driving and I never once got backache no matter how long I drove in it. Economy was fantastic and you could easily get 40+ mpg with mixed driving.

VW's diesel engines are great but make sure you get a 2 litre TD engine as the 1.9's feel under powered.

[philo]

The saab 1.9tdi is the same as the vectra and astra and puts out 150bhp but they also have a ttdi which puts out a bit more. They are a very good motor.

[TwoPlAnKs]

Thanks for the advice guys, I am leaning towards the VW much like this thread. It's not as good a car as the saab, but the running costs are so much lower and especially the insurance - even the slowest saabs are murder for a 20 year old to insure. And the car itself is cheaper so I'd get a newer one for my cash (budget of about 4 grand plus about 2 grands worth of polo to trade in would mean a saab the same age as my current car)

That's amazing matching the fuel economy of a modern smart car - i was amazed enough that it would beat the polo and they are notorious for out of date inefficient engines compared to the rest of VW's range.

I think i'm going to get the 130bhp 1.9 TDI bora, its something like £15 more to insure than the much slower 100 and 115bhp models, wheras the 150bhp is a heap more, and a good bit rarer and more expensive

I'm definitely test driving a turbo diesel bora this weekend I think.

Thanks again for all the replies

[eblaster101]

i think you can chip some of these TDI to do more BHP have a search because i think they all have the same size engine but different BHP, dont know if bora do them but the golfs have GT TDI which are the nuts you can get up to 180 bhp ones.