Ken - I agree with Marc, but it's going to be really difficult for your
friend to find a new Golf or Jetta TDI out there right now.  01' TDIs are,
because of the recent fuel price hikes, scarce and dealers are charging
well-above list price for the ones they have.  I actually found one in
Cleveland last week, agreed-upon a price with the salesman only to be told
by the sales manager that "because of the national shortage we can only
accept list price plus an additional $750."  Needless to say, I told him
what he could do with his 'shortage'.

Although, I agree with Marc that Jettas (and Golf's and new Bugs) have
fahrfahrgnugen - I'd recommend that your friend also consider a plain old DX
2.0 liter Camry with a 5 speed manual transmission if you can find one.
They'll get 35-40 mpg on the highway on regular unleaded gasoline and the
engines are nearly bullet-proof.  I've had two with 200+ thousand miles on
them.  The most recent, an 89', turned 282,000 miles and, other than regular
oil changes with Castrol, required only 4 sets of new tires, 3 mufflers, and
one starter.  That's it - I never even changed the timing belt (as I
understand, it's a non-interference engine - if the timing belt breaks,  it
just stops and doesn't trash your valves like a Honda).  While the Camrys
don't have personalities nor are they as fun to drive as a Golf or a Westy -
they sure are reliable.

Tell your friend good luck and if you happen to find where VW of America is
hiding all the 01 TDIs - let me know.

Todd

85 Westy 'Rivendel'
Columbus, OH

----- Original Message -----
From: Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 8:31 PM
Subject: Re: Comparison Shopping for Cars (Volkswagen content)

> Ken,
>
> Take a closer look at the warranties.  VW's standard 2 year/24K warranty
> would probably be insufficient for such a high-mileage driver.  VW's
> also tend to be somewhat temperamental and parts are expensive.  My last
> Honda Civic, with 3 year/36K warranty, I drove to 96k with NO problems
> whatsoever, save for those resulting from an accident I was in.  For
> dependability, it's hard to beat a Honda.  On the other hand, Jettas are
> so much more fun to drive, are eminently tweakable, and a friend of mine
> has 400K on his TDI with few problems.
>
> Just a few thoughts,
> Marc Perdue
> '87 Westfalia
> '00 Passat Variant, 1.8T
>
> KENWILFY@AOL.COM wrote:
>
> > My friend is a long distance daily driver (commutes three hours or
> > more every
> > day each way to work and back!).  I have grown weary of fixing his 15
> > year
> > old Hondas every weekend so I am trying to talk him into buying a new
> > car
> > with a warranty plan, etc.
> > So last night I spent a few hours at www.autobytel.com.  I went there
> > thinking that there was no way that my friend could afford a VW since
> > they
> > were higher priced than the other cars in their class and for no good
> > reason.
> >  So I checked out Hyundai, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and just for the
> > heck of
> > it, Jetta and Golf as well.  What I found was very surprising to me.
> > The
> > Hyundai, which is the cheapest cars to buy, actually worked out to be
> > almost
> > identical to the Jetta and Golf (the Elantra was more expensive) to
> > buy and
> > own for five years!  The Toyota Corrola (the most boring car ever
> > concieved
> > by mankind) was similarly expensive and on par with the Jetta or Golf
> > when
> > you added little things like Air Conditioning, and Power Steering
> > (Hello
> > automakers, these are no longer options!).
> >
> > The only two cars I found that seemed cheaper and a good value to buy
> > over
> > the Jetta or Golf were the Nissan Sentra and the Honda Civic.  Both
> > were
> > rated very high, they got good fuel mileage and came with a lot of
> > standard
> > equipment.  However the make or break it might be in the warranty.  I
> > know
> > VWs 100k mile drive train warranty is good, but I don't know what kind
> > of
> > warranty Honda or Nissan offer.  The Jetta and Golf I looked at were
> > the TDI
> > model and got 49 mpg highway burning the now cheaper diesel fuel, so
> > factoring this in the Jetta and Golf may still come out cheaper in the
> > long
> > haul than the other two.
> >
> > Conclusion, even though I went into this research with the bias
> > opinion
> > against the VWs, I was so impressed by the price and option comparison
> > that
> > now I am leaning heavily in that direction for my friend.  Any input
> > from TDI
> > Jetta or Golf owners is welcome.
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Ken Wilford
> > John 3:16
> > www.vanagain.com
> > Phone: (856)-765-1583
> > Fax: (856)-327-2242
>