Yup. I was very lucky in the 8 years I drove my Westy with the 2.1L, as most of the parts had
already been replaced by the PO! :-)
However, a friend bought a low mileage '90 gas Jetta last year, paid 50% more than I paid for
my '85 diesel Jetta (albeit mine has 2x the mileage, but with a mint body). In the first 3
months, she had spent more on parts for her gas Jetta than I've spent in 4 years and 70k
kms on mine. Mine has 330k kms, runs great, and gets a steady 52mpg imperial. If she
hadn't sold her Jetta, at ~35mpg, she'd have used about 400 gallons more fuel over the
same period/mileage, and probably spent even more on parts, tuneups, etc.

On 12 Feb 2008 at 13:20, Mark Drillock <drillock@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:

> Sure, but have you ever priced a new ECU, or AFM, or idle valve, or ICU,
> or OX sensor, or fuel pump, or..........
>
> Lots of expensive parts we read about failing here every week on a
> gasoline Vanagon. Not so many on a diesel.
>
> Mark
>
>
> Scott Daniel - Shazam wrote:
> > Yes and when your injection pump needs rebuilding I will cost the equivalent
> > of 250 gallons of fuel to get the whole job done, something a gasoline car
> > doesn't' even have at all.  Nor does a gasoline car have a comparable
> > expensive fuel system part that is a predictable major expense like a fuel
> > injection pump rebuild.
> >
> > Fuel cost is only one part of the equation.
> > Diesels cost more to get in the first place, and are often more expensive to
> > repair. 'really fantastic fuel mileage' is just the short term immediate
> > benefit, and not the whole story at all. I will grant you though, that
> > counting all expenses from new purchase to say 200,000 miles the diesel will
> > probably come out ahead on cost per mile compared to the gas car, but not by
> > any astronomical amount like 60 % less over all or anything like that.   Maybe
> > 25 % less over all long term, as a wild guess.
> >
> > Tell me about this 'diesel fuel is less than gas in the summer'
> > .............
> > I've noticed the fluctuation ( diesel in southern Oregon is more than
> > premium gas right now, as it often is ) ........but not that is was less in
> > the summer than gas. When did you first notice that, And why is that ? scott
> >
> >
> > -

Shawn Wright
http://members.shaw.ca/vwdiesels
'88 Westy 1.6TD 5 speed
'85 Jetta Diesel 1.6NA