What are your thoughts on buying a used VW or Audi with the TDI engine? Are they just about as crappy as regular old VWs and Audis with gas engines?
I wouldn't buy either. Ever.
Avoid those vehicles at all costs - esp. if you plan to keep long term. If you want one, just lease it while it’s under warranty. Remember, the rest of the vehicle is also over engineered German tech. You can’t just focus on the powertrain - it’s the whole package.
In America the federally mandated emission *stuff* under the hood make them just as much in fact more unreliable than the regular gasoline ones. Watch Car Wizard's VW To Buy Not to Buy video and he talks about the newer TDIs. Day Walker is also correct, some VW/Audi products are known (or used to be known) to have bulletproof excellent engines (in Europe mostly) but all the add ons make it unreliable.
Don't I have a 2012 Golf TDI. Love driving the car but will never buy another. A few reasons:
- Struts went bad at around 50k (maybe this is normal but seems too soon)
- intercooler iced up, had to buy grille covers to keep it from happening again. Also whenever I change the oil I now drain the intercooler to get the moisture out.
- oil filter flange gasket went out recently, dumped a bunch of oil in a short amount of time
- Had to by an expensive gadget just so I could safely change the fuel filter
- even though it has an extended warranty due to Dieselgate, it appears worthless
- feel like I'm walking on eggshells with the car
Maybe I expect too much from a car. Anyway, I'll drive it until it falls apart and buy a toyota.
There you can still see old 1.9 TDI cars with over 300 k km on odo.
never mind the engine. VW's are just built like crap.
