Ranger50's 2014 VW Jetta TDI review/update thread

So, on July 28, I pulled the trigger on a new car, a 2014 VW TDI Jetta 6spd manual Value Edition OTD priced, with a $400 trade-in, at $21k.

As of yesterday, the odometer shows 3078 miles. In that time, this thing is exactly want I wanted, plus 40 mpg, AC, "free" SiriusXM, and fairly comfy for my 180 mile round trip commute. That's 3 trips back and forth to work from home before having to refuel! It used to be 9 gals/day with a 15 gal tank.

As far as negatives, there are lots and none of them are electrical, yet. The rubber steering wheel sucks, too textured to be comfortable and oddly shaped. The shifter has a buzz/gear noise feel in 4th with your hand on the handle, not really present in any other gear. The clutch pedal "knocks" unless its completely to the floor. It's way too easy to speed with this thing too. 80mph is effortless in 6th. It's too damn quiet! It's way too floaty around corners. The stock Hankook tires suck. I have no way to defeat the ESC and traction control, yet.

More to follow as I put miles on it.....

One pic to entertain:

Cruise/tilt is NA on the Value Edition, correct?

Nope. I have cruise and tilt/telescopic wheel.

I like Jetta TDI's so this interests me. Do you think the floaty feeling is just because of the crappy tires or a combination of bad tires+ slightly too soft suspension?

Mr_Clutch42 wrote: I like Jetta TDI's so this interests me. Do you think the floaty feeling is just because of the crappy tires or a combination of bad tires+ slightly too soft suspension?

Both, tires and suspension. I can easily burn off the inside tire on slow corners plus the body roll.... Not quite door handle against the road, but about halfway.

Oh one more thing to add, TORQUE STEER!!!! OMG! I thought this wasn't possible anymore. Go shift and release the clutch "abruptly", and it goes right.

So, would you buy it again?

I was thinking about picking up a 2015 Golf TDI.

Buy, borrow, or steal VAG cable. When I picked up my '11 Golf TDi, the brakes were spongy. Turns out there is a feature you can adjust that gives you a sportier brake pedal. Now it feels like it has brakes instead of pushing, pushing, then some brake, push more, then brakes. I'm not sure if that feature is present on your car or not. I was also able to change some convenience features like the lane change blink, emergency flashers on hard braking, etc. There are several forums out there that go over the features you can mess with. However, I cannot find out how to defeat ESC on my car.

Slippery wrote: So, would you buy it again? I was thinking about picking up a 2015 Golf TDI.

Yes would buy again.

I wouldn't buy a '15 tho... Looks like '14 is the last of any diesels that do not require DEF.

In reply to CGLockRacer:

I found a few write ups on wiring in an ESC defeat switch through tdiforums searching.....

Brakes are fairly decent. Like can stand on them and they don't lockup. Sure it could use a better pad choice but I think exhaust and sway bars before pads.

Ranger50 wrote:

Slippery wrote: So, would you buy it again? I was thinking about picking up a 2015 Golf TDI.

Yes would buy again. I wouldn't buy a '15 tho... Looks like '14 is the last of any diesels that do not require DEF.

DEF is not that big of a deal other than loosing the new multilink rear suspension.

I also like that it has a lifetime timing belt. Not sure if that is the same on the 2014.

I guess I need to go and test drive one.

Lifetime timing belt really only means a replacement interval over 100k, so its not like it won't ever have to be changed.

Travis_K wrote: Lifetime timing belt really only means a replacement interval over 100k, so its not like it won't ever have to be changed.

True. I think I read the interval is 150k miles.

150k miles = it will not have to be changed by me

Update:

As of today, Nov 29, 2014, I have 18k on it. Worst tank so far is just a tick under 40mpg. I think that was because of excessive "boosting" and/or regen cycles. I have had one oil change done by the dealer. Still bone stock. The manual shifter still shifts like E36 M3. Tires are lumpy in the cold weather until they warm up.

I have a '12 Jetta TDI and it's exactly what I expected and what I wanted. Lowest mpg was 40 mpg, highest was 52 mpg. Most tanks have been around 44-47 mpg. I don't run it hard, I have a road race car for that. The tires do suck and will get replaced with something better when that's required. The handling is just OK, I would like a bit less body roll and firmer shocks but that can all be fixed in time. Being retired I sometimes don't drive for days at a time and in the winter I don't even take any long trips so a tank can last me a month or more but that's still 600+ miles of driving! That's a lot of local shopping trips.

If given a change to do it over again I would do it without a second thought.

You guys are seeing much better fuel mileage than we are in our new-to-us 2012 Jetta Sportwagen TDI. Are your cars manual transmission or DSG-equipped? Our is DSG and the best we seem able to do on the highway is around 38 mpg (average of 75 MPH). I was hoping for more.

dyintorace wrote: You guys are seeing much better fuel mileage than we are in our new-to-us 2012 Jetta Sportwagen TDI. Are your cars manual transmission or DSG-equipped? Our is DSG and the best we seem able to do on the highway is around 38 mpg (average of 75 MPH). I was hoping for more.

That seems spot on for what it's rated at. They were rated at 39 HWY with the DSG.

nokincy wrote:

dyintorace wrote: You guys are seeing much better fuel mileage than we are in our new-to-us 2012 Jetta Sportwagen TDI. Are your cars manual transmission or DSG-equipped? Our is DSG and the best we seem able to do on the highway is around 38 mpg (average of 75 MPH). I was hoping for more.

That seems spot on for what it's rated at. They were rated at 39 HWY with the DSG.

Yep. But the manual is rated at 42 hwy and folks report much higher than that.

2013 JSW TDI DSG 35,000 miles Worst tank was 41 mpg (3 hours of stop-n-go NJ Tnpk). Normal city/highway mix yields 44ish. I drive it "enthusiastically" and hate cruise control.

bludroptop wrote: 2013 JSW TDI DSG 35,000 miles Worst tank was 41 mpg (3 hours of stop-n-go NJ Tnpk). Normal city/highway mix yields 44ish. I drive it "enthusiastically" and hate cruise control.

Wow. So what am I doing wrong?? We don't drive it "enthusiastically" and love cruise control!

Our '09 DSG TDI (CBEA) got 39-41 MPG with SWMBO driving, I typically got around 37 MPG, I accelerate quicker than she does, and am a little more spirited driver.

43+ wasn't unheard of on long hwy trips, best ever was 53 MPG, but that was nearly 700 miles of interstate running 65 MPH drafting a U-Haul.

It's weird to talk about our Jetta in the past tense.

Well, my niece has a '14 TDI Jetta (automatic). I drove it. I liked it. My aunt had an '11 Jetta Sportwagon TDI with 6 spd manual. I drove it. Loved it. Now...fast forward to last week. I land in Saskatoon and Avis gives me a brand new Jetta TSI gasser. I don't expect much. It impresses the hell out of me. That gasser feels just about as torquey as the diesel. Mileage is not as good but I'm not sure which one would actually be cheaper to run given that gas is at a multi-year low where I live in the States.

dyintorace wrote:

bludroptop wrote: 2013 JSW TDI DSG 35,000 miles Worst tank was 41 mpg (3 hours of stop-n-go NJ Tnpk). Normal city/highway mix yields 44ish. I drive it "enthusiastically" and hate cruise control.

Wow. So what am I doing wrong?? We don't drive it "enthusiastically" and love cruise control!

Beats the heck out of me, although the more I think about it - most of my driving is interstate at closer to 65 mph, no hills and I'm carrying no weight other than my own corpulent behind.

P.S. The OBC says 48 mpg average but that is optimistic based upon calculated fuel usage.

bludroptop wrote:

dyintorace wrote:

bludroptop wrote: 2013 JSW TDI DSG 35,000 miles Worst tank was 41 mpg (3 hours of stop-n-go NJ Tnpk). Normal city/highway mix yields 44ish. I drive it "enthusiastically" and hate cruise control.

Wow. So what am I doing wrong?? We don't drive it "enthusiastically" and love cruise control!

Beats the heck out of me, although the more I think about it - most of my driving is interstate at closer to 65 mph, no hills and I'm carrying no weight other than my own corpulent behind. P.S. The OBC says 48 mpg average but that is optimistic based upon calculated fuel usage.

That might be the difference. I typically set the cruise at 75 and have my wife and kids with me. I'll have to play around with it one day soon when I can schedule a trip solo.

Have you done a recent italian tuneup?

Speaking of mileage, I just put all of my collected fuel reciepts into excel.... My average MPG is 39.8 over the past 21k miles and 4 months. I know it could be way better if, a.) I drove slower then 73mph, and b.) the terrain wasn't up, down, and around all the mountains here.

Also in those 4 months my only repair cost has been one tire which I paid $140 otd. Both oil changes, 10k interval, were free courtesy of VW.