My post-TDI gasoline powered Jetta

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Thought I'd start a thread to detail my ownership of this car.... little back ground first. This is my first non-diesel Volkswagen, I have owned VW diesel powered cars for over 10 years and have put over 200k miles on 3 different VW's. I have found them reliable, comfortable, efficient and low maintenance. I bought my first TDI when I was traveling for work, my job paid mileage but any money that you save of fuel goes in your pocket for maintenance, etc. I was driving as much as 2,600 miles in a weeks time so saving a little money on fuel was a pretty big deal. These days I work locally, but there's always a chance I could go back on the road. I still wanted something reliable and efficient, so I picked up another Jetta... a '14 with the 1.8T engine, manual 5 speed transmission and leather interior. The car is lightly used, it was a lease return and had 30k miles on it.

Since VW offered to buy back my TDI for $11k due to the TDI Emissions Scandal, I was able to pay for the '14 Jetta outright! :greg:

Just a few thoughts driving this thing... it's a SE model, so it does have a few creature comforts like leather seats, heated seats, power everything, etc. But other than that, it's a pretty boring car to drive, very plain Jane IMO. The 1.8T makes its power totally different than my '09 TDI, which was setup with a Stage 2 Malone tune. The diesel made all it's power down low, you could short shift the car all over and it was easy to exceed the speed limit. The 1.8T lacks bottom end power, it drives just fine but the gas turbo doesn't seem to hit full boost until almost 4k RPM and from there it pulls HARD to the 6k redline. The manual transmission is tight, but the throw on the shifter is huge. The suspension is comfortable, not too loose and not too tight. I love how the rear suspension is now independent, versus a solid beam of the previous cars. The windows aren't tinted and it's been awhile since I've driven a car w/o tint.... I hate it!

So far I have 400 miles on this tank of fuel and was averaging 36 to 38 MPG with mostly highway & freeway driving...


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BlueWolfFab

Running Behind
Location
Eagle Mountain
Man 38 is way better than I ever got out of my gti with the 2.0T. Drove down to vegas and back being as "efficient" as I could (taking advantage of downhills and keeping it light on the flats and trying to keep up momentum yet low load on the up hills) and the best I could get was 30-31. Add in my around-town miles and it dropped to like 25-26 avg. Definitely was upsetting. Now I'm back to the civic for runnin around.
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Just a little update... I realize this is a pretty tame, boaring car but that's about to change...

I recently had an APR Stage 1 tune added to my 1.8T Jetta and it has changed the driving characteristics of this little car quite a bit! Stock and on 87 octane (I've always ran 87) the 1.8T makes 170 HP and 184 ft/lbs.

Before the tune, it felt like boost wouldn't fully build until 4000 rpm and it pulled pretty decent at that point to 6,000.... low in the RPM range it was pretty tame.

After the tune and now running on 91 octane, it should be making 223 HP and 267 ft/lbs! :eek:

Driving the car is MUCH more exciting... boost starts building around 2,000 RPM and by 2,500 the turbo is pushing a lot of air! The car will spin the tires on command in 1st gear and it pulls HARD the rest of the way up. Running thru the gears, it's pretty quick... you have to pay attention or you'll soon be attracting the wrong kind of attention.

Last week we took this car on a road trip and ended up driving from Colorado and into Wyoming, Idaho through Utah and on home. The 1st half of our trip was on back roads and highways, keeping the speed under 65 mph. Passing other traffic was a breeze and the car no longer required down shifting to quickly accelerate. On top of that, I also got my best tank of fuel ever. Normally I get 420-440 miles, this tank of fuel to Wyoming netted 500 miles and a 38 MPG, hand calculated. Pretty good for a non-TDI VW!

Anyway.... I'm pretty happy with my little daily driver. No problems, now it has plenty of power and still gets good MPG, if I can keep my foot out of it! Now I need to find some late-model muscle cars and see who I can surprise. :D
 
D

Deleted member 12904

Guest
I've been driving around a 2018 with the 1.4t I'm very happy with the car for the money paid. It's my fist vw but I'm supper happy with this cheap little commuter car.
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
I've been driving around a 2018 with the 1.4t I'm very happy with the car for the money paid. It's my fist vw but I'm supper happy with this cheap little commuter car.

Awesome, I wondered about the 1.4T... seems like it puts out good HP and gets even better mileage. I bet there's an APR tune for them... ;)
 
D

Deleted member 12904

Guest
Awesome, I wondered about the 1.4T... seems like it puts out good HP and gets even better mileage. I bet there's an APR tune for them... ;)

They do but my wife has agreed I can get a S4 in a year or so. I'll still keep the Jetta for longer work trips.
 
D

Deleted member 12904

Guest
Those newer Audi coupes are SO sexy!
They are but with how many miles I put on my car it just didn't make sense to drop $60k on a daily driver. So that's why I picked up the Jetta. I'll save for another year then finally get a "cool" car again. I drive like an ass and still average 38mpg in the Jetta. Plus I picked up the Wolfsburg with the "leather" and other options for $18,200. Pretty reasonable cars.IMG_20180711_160228.jpg
 

Greg

Make RME Rockcrawling Again!
Admin
Another little update to the commuter... I needed new tires and found a used set of factory wheels from a 2013 VW CC... 18's instead of 16's! They needed new tires and unfortunately the wheels had seen a few curbs that the PO couldn't avoid, but were good enough for me. I got a set of Falken Pro GS Sport A/S tires size 235/40ZR18's for the new wheels and bolted them on. These wheels stick out a tad further than the 16's did, so the car has a more aggressive stance. Driving it with the 18's is great, when you push the car hard into a turn, the sidewalls don't give at all, it carves and goes. It's a little rougher ride on bumps due to less sidewall, but I'm happy with the compromise.

With the tune and stock sized tires, I could spin the tires pretty easily from a stop. Now with the wider wheels and tires, there is more rubber on the road and giving it everything the car has, I can barely spin them... and even then, the tires are fighting for every bit of traction.

Really happy with the wheel and tire change! I drove the car to Boise for work on Sunday and I'm really happy with the increased handling at high speeds.

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