I believe the Nissan Frontier is available with a diesel overseas... Just not in the US.
I ended up getting a Toyota Prius. 50 mpg Hwy/50 City. It is great. But I might have gotten a Rabbit if I found one in good shape, because of the price. Not many used ones around. Toyota is much nicer but you pay for it. I get around 43-45 going to work on 5-10 minute drive, because it uses gas to warm up for the first 5 minutes I think. After that it gets great mileage. I drove over the Rocky mountains and back and averaged 50-53 mpg for the trip. (Of course coming down from over the pass you're averaging up 100 mpg).
Well, I went and test drove the VW Golf.
It is amazing how much better a car can look in pictures and video than in real life.
This was a 2005 with 172,000 miles. Cheap car to save on fuel.
What didn't show up in the photos...1 dent, 3 or 4 larger dings, peeling clear coat all over the roof, window that will not roll up, illegal worn out tires, broken headlight housing, completely filthy interior, and finally - CV axles that were very noisy.
I've had a car with CV joints that were going out. They were noisy in this same way...not binding when you turn sharp, but just constantly noisy like a wheel bearing going out. I asked the repair man if they had looked at the CV joints because they sounded like they were going out..he replied that the CV boot was ripped but that he thought they were fine. Duh! ripped CV boot..think mud and dirt might get into the grease?
I am running away from this one, even though they are difficult to find around here. They were asking $5,500 (down from $7500). High dealer blue book was $4800.
My brother bought a new TDI wagon last fall. He loves it. I wonder if he'll do the recall. Probably not if he has a choice.
In Calif., the DMV has indicated that you will not be able to renew your registration until you have the fix implemented. For the newest cars, I would think that a performance chip would be able to reverse the "fix" and restore the lost performance.
The older cars will have to have some sort of mechanical fix from what I have read.
Zoidberg, post: 342212, member: 8841 wrote: I believe the Nissan Frontier is available with a diesel overseas... Just not in the US.
The 2016 Titan is available with a Cummins V-8 diesel in the USA currently, link to one at the local dealer:
Never been fond of Nissan, just Datsun, but, that certainly has my interest http://cumminsengines.com/cummins-5l-v8-turbo-diesel
Norm, I went ahead and made a low offer to account for some repairs and ended up with the VW TDI Golf. It has some annoying issues with the door locks, but other than that I really like it. Put a set of new Toyo Eclipse tires on it and had an alignment - smooth driving now.
Most of all I am impressed with the diesel performance.
It pretty much gets 40 MPG no matter how you drive it.
Freeway driving vs. aggressive curvy road driving - doesn't matter 39-40 MPG.
It has plenty of power for the hills. The turbo pulls between 2000 to 3000 RPMs, which is perfect for 3rd gear on curvy one lane roads. It rev's past 4000 RPMS, but the power curve is pretty flat after 3400 RPMS.
If you want to upgrade the clutch, turbo and reprogram it, you get very aggressive performance and slightly better mileage. If it didn't cost $2000, I would have already done the mods.
I will probably never buy a gasoline powered vehicle again.
I love diesel's. I really like Cummin's the most, but, they used to only come in Dodge's so you were limited to what they offer. I love my VW as well though the V10 pulls like there is no tomorrow and tows my 24 foot trailer with the track car in it without and issue. My 6000lb Treg isn't going to compete with you on mileage though, not pulling I get low thirties on the highway. In fairness, my foot is really heavy. I do like the get up and go and sound of my daily though, V8 Audi convertible, but, it gets crappy mileage. I guess I am saying, I love gas engines too. I am down to three vehicles for myself two gas and one diesel, they all have their place.
Congrats on the Golf, they are a little more maintenance, but, they are just great
imaudigger, post: 356762, member: 7286 wrote: Norm, I went ahead and made a low offer to account for some repairs and ended up with the VW TDI Golf. It has some annoying issues with the door locks, but other than that I really like it. Put a set of new Toyo Eclipse tires on it and had an alignment - smooth driving now.
Most of all I am impressed with the diesel performance.
It pretty much gets 40 MPG no matter how you drive it.
Freeway driving vs. aggressive curvy road driving - doesn't matter 39-40 MPG.It has plenty of power for the hills. The turbo pulls between 2000 to 3000 RPMs, which is perfect for 3rd gear on curvy one lane roads. It rev's past 4000 RPMS, but the power curve is pretty flat after 3400 RPMS.
If you want to upgrade the clutch, turbo and reprogram it, you get very aggressive performance and slightly better mileage. If it didn't cost $2000, I would have already done the mods.I will probably never buy a gasoline powered vehicle again.
had a couple of these. the older 1.9 engine is probably more reliable and simpler to fix than the newer ones.
but with these cars it's always the little things like locks, air blowers, windscreen washer, dampness in the cabin.
replaced about 3 of the door locks from a newish scrap car. was lucky the mechanic just had it sitting there and gave us a good price on fitting them as well.
great workhorse cars.
squowse, post: 356780, member: 7109 wrote: replaced about 3 of the door locks from a newish scrap car. was lucky the mechanic just had it sitting there and gave us a good price on fitting them as well.
great workhorse cars.
Front door switches on th A4 cars are junk, mine have been replaced and one of them needs it again.
When my wife and I were car shopping in 2002 the VW Passat wagon was on our list of contenders, but a cousin with a long history of VW ownership talked us out of it. He said the VW power trains were great, but all the little stuff - handles, locks, trim, etc. - were forever falling apart. We ended up with a Honda CR-V, and it's still going strong.
All the comment about the small stuff is right on.
They all have the same exact problems.
However for an inexpensive run around car - it fits the bill just fine.
A feature I didn't think I would like was the ESP traction control.
It uses the ABS sensors to determine when your tires are spinning and which direction your steering wheel is turned and switches which wheel gets the power and applies the brakes on one drive wheel to pull you out of a slide. It kind of works like turning brakes, only it happens under power and very seamlessly.
I am super impressed at how well it works at higher speeds on packed snow.
I have driven a VW with the ASR traction control, which basically reduces the power to the wheels that are spinning. I was not too impressed with that technology.
I agree with the traction control, with studless winter tires and that feature, my VW is very capable in the snow, con pretty much accelerate at full power with no loss of traction on packed snow and ice. I have never had it engage at speed and hope I never have too as that means I was going to fast for conditions.
On the "small" stuff, other than the door switches (which is a micro switch deep inside the door that fails, rather than the more common and simple door jam plunger) I have had very very little go wrong in 10 years and 120K. Still on the factory brakes even, most expensive repair out of pocket was the scheduled maintenance of the timing belt. The door switches were repaired under warranty the first time, the next time will be out of pocket and I think that is about $400 per door.
Overall, very happy owner and would buy another TDI no questions, it isn't a hot rod in the classic sense BUT the torque out of a 1.9l engine is pretty amazing, going up hills or passing is a breeze, comes on strong from about 50 MPH-80 MPH 🙂 very reliable and good fuel economy and to me a much better overall driving experience than any other smaller car I have tried, most others just don't fit me correctly, no headroom and the German's can engineer a better road car IMO.
SHG
