GolNat
Autocross Champion
I thought people might be interested in this and since it's still a VW I figured what the hell. I am in the process of some life changes and had to do some vehicle rearranging. I ended up with my wife's 2016 Jetta. It has the 1.4T engine that has been very economical and it was a fun car but had an automatic (not even DSG). I have always loved wagons and have always admired diesels for their efficiency. So I just looked to see what was available. Low and behold there was a TDI Jetta SportWagen for sale with only 28k miles!!!! It was a 6 speed manual, fully loaded SEL model and only 2.5 hours away in NJ. Reached out to the dealer to find out more about it and see if I could schedule a test drive. Apparently it was a popular vehicle as he had someone flying in to look at it and 5 test drives scheduled for the weekend. This could have all been BS but I know diesel wagons have a cult like following and with this having such low mileage and being a manual it would be desirable to those select few. Finding a diesel wagon is not too hard but your search results go from 20 down to 3 when you want a DIY gearbox. I heavily considered the Audi A3 wagon as I do think it looks better but it has less storage room and no manual option.
I hurried up to NJ to check it out. The original owner bought it new and turned it into VW after DieselGate. The dealer that had it bought it from VW. They had some really cool cars!! A Civic Type-R, 4 or 5, 5.0 Mustangs (all manuals), Scat Pack Challenger, Camaro ZL1, Saturn Sky, Buick Grand National, and a mint older Taco. Everything looked great on the JSW and after talking numbers I traded in the Jetta and took home another older Jetta
.
The dealer didn't fill it up so I stopped for fuel before heading home. Since you can't pump your own fuel in NJ I had to tell the attendant what to fill it with. I told him diesel and he gave me a funny a look and said "this takes diesel"? I said yeah and he still looked puzzled but filled it up. I made sure to watch him so he didn't grab the wrong nozzle. I averaged 40MPG on the way home doing 70-80 which I thought was great. With some modifications that number can get closer to 50MPG. I will be tracking with Fuelly to remove any errors in the computer.
It is certainly an adjustment from the GTI (any gas vehicle really). Red line is 5k and it is certainly not the fastest. It could use some better tires, a sportier alignment and a DieselGeek shifter so it doesn't feel like you are stirring a bowl of pudding. The low end torque is nice but man does it rev slow when you try to rev match. Instead of a throttle blip its a throttle stomp. I just remind myself that's not what I bought it for, that's what the GTI is for. The seats are very comfy and it has a nice ride.
I don't have official plans for the car but don't want to spend money on performance mods unless they increase MPG's. I will probably do a more looks build. Lower it, wheels, tint, get rid of the chrome, maybe some interior stuff. I'd like to get an exhaust for it so I can hear those sweet diesel noises and might do a stage 1 or 2 tune to gain some MPG.
Specs:
Engine - 2.0T Diesel
Horsepower - 140
Torque - 238
EPA rating - 30 City/42 Highway
Fuel Capacity - 14.5 gallons
Color - Toffee
Nav, Pano Sunroof, Push-to-Start, proximity unlock, Bluetooth media and calling.
Pictures:
My end goal is something similar to below. Air suspension is on the wish list and if I shop used like with the GTI it could happen.
If I go the air route:
I hurried up to NJ to check it out. The original owner bought it new and turned it into VW after DieselGate. The dealer that had it bought it from VW. They had some really cool cars!! A Civic Type-R, 4 or 5, 5.0 Mustangs (all manuals), Scat Pack Challenger, Camaro ZL1, Saturn Sky, Buick Grand National, and a mint older Taco. Everything looked great on the JSW and after talking numbers I traded in the Jetta and took home another older Jetta
.The dealer didn't fill it up so I stopped for fuel before heading home. Since you can't pump your own fuel in NJ I had to tell the attendant what to fill it with. I told him diesel and he gave me a funny a look and said "this takes diesel"? I said yeah and he still looked puzzled but filled it up. I made sure to watch him so he didn't grab the wrong nozzle
. I averaged 40MPG on the way home doing 70-80 which I thought was great. With some modifications that number can get closer to 50MPG. I will be tracking with Fuelly to remove any errors in the computer.It is certainly an adjustment from the GTI (any gas vehicle really). Red line is 5k and it is certainly not the fastest. It could use some better tires, a sportier alignment and a DieselGeek shifter so it doesn't feel like you are stirring a bowl of pudding. The low end torque is nice but man does it rev slow when you try to rev match. Instead of a throttle blip its a throttle stomp. I just remind myself that's not what I bought it for, that's what the GTI is for. The seats are very comfy and it has a nice ride.
I don't have official plans for the car but don't want to spend money on performance mods unless they increase MPG's. I will probably do a more looks build. Lower it, wheels, tint, get rid of the chrome, maybe some interior stuff. I'd like to get an exhaust for it so I can hear those sweet diesel noises and might do a stage 1 or 2 tune to gain some MPG.
Specs:
Engine - 2.0T Diesel
Horsepower - 140
Torque - 238
EPA rating - 30 City/42 Highway
Fuel Capacity - 14.5 gallons
Color - Toffee
Nav, Pano Sunroof, Push-to-Start, proximity unlock, Bluetooth media and calling.
Pictures:
My end goal is something similar to below. Air suspension is on the wish list and if I shop used like with the GTI it could happen.
If I go the air route:
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