Volkswagen cars?

[Al Smith]

Back in the day they used to get 25-27 MPG .Seemed like a big deal when the average Chevy maybe got 15 .

Now of days it's not such a big thing .Hell I got a full sized Merc that does that good on gas .Of course now of days the puddle jumpers are getting 35 plus .

 

[Tucker943]

Anything over 12 mpg makes me giggle with joy.

 

[Al Smith]

Well if you're running 4WD Chevy or Ford full size pick ups that's about the best you can hope for .My old '72 F 250 with a 390 did that loaded or empty it really didn't care .

Tom has a 4WD F250 with a 302 and he's lucky to get 8 out of it .One reason it sits and he drives his Ranger I'd imagine .

 

[Burnham]

My Forest Service Chev 4x4 extended cab 1500 gets 18 in the woods, 24 on the freeway. V-8 5.7 liter/350 c.i., I think it is.

 

[treetx]

Anything over 12 mpg makes me giggle with joy.

Aye, blessed is he who expects little.

Yeah, VW is proud of them so then the next thing you have to do is figure out where your break even point is for the extra $$ a diesel engine costs. At the time I got mine, it was $4k more for the diesel.

The new fords are cool. They do a great little TDI wagon. I was comfortably cruising at 110mph with wife and kids on the autobahn in one last year. Why don't the sell them in the USA ? ? ? ?

 

[Tucker943]

Well if you're running 4WD Chevy or Ford full size pick ups that's about the best you can hope for .My old '72 F 250 with a 390 did that loaded or empty it really didn't care .

Tom has a 4WD F250 with a 302 and he's lucky to get 8 out of it .One reason it sits and he drives his Ranger I'd imagine .

A few years ago I had an 89 Ford 250 in the fleet with a 302 and the light duty highway rear. That truck drank gas like it was going out of style. It had very little low end power to get itself up and moving and needed a gallon of gas to get up to speed after every red light. I don't even remember what happened to that truck. I think one of my groundmen bought it.

 

[Tucker943]

I used to own this old buggy for cleaning up a little snow for a few friends and myself and with a straight 6 and 3:93 reads, this truck sipped gas like a moped. Ok I'm done with my derail.

 

[rangerdanger]

Went and checked out a VW GTI today and liked it a lot. Dad drove it off the lot and we stopped and switched and I gave it a go for a bit, sad to say I might have stalled it out a few times lol. The clutch in it is a lot tighter than the one in the big chip truck, I was always afraid of giving it too much gas. We pulled off in a big parking lot and I practiced for a bit, got it down better when I got a feel for it and when I figured out what RPM range I needed to be in. Once I get past first I'm golden for the most part.

Anyways, gonna look around a bit more, and see what there is, but I'm digging VW in general. It just felt like a solid all around car, all the materials felt good and nothing felt 'cheap'.

 

[brendonv]

My moms front end in her Jetta has sounded like it's falling off from day one. Lights blowing out all the time, fuses blowing, but they all have their quirks I guess.

 

[treetx]

+1 on the electrical ghosts in the jetta

 

[C. Kirk]

I had my share of VW 1 fox 1988 with 1.8L 2 gtis 1.8Ls 1985 & 86 and 1 jetta 2000 VR6 2.8L. All grate cars to drive. I need beet on . In stock form they will out handle all American and Japanese car in its class. As for up keep there not that expense of as every one think. f you work on it your self you fine the engineering on thing to be vary cool. I run Castrol Motor Oil full Synthetic with great results. The the fox and 1 gti had over 230k on each motors. i hit a deer with the other gti. The jetta i blow out the motor at 130k got water into the motor. replace the motor and all is good. I love my VW duds. And check out this site vwvortex.com/.

 

[PCTREE]

I was proud of our Passatt wagon today, recorded my first 60mpg trip

Mind you I drove like a granny and had a tail wind At least I can now say it CAN do it. Far cry from the 15mpg our Honda mini van was getting

 

[brendonv]

That's sweet. I challenge myself on getting the best MPG's out of my daily drivers. Granny driving all the way!

 

[PCTREE]

BRendon, buy a ScanGauge II or an Ultragauge. I didn't know about the Ultragauge when I bought my SG, they are a lot cheaper. If you want to improve your mileage they are the way to go as you can have 4 real time gauges displayed such as current MPG (which is invaluable) average trip MPG, Coolant temp (which is also cool since I just put in a 92C thermostat from the stock 87C one = 2-4 MPG increase) boost, timing, and all kinds of other stuff

BTW raising the temp some in those 7.3s is supposed to get better MPGs also.....

 

[Al Smith]

With fuel injection and the associated electronic engine control they are getting fuel milage that was never possible on a carborated engine .Back then the only way you could have ever gotten 24 MPG on a Chevy 350 is if were going down hill .

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Well... if you switched all the metal for plastic it would have helped some

 

[rangerdanger]

Thanks guys, all the reviews I've read on this car so far give it 5 out of 5 consistently. Only thing I'm curious about is maintenance costs and wondered if anyone had any experience with VW maintenance in general, mainly with '07 models and up. Heard it can get expensive, but that a lot of the cost is going through a dealership, that when you go through 3rd party shops its generally much cheaper, along with the parts. Searched around and found a good place local here thats supposed to be great, gonna give them a call Monday and see about some general maintenance costs, and things like that, but just wondering if anyone on here has experience with VW and maintenance/upkeep costs in general.

 

[Burnham]

With fuel injection and the associated electronic engine control they are getting fuel milage that was never possible on a carborated engine .Back then the only way you could have ever gotten 24 MPG on a Chevy 350 is if were going down hill .

You got that right, Al. This one shuts down a couple of cylinders in highway cruise mode, if I understand correctly.