Getting a VW Golf TDI serviced in the US.

[Gnafu the Great]

I would like to know how hard/expensive it is to get this kind of car serviced in the US in comparison to similar sized Japanese and American cars. I would love to own one, but I wanna know if there's anything specific I should know about getting one serviced. Is general maintenance like changing the oil and such that much harder to get done, or would only more major repairs be costly? Thanks for the help.

[d-quik]

cant say much besides WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!

[johnnynumfiv]

I would think that you could just bring it to a vw dealership for service, quiggs would be the man to talk about this though.

[Quiggs]

The TDI's aren't any harder to service than the gas engines. Are you looking at new ones, or used? If it's a newer one with a warranty, I wouldn't worry about the car as much as the dealer you take it too. Some of them don't like to honor warranty work and will try to stick you with repairs. Watch out for their insane oil change prices, too. I've heard of dealers going as high as $80. If it's out of warranty, find a reputable VW/Audi shop in your area.

http://tdiclub.com/ is a forum exclusively for the TDI cars. There's a wealth of information on both maintenance and modifications. http://forums.vwvortex.com has sections for VWs broken down by generation. Aside from all the stupidity that goes on, people will help with anything you're having a problem with. There's also regional forums that can help you find a reputable shop in your area.

[Egg Nog]

Volkswagen's TDI models are all very good. All dealerships and VW specialists will be trained to work on them, but you probably won't have to worry about that anyway. VW Diesels are very reliable, and are usually good for 400,000+kms.

My parents bought one of these last year (a 2001) - it usually gets around 800km (~500 miles) per fill-up

[Gnafu the Great]

cant say much besides WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!

Are you asking where I've been as in why I haven't been posting here much lately, or as in how can I be asking such a question? If it's the former, I've just been having computer problems and haven't been able to get on much lately. If it's the latter, w/e :P.

The TDI's aren't any harder to service than the gas engines. Are you looking at new ones, or used? If it's a newer one with a warranty, I wouldn't worry about the car as much as the dealer you take it too. Some of them don't like to honor warranty work and will try to stick you with repairs. Watch out for their insane oil change prices, too. I've heard of dealers going as high as $80. If it's out of warranty, find a reputable VW/Audi shop in your area.

http://tdiclub.com/ is a forum exclusively for the TDI cars. There's a wealth of information on both maintenance and modifications. http://forums.vwvortex.com has sections for VWs broken down by generation. Aside from all the stupidity that goes on, people will help with anything you're having a problem with. There's also regional forums that can help you find a reputable shop in your area.

Thanks for the info . I'll have to check out those sites when I have more time. Would changing the oil myself be as hard as a gasoline car? 'Cause if I can't find a local shop that'll change it for similar prices to a gasoline car, then I'll just jack it up in my garage and do it myself.

EDIT: And as for new or used, I really can't say. I guess used is most likely, but definitely new if I can afford it.

[Quiggs]

Basic maintenance like oil changes are easy enough. Just make sure to go to the dealer and get the OEM filter. I don't know if it's true for the diesels, but the gas engines don't take kindly to aftermarket filters. The other thing to watch is if you flush your own coolants, you have to use (I think) G11. It's pink, not green. Green + pink = wrecked motor.

This should answer most of your questions. There's a section on maintenance.