Goodbye, you hateful wench

[Jim Richards]

Beirut Taxi...does it have bullet holes in it?

[onewhippedpuppy]

Every time I consider a VW, I will look back on this thread.

[notfarnow]

Originally Posted by Dottore

So Jake:

How's the E300TD "Beirut Taxi" working out for you? I was thinking of buying one as a winter beater. I was in an E300TD taxi in Hamburg not long ago that had more than 900,000 km on the clock and looked great. Those things go forever.

Oh man, I just LOVE it. It's built like a bank vault, drives beautifully, and even SOUNDS great (which is saying A LOT for a diesel). That engine, the om606, was a real milestone for diesel engines. Straight 6, DOHC, 24v, crossflow head, turbocharged and intercooled. It only sounds like a diesel at idle.

For maintenance and repairs, parts are generally LESS expensive that VW equivalents, so it's actually been less expensive to run than our VW.

More importantly for me though, it's a JOY to work on. A few weeks ago I had A LOT of suspension work to do, no fault of the car's... there was an *incident*. Anyhow, I got into a bit of a case of "while I'm in there", and ordered a huge pile of parts from our gracious host. I expected it to take a couple weekends to get all the work done, but once I set to work I found I was getting things done REALLY quickly.

Within 3 hours I had changed out:
- tie rod ends
- sway bar links (front & rear)
- front & rear shocks
- engine mounts

Try that on a Jetta or Passat

Only low points in ownership have been:
- an air leak in the fuel system, causing it to not start, or worse yet stall in traffic. E300D's are prone to fuel system air leaks, but in the end that was caused by a cheap hose clamp on my veggie conversion, so I can't really fault the car for that.
- I had a glow plug break off in the head. These engines are known for seized glow plugs, but I figured I was OK because they'd been done a couple years before. Nope. Even after reading all the warnings and DIY tricks, I had one break. It was one of my scariest DIY experiences ever, but I managed to make a puller and get it out. Some aren't so lucky, and end up having to pull the head. Around the time I was doing mine, a guy on the mercedesshop forum had one break and ended up spending $4300USD at a benz specialist.

[ramonesfreak]

i had that model jetta. many problems in very few miles. my 2000 golf was a disaster as well.

my current rabbit seems like a world apart from the previous generation. time will tell but so far im impressed with its power, build quality and style. i swore off VW after two expensive mistakes but so far my mind has been changed. why so many people diss the new 5 cycl engines i have no idea. i think its a amazing. good luck