[speeder]

I have a 2010 JSW Tdi 6-speed manual, bought it from Pelican RSBob. It’s an extremely well maintained, clean car but the performance and fuel economy is disappointing after the VW dieselgate “fix.”

You mention a “tune,” which aftermarket companies sell for the car but then you lose the awesome extended warranty from VW that is part of the “fix.” It’s seriously a Catch-22, I know that I would love this car if it could even be returned to it’s original software, (much less the aftermarket tunes out there), but the warranty is extremely valuable because these cars have some potentially catastrophic mechanical issues that would be completely covered by the warranty.

I’ve already used the warranty twice for CELs that turned out to be bad sensors and a glow plug, not *end of the world* issues by any means but would have been dealer repairs out-of-pocket. If you think that these are DIY friendly cars, think again. I can do basic maintenance on it like oil changes and brakes but you cannot even scan it w/o VAGCOM’s proprietory cable and software, which is cost prohibitive for DIY owners.

Other than the fuel mileage, which is infuriating because it’s the main reason to own a TDI, it’s an OK car. Sporty handling like all modern VWs. FWIW, the DSG cars I test drove seemed quicker. The DSG is awesome, as long as it doesn’t ever fail on you. Then it gets expensive. They seem to be robust transmissions, though. They require an expensive service every 45k miles, I think.