2009 Jetta Sportwagen - Newbie here and to Diesel

[ecirwin]

Hello, I have had my 2009 Sportwagen TDI for about 2 weeks now.  I wandered into my local dealer, found one all wrapped in plastic at the back of the lot, snatched it up the next day, and brought it home with all the plastic still in place.

I was the first one to wash it, wax it, vacuum it, etc..

I do have a few questions.  After doing a little reading here and around the net, it seems that fuel mileage should be hovering around 40mpg or higher.  My first 500 miles have given me around 33mpg here in Denver, CO.  Will the mileage increase with break-in time?

I like to do a little performance moding on my cars, nothing extreme, but more of a "stage 1" kind of thing.  I haven't been able to find much of anything for this car yet.  Does anyone have any info to share on performance mods?  I have wheels and tires picked out and will purchase them in the Spring when the snow tires come off.

I have the DSG transmission, which seems a little hesitant from a dead stop.  There are 2 stop signs as I leave my neighborhood.  Both are uphill, but the second one is much steeper.  Nothing crazy steep, but more than usual.  The car seems to lurch several times before kicking in.  This is of course with me trying to smoothly launch the car, not a full throttle lunge.  I just want to pull smoothly away without any drama.  The lurching is not making me happy.  Putting the transmission in Sport mode seems to help.  Does anyone else have similar issues?  Should I complain to the dealer?

I think that is enough for my first post.  Fire away!

Eric

[Ziptar]

ecirwin,
 Welcome to the GTD forums and the joys of VW diesel ownership.

Typically a diesel engine will see an increase MPGs after break in and beyond .

I bought both my TDIs new and by the first ~20,000 miles there was a ~20% improvement in MPG. Part of that is driving style too. If you are used to driving a gasser, you' driving will change a bit as you get used to a diesel, even with a DSG.

As for the lurching, Since it wasn't prepped before you took delivery, it very well could still be in "Transport Mode". The transport mode does not allow full power. Absolutely take it to the dealer. It also could be as simple as low fluid. It is a car you just spent allot of money on and / or signed away several years of your life for. It should be absolutely perfect. Does it only lurch when cold, if you get it up to temp and try the same two stop signs does it still lurch?

For performance upgrades chip and injectors are usually the first step try:
http://www.kermatdi.com
http://rocketchip.com/

[ecirwin]

Thanks for the welcome.

The dealer would not let the car leave the lot without all the mechanical and electrical checks being complete.  They also had to install the sections in the bottom corners of the front bumper as well as the license plate holder.  So the car was prepped mechanically.

BTW, if anyone else is considering buy a car like this, make sure you remove the wheel covers before you leave the dealership.  They seem to be on fairly snug, but will rip off at normal city street speeds.

I guess a trip to the dealer is in order.  As much as I hate going there, it is something I have to do.

~E

[rallydiesel]

This is the first company to offer a power upgrade for the CR engine:

http://www.dieseltuning.ca/

Go to tdiclub club for a thorough review of his tune.

[ecirwin]

Rallydiesel,

Can you post a link to the review on tdiclub?  I can't seem to find it.

The Diesel Tuning site doesn't seem to be updated with info on the 09 yet.

~E

[rallydiesel]

It's in the power enhancements section. The thread is called "free tuning Vancouver area". Joe Hafner, the thread starter, is the owner of the above site. You can pm him for more details. He's got a couple boxes, a passive and active. I'm not sure the difference. I think he's in the process of doing dynos for each but there is some problems getting accurate numbers due to the traction control cutting in. There are a few vids as well.

[ecirwin]

Ziptar,

Above you mentioned changing my driving style.  I am coming from a MINI Cooper S, which couldn't be further from TDI.  The MINI requires RPM to get the performance, where the TDI is all about low end torque.  Obviously, the DSG transmission does most of the adjusting in regards to RPM.

Are there other things I should be doing different?  Not sure what else I can do, other than not flooring it, which I don't do (most of the time).


~E

[Typrus]

Where did you go? Osborn?
Awesome.
VW is pretty anal about performance mods. I vote leave it alone until your warranty expires. Or else they'll expire it for you.

Welcome to the fold! lol.

[Vincent Waldon]

VW is pretty anal about performance mods. I vote leave it alone until your warranty expires. Or else they'll expire it for you.

Agreed !! Keep up the scheduled maintenance, drive it reasonably aggressively to help break it it, and you'll gradually see both mileage and performance increase.  Diesel's take a while to break in... partly because the fuel itself is a darn fine lubricant.

By the time it's broken in there will likely be a couple companies with performance mods available and some other people will have figured out the best one. :wink:

[jtanguay]

VW is pretty anal about performance mods. I vote leave it alone until your warranty expires. Or else they'll expire it for you.

Agreed !! Keep up the scheduled maintenance, drive it reasonably aggressively to help break it it, and you'll gradually see both mileage and performance increase.  Diesel's take a while to break in... partly because the fuel itself is a darn fine lubricant.

By the time it's broken in there will likely be a couple companies with performance mods available and some other people will have figured out the best one. :wink:

ya let other people be the guinea pigs  :wink:  :lol:

[ecirwin]

I am now into my 3rd tank of fuel and the mileage seems to be settling into 37mpg.  It started out really high, because I filled up in the mountains.  Yes, that was totally artificial, because it was all downhill on the way home.  I was amazed at how long it took to come down after that though.  Several days of commuting to work for it to fall from the hi 40's down to the high 30's.  This weekend's trip to Loveland for snowboarding is what brought it back down completely.  So my first two tanks were 33mpg and 35mpg.  I am a fairly aggressive driver, without usually being the kind that pisses people off.

I am not in a rush for the performance mod(s), still just looking.  The Diesel Power unit is intriguing because it can easily be removed.  It is the middle of winter now, so high performance isn't really all that useful.

I did buy the car from Osborn Automotive here in Denver.  What a wrestling match, but I did manage to get it for $300 under sticker.  Even that was like pulling teeth.  If only I had found the car about now or even a month from now, I could have probably saved a little more.  So be it, it is what it is.

I am amazed at how much more I notice Diesels now, from VWs to Merc to Dodge & Ford.  I am also watching the price of diesel, which has been falling like a rock lately.  I think I saw $2.20 yesterday.

Thanks for the feedback,
~E

[Typrus]

Hehehe... Funny how much you notive what you have.

Loveland? Oh, duh, the ski slopes... Lol. I live right by the city of.

You should keep us posted how it keeps doing!

Yea, the dub guys down there can be a bit... Stiff? Had to replace our IP in a bind on the 96 and they were the only place with it in 300 miles. Man we had to fight them to get the price under 2 g's.

[ecirwin]

After filling up again and all the talk of finishing the break-in, I decided to try a tank full running in the "Sport" mode of the DSG.  Now, I realize that this tank will have a low mpg, but I'm hoping this will help to hasten the break-in.

Initial observation is that the mileage is much worse around town, but not bad on the Interstate.  Sport mode seems to make the engine run more in the 2000-3000 rpm range, where Drive makes it more like 1200-2200 rpm.

When I bought the car I did some hard acceleration and deceleration runs to help break it in.  I have read about breaking in this way and it seems to make sense.  Anyway, nothing I have read specifically addresses breaking in a diesel, but I haven't done a lot of searching for that info either.  I haven't been babying the car, but I haven't been thrashing it either.

So, I'll report on the results of this little experiment.

[Jolly1977]

$2.20 for a gallon of diesel?!  Must be nice...  The lowest I've seen it in upstate NY is $2.68.

[ecirwin]

http://denvergasprices.com/index.aspx?fuel=D

There are several places under $2 per gallon now.  I am lucky, since the cheaper stations are very close to my house.  Regular gas is down to $1.29.  Given my MINI was getting around 30 mpg, that means I am not doing better driving the Jetta, in pure economic terms.  Paying almost 50% more, but only going about 25-30% further per gallon.

I am approaching the 1/2 tank mark on the tank after the "Sport" mode driving.  After some initial drives, I decided to switch to "Sport" after the engine was warmed up.  That tank ended up as 33.15 mpg.  This one appears to be headed for 37 mpg, which isn't any better than the tank before the "Sport" mode.