King Jeep said he didn't get it cus his sisters was falling apart. I know vw's are normally well made maybe better than our Jeeps but like anything you can get a bad one or one year wasn't as good due to a change they made, it was built on a friday before a holiday or something. I do know a few that love their Jetta and would not buy another car. There are some that have bad luck with them. my brother being one that had bad luck, he is turned off to any vw now and that car was needing something expensive every other month. I know that could have to do with it being a turbo gasser and how he cared for it.

I don't want to go on record being a hater, I like the Jetta and if I got one the TDI would be all I would look at even before I got my CRD. The TDI seems to have a good record for lasting very long, doing amazing on fuel and being a nice ride... thats hard to argue with.

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2006 Liberty CRD Limited Deep Beryl Green Metallic Clear coat, Fumoto valve, MH ProVent (removed), GDE Eco tune,
OME 790/948 springs, OME struts, OME N132L shocks, Jeepin by Al A-arms, Hercules Terra Trac AT2 245/75R16
Weeks Stage 1 EGR delete, 5 volt steel glow plugs

An interesting question would be to pose the reverse question: "I have a VW TDI and am considering a Jeep CRD for the following reasons, etc".

I wonder if the responses would be so positive from the VW crowd about the jeep. I bet they would be 10 to 1 against getting the Jeep which has a lousy reputation among the diesel people I know.

At the end of the day the VW TDi is probably a better choice for most. Gets better mileage and seems to be more of an appliance. The Jeep takes a little more hands on and a willingness to tinker. That being said try to use your VW to pull your boat or drive it in a bit of dirt to go shoot your gun at something. The Jeep at the end of the day is a much differnt tool, and is more importantly the tool for what I like to do. Besides if owning one was easy everyone would do it

Sorry for the confusion Joe. When I said that I’ll be working a 10 month contract, I was meaning that I will work 10 months of each year, so the VW would set 2 months plus another three weeks during my contact. Now that I’m building my home, this daily commute could be permanent for the next 20+ years.

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2015 Ram Ecodiesel/Big Horn/4x4/Quad Cab
2016 Arctic Fox 22G/Onboard 2500 LP Cummins Onan Generator/160 Watt Solar Panel

I took the road less traveled. Now I'm LOST.

With our current vehicles, we spend approximately $500 dollars per month on gasoline/diesel. With the purchase of a VW, I think we can cut that down to $250 per month. I figured that the VW diesel would save us approximately $3,000 per year in fuel savings. In 10 years of owning the VW, I will have saved a total of $30,000 dollars. So basically, I would have to own the vehicle for 10 years for it to pay for itself.

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2015 Ram Ecodiesel/Big Horn/4x4/Quad Cab
2016 Arctic Fox 22G/Onboard 2500 LP Cummins Onan Generator/160 Watt Solar Panel

I took the road less traveled. Now I'm LOST.

Get the TDI for your commute I've owned two and driven them both over 100k and they are fantastic cars. But they are not a jeep. I'm retired and no longer driving 35k miles a year so the 50 mpg is no longer important and the 20-22 all city on the CRD is way better then the 12-15 on my 00 Cherokee for the same type driving.

My last TDI was a 99.5 and was an early A4 Mexican build and I was initially concerned about quality. That concern was unfounded and the car now owned by my son is 11 years young looking good and going strong

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Atlantic Blue 06 CRD Limited (his)
Joined by a 2000 XJ Classic (hers)

I personally avoid a VW TDI. The thought of $8,000 in repairs when the HPFP fails and VW doesn't cover it because most dealerships will blame contaminated fuel is not worth it. http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=286380

Run away from VW. They are maintenance nightmares and have too much to go wrong with them. Almost every generation of VW TDI has issues with it.

New generation: HPFP failing
Previous generation: premature camshaft wear DMF failures
Previous generation DMF failures

I've owned 2 TDIs (04 and 06)...each one saw the shop 2-3x per month for warranty work. Luckily my daily commute was 1/2 mile from the VW dealership and it was a regular dropoff place.

http://www.tdiclub.com to read vW horror stories about current generation of TDIs.

BTW, I don't think I could recommend a Liberty CRD either due to known failures/issues with EGR, no fuel pump, leaky fuel filter head, afc failures, etc... I guess I've been spoiled by owning Nissans that would easily go 100k without a single issue...The only failure I had with a Nissan was I had a 87 Stanza require a new starter when I had 147k miles on it....I wish I could say my CRD or TDI were as reliable but they weren't.

Tempting............ The Prius is $8.000 dollars cheaper than a VW, plus better mileage.

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2015 Ram Ecodiesel/Big Horn/4x4/Quad Cab
2016 Arctic Fox 22G/Onboard 2500 LP Cummins Onan Generator/160 Watt Solar Panel

I took the road less traveled. Now I'm LOST.

Since no one else here has suggested it, I will: get a CRD. You get everything you want, and with a little bit of modding, you are looking at high 20's mpg for your commute. Might be worth it for:

A.) lower entrance cost ($11 to 14K)
B.) no worries about snow
C.) if you decide to brew your own bio at your new place, the CRD engine will be more receptive than a new model TDI.

Personally, if I could find a 2003 or 2004 Golf TDI (ALH engine) with a manual tranny, I would probably jump on that too, and replace all the gassers.

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In this war of lines, so many have been crossed. Where will it all stop?

2006 Deep Beryl Green CRD Sport *SOLD 1/22/12*
Provent, V6 Airbox, Fumoto, Samcos, GDE ECO & TCM Tune, Euro JK TC, Magnaflow Catback
245/70/16 Destination A/T's
Boiler's Radiator Skid Plate
Jeepin' By Al 2.5 inch Adjust-A-Strut Lift, JBA Gen 4.5 UCA's (6/5/10)

I guess a brand new Vdub is not a good idea, but an older pre PD TDI would be fine. Too bad VW has tarnished its excellent TDI reputation. I guess the only option, is to get the dealer to put in writing will warranty the HPFP with out prejudice, if they want to sell you a car I am sure they will put this in writing.

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20 year owner of Libby CRD!
2006 LTD Bright Silver loaded with all the needed mods, CCV intact.
Equipped with HDS thermostat, plenty of heat, faster warm-ups, increased fuel mileage.

fast, efficient, safe, comfortable, looks good, (and it a green).
if its neww you have warrenty they are reliable cars.
never had a bad VW i would buy it you will keep what you spent in fuel money, you wont rack up so many miles one your truck.
seems like the sensable thing to do.

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Jeep JKU 08
buick GS convertible 71
Jeep GC wk2 2011

I am lucky enough to own a VW Touareg Twin Turbo TDI V10. Hands down the finest piece of machinery I ever have owned or operated. Went through (2) severe Wisconsin winters with it, the traction in the snow is so well behaved I am still in awe, even though I've moved south (Scorpion 19" snows). Driving 60 miles daily it got an average of 24 mpg and the joy of having 550 ft-lb of torque is amazing. They don't make the engine anymore for the Touareg2 but there are used ones available. They imported less than 1000 units/year. I was considering a second to use as my offroader, but went with the CRD because the VW looked prone to body damage and has so much electronics, I thought the pounding would cause trouble.
In your shoes (and altitude) I'd look at the Audi A3 diesel wagon or any of the VW diesels with 4-motion. Mileage will be 40+mpg.

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'06 Dark Khaki CRD Limited, JBA Adjust-A-Struts w/4"Lift, Cut C/V's, 31.0x10.5x15 KL71 Kuhmos on Cragars, Skids, Rock Rails, ARB Bumper, Rock Lizard Rear Bumper, Milemarker Hyd Winch, Suncoast T/C, TransGo
Other: '07 Touareg V10 TDI, Rechipped, dyno test 565 ft-lb at wheels

I'm in Albq and our other car is a TDI Bug. A Golf TDI with a 2 inch lift, metal belly pan, and snow tires is what I'd want for snow. Anywho, the only problems we've had after 125K miles has been removing and cleaning the intake manifold, timing belt change (PIA), faulty window regulators (under warrenty) and cleaning the intercooler. The intercooler is located at a low point in the system so it's pretty easy to flush the oil residue out and reconnect. Wish I had a Vag-Com to turn off that EGR completely.

The warranty on new TDI is about worthless if the high pressure fuel pump fails. VW dealerships are blaming it on fuel and not covering it.

If I were to get another TDI, it probably would be an 03 model. My brother who didn't sell his 06 TDI is in for a large repair. His cams are shot and his Dual mass flywheel (DMF) is shot..both at 62k miles.

Stories like this tend to steer me away. I wish auto manufactures made small diesel engines with the reliability of a Dodge Cummins.

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2015 Ram Ecodiesel/Big Horn/4x4/Quad Cab
2016 Arctic Fox 22G/Onboard 2500 LP Cummins Onan Generator/160 Watt Solar Panel

I took the road less traveled. Now I'm LOST.

160,000 miles on my '02 Jetta wagon and I've had VERY few issues of any sort with it outside of normal maintenance and wear and tear items. No doubt it will go 250,000 or even 300,000 easily.

The '06 you mention would be a PD (pumpe duese) engine - and indeed they have turned out to be less than stellar and ABSOLUTELY REQUIRE that the proper oil is used. 10W-30 from the local grease shop ain't gonna cut it and will ensure the early demise of the cam. The DMFs have not been a widespread problem but it just seems to depend on driving style and/or luck of the draw. I've driven with people who could "operate" a manual transmission but really didn't know how to "drive" a manual. These people tend to go through clutches. I bought my first car ('80 Rabbit) back in '86 with ~80K on it and it needed a clutch. I only put about 60K on it with no further clutch issues. Then I had a '93 Saturn SL and put 156K on it with the original clutch and now 160K on my TDI on the original clutch.

The high pressure fuel pump "issue" I'm only a little familiar with. But that one smells like defective pumps and of course, VW tries to weasel out due to "bad fuel". VW had a similar problem several years ago on the PD motors with the fuel pumps (that were part of the vacuum pump) leaking fuel into the crankcase until the engines hydrolocked or blew up. They also had a string of failures where the engine would dump it's guts into the oil pan when a balancer shaft failed - likely due to defective shafts from a "low cost supplier" (also on PD motors) - and that's only on the Dodge Caliber (and fugly Jeep twins) that are exported with the VW diesels.

VWs ownership (and German car ownership in general) seems to be more highly variable than others. You cannot ignore or shortcut maintenance and a simple part failure (one-way clutch on the alternator pulley) can trash other things (tensioner) quickly if not noticed. Many car owners are clueless and wouldn't notice a change in engine noise or car vibration unless a wheel was falling off or a rod was coming through the block. By that time it's usually too late and now a lot more is trashed and $$$ to fix compared to catching the failing part early.

I am not a VW fanboy and cuss at much of the "engineering" VW has done. But my TDI has been amazingly solid (and still is squeak/rattle/rust free) after 9 years of "rust belt" driving. I do all my own work, which has saved me countless dollars, and know the work is done properly (another strike against VW - the dealers absolutely suck at proper service).

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'02 Jetta TDI Wagon 5 spd (mine)
'10 Outback (her's)
'05 CRD Sport (hangar queen)

europachris,
The camshaft failures are occuring with 505.01 oil. There is nothing particularly special about this oil spec and many have switched over to Mobil 1 5w-40 with good results. The funny thing is that I had a VW dealership put in 505.00 oil in my 06 TDI in 2008. This was 4 years after the PD engine came out and this dealership was still using the wrong spec oil!!!!! You can't trust a VW dealership to properly maintain a TDI or even do an oil change.

As for my brother's TDI, he has a DSG tranny (automatic) and drive's like a granny and his DMF is shot.

While the jury is still out, I'm thinking my 3.0 CRD in my wife's Jeep GC is probably will be the most reliable of any diesel engine we've owned.

My Liberty CRD hasn't had a CEL in 9 months and I'm very happy with it. Fuel economy isn't as good as the GC CRD (about 2mpg less) but I'm not complaining 22mpg highway isn't bad considering I drive at 80mph most of the time.

Let me know if you want me to get you a cheap TDI for commuting. Seen a couple of nice 99-02's selling in the 1500-2000 range lately.

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http://www.Colorado4Wheel.com
"Its not about what you can DO with your Jeep, its about where you can GO with your Jeep."
Knowledgeable - But Caustic

Good point on the oils. Hasn't VW come out with 506 and/or 507 oils now? I don't follow the VW oil specs much - don't need to - I use Delvac-1 and that's all.

As for the DSG - that helps explain the DMF. There have been a lot more issues with the first gen DSG trannys as compared to the 'basic' manual trans cars with the DMF.

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'02 Jetta TDI Wagon 5 spd (mine)
'10 Outback (her's)
'05 CRD Sport (hangar queen)

I have a 2001 TDI Jetta. Ive gotten as high as 64 MPG on the highway. I regularly get 58 mixed city highway. Ive never had to do any extra maintenance outside of one new mass airflow sensor.

I have 145,000 miles and Im still on my first clutch. I say go for it.

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2006 KJ CRD Ltd - Suncoast, GDE Eco, EGR Delete, After market T-Stat, Skid Row skids, V6 airbox, 2.5" Turbo back
2005 KJ CRD Sport-Suncoast, Transco, GDE Hot-GDE Trans, EGR Delete, Skid Row skids, V6 airbox, 2.5" Turbo back, After market S-Stat
1987 Suzuki LWB Samurai -diesel powered, custom 4 link coil suspension 38.5 SX Swampers