View Single Post
Old 07-21-2020, 10:28 PM   #1 (permalink)
ukiltmybrutha
EcoModding Lurker
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 18
Thanks: 1
Thanked 3 Times in 2 Posts
My Current Jetta ALH TDI 01M vs Gen 2 Prius?

I bought an 02 ALH TDI Jetta (automatic unfortunately) from a friend at work. It has rusty rockers and A/C system doesn't work....likely a bad compressor.

The car will be used for long highway commutes. Sometimes the commutes are nice trips from Fredericksburg, VA to Charlottesville, VA with no traffic but sometimes will be from Fredericksburg, VA to DC. Could also be little traffic but could also be 50 miles of traffic jams depending on the shift that I get stuck working.

I bought the car for $500.

I wanted to get away from the enthusiast forums for both cars and get some unbiased opinions.

For starters it has the unreliable 01m transmission. However, there is a bit too much pressure to need to switch over to the 5 speed by people who think that driving stick is the best thing since sliced bread. I have enthusiast cars with stick so I am a bit burnt out with the alleged importance of needing to drive a stick. I do understand however that there is a large MPG penalty for the automatic but I am not doing too bad at 47 mpg highway.

I don't like the fact that the timing belt job is a bit much for a DIY and that the engine is interference. I have done t-belt jobs before on interference engines but a faulty tensioner grenaded on me at idle right after the job scarring me from doing my own T-belt for a long long time.

I also don't like having to turn my car into a "guru" to have it worked on. I worry about handing someone cash and something going wrong.

On the flip side, I like how the diesel sounds and I like the 750 mile tanks. I just have a few other fun cars that I'd rather be working on than this one.

Still, with the Prius I have to worry about the Hybrid Battery. The ripoff rate is very high in this area as well. I have never purchased or seen a car on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace that didn't have major issues.

The Jetta has lower property tax here because it is older and I'd imagine the insurance is lower.

I hear the Prius is more like an appliance....but really I have my enthusiast cars for the non-appliance feeling....I have no desire for a modified Jetta TDI.

Lastly, I live off of a gravel road. It's impossible to keep vehicles clean and I therefore don't want anything that I have to keep clean externally. The Jetta is already ugly and I am not so sure that I'd care to keep the Prius clean either.


Keep the Jetta? Go to a 3.5k - 5k range Prius only to find out what is really wrong with it even though it is supposed to be super reliable?

Better the devil I know?

Help! Lol!


Last edited by ukiltmybrutha; 07-21-2020 at 10:34 PM..
  Reply With Quote