New to ecomodder - TDI enthusiast

[PremierSprinter]

Hello, I'm new here. I have been a TDI enthusiast for over a decade and have gotten spectacular mileage out of past cars. My most recent TDI was acquired two year ago, a 2001 Jetta (5spd ALH) and it was only on the road for four months before being rear-ended and totaled by a texting driver. I bought it back from the insurance company for a mere $900 (they also gave me $500 more than I paid for it which means I got the car for $400) and then parked it until I would be able to make a project out of it. With a child due in winter, we bought a VW Touareg with the remaining money and some savings. The Jetta sat, untouched, while our lives completely changed between opening up a business and experiencing the joys of fatherhood for the first time.

Two years after the Jetta was totaled, I finally decided to get it back on the road with a goal of making it a 60+mpg highway champion. I find myself traveling a lot more than I used to and the 15mpg v6 touareg is a strain on the wallet, while the 30mpg 2013 Mercedes C250 is about as enjoyable to drive on a long trip as would be a wooden roller coaster. I joined this site to document my build and to ask questions/get advice in territories which I am not familiar such as aerodynamic mods. I have passively checked out a lot of builds and it looks to be a good community.

[UFO]

Welcome.

What needs to be done to make it road-worthy again?

[PremierSprinter]

Thanks. i just posted a thread in the "eco-modding central" forum to start documenting the actual building. I could have just swapped the motor into the new chassis but that would not have been very fun. I don't have enough posts yet to put up a link, it says... even though it let me put up all of the images in the build thread.