The time has come...
 

...To replace the TDI...

As I switched to snow tires this weekend I crawled under the car to spray oil and I had a reality check. I knew my car had cancer, but it's now pretty much in terminal phase. It's rusted through members in some places and I don't think it's safe to be driven on the highway anymore. On top of that the suspension is due, front brakes will have to be done soon and I have a small coolant flange leak at the block.

So, I decided to replace it, and would like to get some suggestions from you guys.

Budget is $3000 and it needs to be a reliable/cheap to maintain/fuel efficient 4 doors.

So far I am eying a 97 Civic EX with 120k miles on it which is pretty clean and completely rust free.

Why not take the $3k and fix up the Jetta? Its still newer than the Civic and gets much better mileage.

The real problem is the rust and getting rid of it all would likely cost me more than $3k as I could not do it myself. I patched half the floor in 2007, but I can only patch so much. I would really need everything at the rocker panels level and below to be replaced. It might be newer than cars I'll look at, but it's in really bad shape. My TDI rolled on gravel roads everyday for the first 6 years of its life and it shows.

I just don't want rust nor more. I'd like to get a rust free car and I'll put enough oil on that thing it'll not rust.

Also, I don't drive enough anymore to really justify owning a diesel. My car only sees 7500 miles per year now. Where I get 55 mpg in my TDI I would expect a Civic to pull 40 mpg. So factoring the diesel cost, the yearly fuel savings of the TDI over the Civic is roughly $100.

Are you going to sell the car or scrap it, if the later I would highly consider yanking the TDI powertrain out.

Sorry to hear about the TDI, Martin!

My big advice is only that you try to choose a make/model that had many powertrain options, knowing you'll be modding this thing in the future. (Thinking of things like transmission swaps; different cam/head options; better/lighter wheel options, etc.)

Honda certainly qualifies in that respect.

I really love TDIs. I found a completely rust free, same model as mine only a year older and 10k less miles. It just passed inspection so it's in perfect mechanical order. The price is a bit above my budget, but it is right. I'm going to see it tomorrow as it's 1h30 from here.

Duffman -

I was thinking the same.

CarloSW2

Give the TDIIII tooo meee! ;)

Just wondering here... Could you take the TDI power train & running gear, and put it in a fiberglass-bodied kit car?

There's no reason you could not. The fuel pump can even be converted to mechanical so you can loose all the electronics if you want. That's what most people going for a TDI conversion in a Vanagon do.