[9guy9]

As a VW tech I'll mention a few things about the TDI. 09+ have the 2.0l TDi engine. The prior 1.9L was a much cruder stinky old diesel engine. That said, they got great millage. The 1.9l is the engine that has made many VW diesel nuts fall in love with VW's. Its a pretty stout engine, its only common problems are intakes clogging with carbon, and egr coolers burning up. A few have problems with the injector seats in the heads, requiring new heads.

The 2.0l has a lot more power and runs much cleaner. However it is more complex and therefore has more opportunities for problems. All the 2.0l's have either a DSG or a manual. The DSG is a nice sporty auto. They do have a couple weaknesses, the dual mass flywheels occasionally go bad at a cost of about a grand. The other issue has been mechatronics units (basically the DSG's valve body) going bad, which are covered under extended warranty until 100k. All the 2.0l's have particulate filters which are going to be a upcoming high cost issue. Vw claims they are only good for something like 115K miles and cost a couple grand to replace.

Overall I think TDI's are great for people doing a lot of driving where 40+ mpg's offsets the maintenance costs. If you are doing little driving or making short trips stay away. Diesels take a much longer time to reach operating temps, and the particulate filters need extended hwy driving to regenerate. The new Passats and all diesel Touregs use diesel fluid, which isn't really too big a deal, its cheap and doesn't need to be filled to often.

With any car 10k on a oil change is a bad idea, VW says to do it every 10K because it helps sell cars and they pay for the first 3. I highly recommend doing it at 5k.

If you like VW's but not the idea of diesel, the 2.5l 5cyl is a very nice reliable engine that will easily get over 30mpg hwy.