RichC | July 15, 2008
Although this is by no means a challenging milestone for Volkswagen diesel cars, it is a personal milestone for my daughter. Her first car, a 2001 VW Jetta TDI, has been treating her well for 100,000 miles now and she sent me an early morning photo from her Palm Treo Centro as it hit 100K. […]
RichC | July 14, 2008
The dealer demo TDIs have been slow to arrive to Cincinnati area dealerships, but today did get a chance to head over to Fairfield VW and test drive the new 2009 Jetta ‘clean diesel.’ Its basically the same body (A5) that has been part of the VW Jetta line up for a couple of years […]
RichC | March 11, 2008
The large 2008 Mercedes-Benz GL320 CDI SUV equipped with the 3.0 Liter diesel was reviewed on the PBS program Motorweek this past weekend. I took a test drive back in August (here) and was impressed with this expensive and large vehicle. It certainly benefits from the diesel powerplant which will be upgraded with Urea injection […]
RichC | February 28, 2008
Wired highlighted the new Audi TT 2.0 TDI, but can’t confirm if it will be available North America. Notice the comment “Roadster” below … might we see a TDI convertible? (LINK to full article) Behold the TT 2.0 TDI. The 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine (pictured above), matched to a six-speed manual transmission and Quattro all-wheel drive, […]
RichC | December 30, 2007
Popular Mechanics has a great article in their January issue on the coming clean diesels noting “Hybrids beware!” The author Ben Hewitt points out that the new breed of diesels from companies like Volkswagen are capable of better fuel economy (74.3 mpg for the VW Polo TDI) and produce fewer greenhouse gases than some gas/electric […]
RichC | December 23, 2007
The timing belt replacement is the bane of Volkswagen TDI ownership — partially due to the complexity and cost of servicing, yet it needs to be taken seriously as in any zero-clearance engine. Understanding what’s included in changing timing belts of any car can help one better understand what should be included in this service. […]
RichC | October 3, 2007
It has been a rare vehicle that has charmed me the way my 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI has … but all good things eventually come to an end; today I sold my car. I’ve spent the last year trying to solve a sore leg/hip problem that has been aggravated by my regular four hour trips […]
RichC | August 29, 2007
Speedway in Brimfield Ohio is still selling 500ppm LSD In a previous post I commented to the effect that maybe my 2003 VW Jetta TDI’s fuel economy might go down after purchasing new tires with a more aggressive all-weather tread. After two tanks of fuel, one B-20 (20% biodiesel and 80% Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel), […]
RichC | June 26, 2007
No big deal … but this weekend’s graduation trip took me to western New York in my little diesel Volkswagen and my TDI turned the odometer over to the sixth digit … 100,000 miles. As far as modern cars go, the 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI has treated me very well. It has operated pretty much […]
RichC | May 8, 2007
The Green Car Congress posted that the new Volkswagen Jetta Sportwagen that has been displayed at autoshows (see previous post) will also be heading to the US with a diesel option … eventually. The wagon model of the New Jetta is anticipated by VW TDI buyers who find the added versatility and cargo carrying capability […]
RichC | April 4, 2007
A segment on the FoxNews program The O’Reilly Factor caught my eye last night in discussing American automobiles. Mark Laneve, Vice President of Sales for General Motors, was interviewed and promoted the fuel efficiency of GM’s vehicles. He presented the case that GM has been gaining ground and has passed their rivals in building cars […]
RichC | February 27, 2007
According to the Treehugger website, the Discovery Channel will air a FutureCar episode on Wednesday, February 28th … it might be worth recording. One of the cars worth considering is the Opel Eco Speedster. Its a concept car, but shows just was a sleek high performance diesel is capable of doing. The powerplant is a […]
RichC | December 20, 2006
I finally pulled some 3 month old VW TDI “How-To” footage off the camera and encoded it last night before going to bed. I haven’t had a chance to put fresh eyes on it or even watch it through, so before I post it to the CinciTDI video section, perhaps a couple Volkswagen TDI oriented […]
RichC | December 19, 2006
Its about time for my 2003 Volkswagen Jetta TDI to receive her new timing belt. As I close in on 100,000 miles the recommended services is to replace not only the timing belt, but the serpentine belt, the idler rollers and the water pump. Thankfully the later models come from the factory with a long […]
RichC | November 16, 2006
According to the online magazine Winding Road, BMW shared what it is planning to export to the US in 2008 — diesel related — and they will publish it in next months issue. According to Matt Davis from Winding Road, “we’ve just driven the 335d Touring – a thoroughly hot wagon with a bi-turbo version […]
RichC | October 5, 2006
It was a sad day for my daughter and her 2001 VW Jetta TDI after an Audi bumped into her door in a parking garage. Needless to say she was not happy and neither was the Audi driver; the door of the Volkswagen was no match for the Audi’s bumper. While stopping to see her […]
RichC | August 13, 2006
A friend of mine sent me an article in Wired Magazine’s blog section on a mild hybrids, but the link that caught my eye was the BMW 2007 X5 preview article in Edmonds. I suppose I’m just dreaming that someday such vehicle with a diesel will be in the US? From what I’ve heard, RL, […]
RichC | July 26, 2006
I’m posting this particular Volkswagen TDI “How To” video clip here before I send it to Jim at DieselGeek or post to the CinciTDI website in hopes to have a couple extra eyeballs checking it out. I’m not all that concerned about filmmaking criticism (my ego can’t take that), but I want to make sure […]
RichC | July 11, 2006
Diesel car lovers in the US are going to have a lean year in 2007 before several manufacturers have their North American ready diesels figured out. Volkswagen, the number one diesel car manufacturer announced that it will not be producing a TDI for 2007. The new common rail diesel will replace it and will not […]
RichC | June 7, 2006
I just drove the Jeep Liberty diesel (again) last week and was planning to make some comments on the vehicle … unfortunately a blog post in AutoBlogGreen mentioned that the Detroit News indicated Daimler Chrysler would be killing the CRD. According to the articles, the new tougher federal emissions standards coming next year make it […]
RichC | April 21, 2006
The JCB Dieselmax streamliner car will attempt to break the record for a diesel powered ‘land’ vehicle on the Bonneville Salt Flats this summer. In August of 2006, Britian’s Wing Commander Andy Green, will race the JCB Dieselmax car across the famous Utah desert aiming for 300 mph. Andy Green is known as the ‘fastest […]
RichC | March 17, 2006
I took advantage of warm oil after a long drive tonight to do an oil extraction (change) in my Volkswagen Jetta TDI tonight. I thought I would included a photo of a couple of appropriate filters with the plastic oil dam inside since I happened to have both the OEM VW brand (from the dealership) […]
RichC | March 9, 2006
The 2006 TDIClub and CinciTDI DVD is nearly ready to ship. The ‘teaser’ video clip is being posted here before being sent to the groups video pages. This is primarily to test the H.264 recorded ‘teaser’ clip in hopes to get a little feedback. Most Quicktime 7.0 users with relatively fast computers shouldn’t have problems […]
RichC | March 8, 2006
A friend of mine spotted this switch on one of the forums he visits, and I thought was worth a post. Actually it segues into a pet peeve of mine, that of people confusing the ‘no conversion biodiesel’ alternative with just ‘straight’ (SVO) or ‘waste’ (WVO) conversions. A quick comparison between what I call biodiesel […]
RichC | March 1, 2006
For those of us interested in diesel powered small cars, we enjoy the exposure the RallyVW team gives to not only to our Volkswagen TDIs, but biodiesel as well. The 2006 Rally-America season is preparing for the third race of the season as the end of February marks a finish to the 100 Acre Wood […]
RichC | October 7, 2005
The excitement in SW Ohio is already starting for the Cincinnati Bengal faithful. After a stellar 4-0 start the fans are anticipating great things from this confident group of players. A huge credit has to go to the outstanding performance of the defense; they have never had an offensive killing defense capable of generating turnovers […]
RichC | August 22, 2005
“The morning after” the great CinciTDI “Intake Cleaning” GTG, or party depending on your perspective, sort of left me melancholy. The August GTG day is now gone after a long time in coming, and was even more successful than I envisioned. The real THANK YOU goes to Bruce for the mechanical aptitude and ‘nuts and […]
RichC | May 1, 2005
I spent Saturday, April 30 at with a bunch of TDI owners at Jon Hamilton’s tuning session, driver for team rallyvw.com. The event was scheduled as a fundraiser for the race team around chip tunning by Jeff (Rocketchip) and injector nozzles from Charlie (KermaTDI). It was a busy day as there were 9 sets of […]
RichC | April 28, 2005
I had a chance to test drive a new 2005 Volkswagen Black on Black Jetta V TDI today. This was the first opportunity to see the new reskinned TDI Jetta and I was very impressed. This new Jetta is not just sporting a new skin; its most definitely a totally new car with a bunch […]