Loving My “New” Golf TDI Sportwagen

[MassWineGuy]

I wasn’t really even looking to replace my wonderful, still strong, 258,XXX miles 2003 Jetta TDI wagon. But a TDI enthusiast about five minutes away was selling his 2015 Golf SEL TDI Sportwagen (6-speed manual) for a very good price, despite needing a new timing belt.

So I went, I looked, I drove and I bought. Quite a difference from my MK4, which continues to hum along with predictable repairs and routine maintenance. Not thrilled about selling it. But my son is buying it, so at least I can visit it once in a while.

I just started driving it for my daily ride, so I’m still getting used to it. Hoping for decent mpg, though I know it won’t match the ‘03.

 

[Cuzoe]

Depending on your types of drives, you could easily get mid 40s. I have sub 2 mile commute which isn't great for cars in general, but especially the TDI and it's very rare I don't break 40.

I've had an emissions compliant tune on it, from Kerma, for most of the car's life. It does advertise better economy, which I don't doubt. But I suspect it's not significantly better so you should still see something similar.

 

[MassWineGuy]

How does your Kerma tune improve the engine?

 

[Cuzoe]

The performance is night and day. They have two versions of the tune. They call it stage 1 and 1+. They both have the same peak but one plus brings the torque on a little earlier.

This is the only tune I've tried so don't take it as an endorsement of them over any other tunes. I don't have experience with anything else. But here's a link to the page. Better to read it from them than take it from me I suppose...

https://kermatdi.com/i-1102-new-q-p...lf-beetle-passat-golf-sportwagen-audi-a3.html

As mentioned before, my commute is short and I've had the tune for as long as I can remember. So I can't speak to the economy improvement or change in Regen behavior compared to stock, but I have no reason not to believe their claims. All I can speak to is the power increase and it's drastic.

Drivetrain is otherwise fully stock, all emissions equipment and clutch. I've passed snog a few times here in Cali now, did not need to flash back to stock.