Hello VW people. I'm looking at replacing my 2003 Nisson Sentra Spec V (coming on 200,000 miles) this next year and have some questions.
1. Does VW use belts or chains to drive the cams on the current 1.8 and 2.0 gas motors? 2.0 Diesel?
2. I know diesels are long life motors, do the current crop of gas motors enjoy the same reputation?
3. How does the rest of the vehicle hold up over the long run?
My Nissan still runs strong and doesn't burn oil but the rest of the car is showing it's age. I try to buy new and then run the thing into the ground over my long distance commuting. I appreciate your opinions and advice.

Thanks,

tcallre

 

Welcome to the forum.

You don't say where you live but I would guess USA.

It depends which VW you're after?

VW use a mixture of timing belt and chained engines, TDI engines are basically all timing belt which do go wrong if you don't change them at the specified interval, around 80k miles.

TDI buyers guides and problem areas.

 

Thanks for the reply. I live in the SW USA. My Sentra is the first Japanese car with a chain since my 85 Toyota PU. Priorities for replacement are: Long life, manual transmission, approaching Japanese reliability, power similar to the 03 Spec V Sentra (170 HP), rated for regular gas, preferably chain driven cams, better GPA rating than the 03 Spec V Sentra (28 Highway), price new around 20,000. I'm looking at the 14 Jetta SE and I'm thinking it's a close go. I'd like to try VW to have car with a different character than my Japanese cars (Toyota, Honda, Suzuki, Mazda, and Nisson) Again thanks for the help and opinions.