Passat 2.5 tdi
Discussion
JimmyConwayNW said:
the 2.5 v6 was the van engine iirc 1.9tdi is a much better engine.
That's just 'lazy reporting' by some - the contemporary VW commercial engines were 5 pots, but some people saw 2.5 Tdi Passat, 2.5 TDi Transporter and got 2+2=5 it's the same engine VAG used in the A4, A6 and Superb and evolved into the 3.0 V6 which I think is still current, but is greatly improved. It actually won an award for international engine of the year. My Dad bought a B5.5 one in 2002 for about 28k (which was insane really, but he loved it) in fact he still owns it he ran it from 2002 to about 2005 when I took it over until 2010, it's in storage now, but he uses it when he's in the UK.
It's done 140k miles now, and whilst it's been in the same family for over a decade, it's not some molly coddled 'member of the family' it's actually had a pretty tough life, missed services (my brothers fault) and a small prang (Dad's) in that time it's broken down once with a worn alternator.
It's actually a really nice drive, it's completely effortless to drive and it so much smoother than the 1.9, in fact it much smoother than the current gen 2.0 common rail I've got now. Ours was a manual, but they mostly seem to be autos which I think would suit it more, it really doesn't need a lot of gear shifting.
Doesn't make much sense on paper though, for a diesel it's not very frugal, you really need to nurse it to get 40mpg, for a 2.5 V6 it's not very fast or powerful - later ones had 163bhp, but they're still slow. They're usually top-spec cars, but in 2014 that really doesn't add up to much, climate control, heated leather and 6 disc CD player.
One word of warning though, whilst it's a normal VAG car, with a normal VAG drive train it's a really rare mix a lot of the engine peripherals are unique to just that car and are obscenely expensive and places like Euro Car Parts and GSF don't stock some of the things they do for the 4 pots and they're according to all the garages it's ever been to a "complete slag to work on" the alternator took 2 days and the guy had most of the front of the car off and once I changed the battery which would have been a lot easier if I started with the battery and built the car around it.
Not exactly, but sort of comparable - we sold an A4 1.9TDi for an A4 2.5 V6 Tdi (FWD). I put the FWD in brackets as the only Passat 2.5 TDi I saw had 4-Motion.
My thoughts?
The V6 is not an economical diesel engine. Certainly not the sort of figures you'd expect from a diesel small family car. Where the 1.9 would see 50mpg on a long motorway, I don't think I ever saw 40mpg in the 2.5. In fact, it was probably worse than either the 530d that replaced it, or the 3.0TDi A6 that we have now - both of which will do (just) over 40 mpg on the motorway.
However, it was noticeably quicker than the 1.9 as well as being smoother. We bought ours with 70k on it and ran it to 120k with no engine trouble at all.
BTW. I'm making massive assumptions that the Audi unit was essentially the same as the VW unit.
ETA: I think the comment above about them normally being specced in nicer cars could well be true. Out 1.9TDi was poverty spec. Cloth interior, no added extras, but the 2.5Tdi was full leather, special paint, etc etc. Though, as also mentioned above, they were all things that you'd expect on most cars these days.
My thoughts?
The V6 is not an economical diesel engine. Certainly not the sort of figures you'd expect from a diesel small family car. Where the 1.9 would see 50mpg on a long motorway, I don't think I ever saw 40mpg in the 2.5. In fact, it was probably worse than either the 530d that replaced it, or the 3.0TDi A6 that we have now - both of which will do (just) over 40 mpg on the motorway.
However, it was noticeably quicker than the 1.9 as well as being smoother. We bought ours with 70k on it and ran it to 120k with no engine trouble at all.
BTW. I'm making massive assumptions that the Audi unit was essentially the same as the VW unit.
ETA: I think the comment above about them normally being specced in nicer cars could well be true. Out 1.9TDi was poverty spec. Cloth interior, no added extras, but the 2.5Tdi was full leather, special paint, etc etc. Though, as also mentioned above, they were all things that you'd expect on most cars these days.
Edited by Kell on Friday 7th February 14:55
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