Project Diesel

Which brand should i choose?

  • Audi

  • BMW

  • Mercedes


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Points
1
Location
Canada
Car
Jetta 1.8T
Want to figure out which diesel is going to be less bother and better to tune in general.
Between Mercedes Audi and BMW. As well which specific cars I should look at.
Suggestions?
 
I've had my VW from new with the BMN PD170 engine. It's now 10 years old with 56k on it and apart from a Turbo boost sensor and the usual DPF clogging issues (I don't do long enough journeys) it's been a great engine. VAG group engines probably have the most aftermarket tuners I would think to get tuning goodies. Darkside Developments being one of the masters.
 
Depends a lot on the year IMO when it comes to Audi. 2007-2008 - late PD engines are great to work on and give lots in return for your efforts. Earlier ones had a few issues but even those should have been sorted out now. Then I would jump to the 2012 facelift models where reliability came back. I'd also recommend you avoid all VAG group cars with DPF filters unless you do lots of motorways and drive them hard.

BMW's 330 and 325 are pretty good and offer good returns for a remap. The 3.0 diesel is in M3 territory when remapped and is probably one of the best diesel engines out there IMO, at least alongside the Jaguar diesel engine.
 
Have a feeling all VAG engines from 2009 had dpfs, certainly all 2.0ltr ones did. DPFs are on every diesel now and are OK as long as you know how to keep it clean which is where most of the problems begin with, education.
BMW have their problems with swirl flaps or something like that and Mercs have injector issues I believe so who knows what best ?-/
 
There are still some 140bhp models without DPFs in the early CR engine days. All 170bhp models came with a DPF. Not sure when these started to be fitted to the 140's though, if they did it will be relatively recently.
 
There are still some 140bhp models without DPFs in the early CR engine days. All 170bhp models came with a DPF. Not sure when these started to be fitted to the 140's though, if they did it will be relatively recently.
I thought the same but have found out from dealer it was 2009 Waynne and to confirm my bro in law March 2009 VW Golf mk6 model has just needed his dpf cleaning and EGR valve replacing. Maybe some models crept through the system without one but it will need to be looked for at any potential purchase.
 
Aye, all depends on the engine. The earlier pre 2009 646 MB 2.1 engine is unburstable, but single turbo so not much above 200bhp unless you upgrade turbo and injectors. No DPF to worry about though. Later twinturbo 651 can be taken to around 240bhp but there are a lot of reported issues of cam chain stretch with this engine.

I have a 646 with 170bhp, it's 8 years old but it's smooth and relatively quiet. Going to remap it next month, just to 190bhp with a 60nm torque increase.
 

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