[greesha]

Hello,
I personally am not looking for a touareg.
However a friends family is in the market.

They are very interested in the TDI both for MPGs, and ease of towing, small boat and snow mobiles.
I recommended that they drive a touareg, and they really like it.

Only problem, is daily its driven a couple miles, if that to work, and then back to their house. and once or twice a week, on the highway. All in all, they drive 12k a year. Make several trips to their lake house, 3 hours a way a year.
I mentioned my concern about the dpf, and the short trips, only occasional highway use.


We have a 07 e320 bluetec, with a 3l v6 and a DPF, however we have 135k miles on it, and it sees lots of highway driving daily, so no issues with the dpf.

As they asked me for advice, I mentioned I would dig around a little on the subject.

Any input from you guys? Yes the v6 fsi is an option, but they like the way the tdi pulls.

 

[Niner]

Once or twice a week on the highway for 12-15 minutes will be fine with this diesel motor, moreso if the fuel they run has 2-5% biodiesel, but even on straight regular D2 diesel fuel, the highway trips will keep things healthy.

 

[greesha]

Niner,
Thank you for the response! I was thinking something along those lines. And if it does need replacing, from my understanding, it is much easier to tune a vw ecu post removal of the dpf than our mercedes

would love to hear input from others as well!

TIA

 

[tadpole]

I think the bigest issue is the winter temps and the short trips. A couple of miles will not get the temps up at all and if this is happening for wks it could be an issue. No car including gassers want a real short trip in the winter. All sorts of moisture will build up in the exhaust as well as the pollution plumbing.

 

[Niner]

The 240 HP diesel motors in the 2013 warm up extremely quick, compared to the older CATA motors of 2009-2013 in North America. Just telling you, because I notice how quickly the temp needle rises in mine, compared to my 2012.

Maybe they need to take the long way home from work?

 

[tadpole]

I was unaware that the v-6s were different between 2011 and 2013. Interesting, wonder why they didn't up the HP more? Most people who drive both can't tell the difference, torque is the same. Don't know why one would heat up faster either. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Niner]

I was unaware that the v-6s were different between 2011 and 2013. Interesting, wonder why they didn't up the HP more? Most people who drive both can't tell the difference, torque is the same. Don't know why one would heat up faster either. Anyone have any ideas?

Having driven a 2012 TDI sport for 14k miles, and then stepping in to a 2013, it is very obvious to me, the loss of torque at 1500 rpms, versus about 1800 rpms on the 2013, due to the increase in the size of the turbo, to make it more "old time racy" for the Porsche Cayenne diesel of 2013 also.

Frankly, I like the 2012 turbo and tune much more, it's better for how I drive and how I use my Touareg to haul my travel trailer around. The 2012 just has better and more low end grunt, which is exactly what I want when trailering. The 406 ft lbs of torque come in at 1500 rpm, not 1800

 

[alxdgr8]

The 240 HP diesel motors in the 2013 warm up extremely quick, compared to the older CATA motors of 2009-2013 in North America. Just telling you, because I notice how quickly the temp needle rises in mine, compared to my 2012.

Maybe they need to take the long way home from work?

Are you watching the water or oil temp? The water temp warms up than oil on my '10 TDI. For my 10 mile highway commute, water is up to temp by ~3-4 miles, but my oil isn't up to temp until ~8 miles.

 

[Niner]

We've no idea what oil temps are on 2012 or 2013 motors. However, it is well known that the oil cooler cools when the oil temp is higher than the coolant temp, and the oil cooler heats up the oil when the coolant temp exceeds the oil temperature.