The TDI's 2nd year anniversary past by quietly on 07-07-2015.

Over the past two years, the car is still very dependable. Still being used as a daily driver. Occasionally I've needed to take a few trips out of town, have no worries about using the car for the trips. I actually look forward to taking it on trips. The A/C , cruise & stereo all work great.

Today I waxed the car, in the past 4 months, the sun again had the paint looking a bit faded. In less than an hour, the palm buffer had the paint shiny once again. I think the paint is single stage, due to the red showing up on the buffing pads. That's fine, it's no longer a chore to do by hand.



Still looking for an 88 bumper cover, although it's not on my must have list. Still have the grey tinted windows I bought a few years ago, if I get the car painted, will have those installed.

I can drive the car two different ways, aggressively or economically. Usually I drive it conservatively, I make it a goal to see how far I can travel to each tank. Currently according to the ultra gauge, the city mileage is 36 , the highway mileage is still in the mid 50's.

[This message has been edited by CoolBlue87GT (edited 12-31-2015).]

Finally got a day off where the weather & "to do stuff" list matched up. The drivers side headlight motor has been unable to open on it's own for some time now. I ordered replacement bushings from Rodney about a year & a half ago, installed them today. Took about 20 minutes this time, I've replaced about 4 now between all the fieros. Took some extra time and painted a few items under the front hood that needed some TLC.





I took a cruise around town to savor the moment knowing all the quirks have beed fixed, was an enjoyable drive. I had a smile on my face, The Fiero TDI was happy. Ahhh, what a nice day.

[This message has been edited by CoolBlue87GT (edited 02-20-2016).]

First off, let me say that a TDI swap in a Fiero is pretty freaking cool!

Looks like you have the '99.5-'05 TDI engine. Those are the best ones for fuel economy. Also, with a tune and a set of injector nozzles, you can get half again more power and torque. I wonder if BMWguru did this already?

My daily driver is a Jetta TDI. On a bad day, it gets 40 MPG. And that car is shaped like a brick. So it's no surprise you're getting such good fuel economy in your TDI Fiero.

Edit to add: I'm sure Dave told you about this already, but since the TDI is an interference engine, it's really important to keep up on timing belt changes. IIRC the interval is every 100k miles. It's also a good time to replace the water pump, since it's run off the timing belt. Just FYI.

[This message has been edited by Blacktree (edited 02-20-2016).]

quote Originally posted by Blacktree: First off, let me say that a TDI swap in a Fiero is pretty freaking cool! .......

Here's the link to the build http://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/082918.html

Dave did all the maintenance to the engine, including new belts, injectors, water pump ..... see the link for the full list,

Engine was from a 2000 Jetta. The car has been very dependable. ( knocks on wood ) There is plenty of power on tap, although I drive it economically to get the most mpg. I still find it interesting that a diesel engine is quieter than the V6 while cruising on the road.

Good info about the belt / maintenance. Back when I owned a 2dr Rabbit diesel, I had set an appointment to have it's timming belt replaced, had bought all the parts, and the day before the appointment, BAM !!! the belt broke, needless to say, the Rabbit died. Later, I bought a used 85 2dr Jetta diesel w/5 speed, that also was a dependable car, I put 225 thousand miles on it, when I sold it, the new owner paid more for it than I bought it for.

[This message has been edited by CoolBlue87GT (edited 03-05-2016).]

Looks like every six months the Florida sun fades the paint to a point where I need to buff it out again, so far I've been able to bring it back to a shiny finish about 4 times now. I love the look of a freshly waxed car. My neighbors must think I'm crazy for all the photo's I take of my car after cleaning it.

[This message has been edited by CoolBlue87GT (edited 04-18-2016).]

[This message has been edited by CoolBlue87GT (edited 07-10-2016).]