We have one really competent dealer about 70 miles away. I will ask them about the issue when down there next. The closer dealer has nowhere the same reputation for service quality and knowledge.

There is a strong possibility they are the flagship for service dealership when it comes to their product for a great distance. People that have purchased at the other dealers go to them as well when they are unhappy.

I know your issue is very common and extensively discussed on the Volkswagon sites. The place I am thinking about may have worked out something. It never hurts to ask. It is like asking a lady. She will probably say no hope but there is a chance of yes I can fix you up.

There is no way that volkswagon would issue a TSB on this in my opinion unless forced too. It is a bit of a safety issue though. Again it is just the way the company is. Yours is still under warranty as well I believe.

They have a portable scanner to check all the engine operational parameters on these diesels for a long time while on the road. Many values are tweeked for the individual car in production. The tech can of course modify them. Then again maybe there is no cure but the dealership I refer to is the place to ask.

Also it might not hurt to talk to customer service but do not expect much. Unless they have changed. In my limited experience they were like robots programmed to say no. Yet after the fiasco with the emissions perhaps they have changed to save the brand.

There always is that chance I suppose. That joke of a customer service department I dealt with showed about the same intelligence as a rock. In my opinion it has hurt the brand.

Last thought I might consider. Take the wives car to a dealership. Test drive a used car with the same setup as yours. Same year if possible. Clutch acts better or worse or just the same. They had some issues with the double mass flywheels. It is very remotely possible that you have a defect. I doubt it but still would check.

You too have driven cars for a very long time. It is scary when you are not absolutely confident it will not stall out. It bothered me on mine. It kind of has the same issue but not as severe. The key system where you have to totally back the key off to get past the safety system to prevent energizing the starter. While the engine is running take takes time as well. Time that you may not have in certain situations.

The large and much longer cushioning springs in that double mass flywheel make the ones that are in most clutch plates totally insignifigant. There are no springs in your clutch plate. Your thoughts that the engine self kills below a certain rpm threshold is far from out to lunch. They would not design this to prevent lugging I believe at the same time. It would more likely be a design flaw .

I actually have some information for you. We have about the same engine blocks with two different fuelling systems. The wife mentioned that after I stalled out. In stop and go traffic at a road repaving site. We have two seasons this far north. Winter and tear up the pavement.. She noticed there was a little black smoke on the restart. She was following me home right behind me. So I do not think it is fuel related.

Restarts or general starts are instantainious on these engines. I touch the start position and instantly pretty much release it and observe on the the tach that it is running. I know this sounds unbalanced but it is factual. Also it has nothing to do with the emissions cheating system since I do not have that.

If I keep this car and I expect to. I am going to make the egr system off road legal. Or I guess I could drop the car off at volkswagon and ask them to program it to cheat. They seem to have some experience in that area. You just would not believe the amount of buildup that can occur in the intake system on these with that egr system in operation.

It is not that I want to cheat. It is pretty time intensive to tear the intake system off and clean it up periodically. Plus it cuts power down obviously at least a little. It may hurt the fuel milage a little as well. This is not a toy like egr system as in gas cars. It is designed to put a lot of exhaust back into the intake system. There is even a coolant cooled sizable stainless steel heat exchanger for the exhaust gasses. This adds heat to the cooling system but that is not an issue as their cooling systems have usually been overkill. Pus the engines are so efficient they generate little heat.

In fact there are glow plugs in the cooling system to get the coolant temperature up faster so you have a heater quicker. I have to wonder what a replacement alternator would be and have no wish to look. The glow plugs and there are probably 7 of them. Should last as they are seldom really needed by this engine unless it is really cold. That is a good thing as these are not the old Mercedes glow plugs in price. The ones In the water jacket that are called up below a certain operational temperature if the heater controls are on. Should last as they are not really stressed the same when operationally immersed in the coolant.

My engine is strong but not as strong as yours would be. My getting the egr circuit off line should equalize the two. These engines make substantial power and that is one reason people like driving them. Decent power and really decent fuel milage. Although up here since fuel costs more we might appreciate it even more. The fuel prices adjust here weekly. Four dollars and ninety cents an American gallon in my province this week for diesel. Gas is even higher. We buy it in liters but the conversion is simple.

I have two simple predictions. To get permanently rid of this low torque at idle rpms situation. The next generation of these volkswagon diesel engines may have variable cam timing. Their lack of torque is just too obvious at the very lower end to ignore. In your case my feeling is you just need a little more torque in that rpm area. Oddly enough our 2000 had torque seemingly all over the place. Perhaps just less at the higher end.

The second prediction is an aftermarket cam may appear on the market for these engines at some point. There are some out there now but no information if they help or are just the same grinds as the originals.

Where I can work the torque band in this car if I really want faster acceleration. At two thousand rpm going up a certain local substantial hill I do not have to drop a gear and the car seems not to notice the hill much either. A gas car would have to drop a gear or struggle seriously. Or at least the bulk of the four cylinder ones would.