At the TDICLUB website, they have a list on how obsessed you are with the TDI car. Here are my favorites in no particular order.
When you meet a stranger in a TDI you start excitedly talking about mufflerectomies, ventectomies, and tire pressure and they look at you blankly, gather their kids and leave.
When you have your friends in your car and you make them look at the trip odometer when it shows 600 miles on the tank. (And you get a little mad when they just don’t really seem to care.)
You’ve ever gone to 5 places for motor oil and shake your head in disgust because the people there have never heard of the VW 505.00 specification, and then feel pretty good because you know what the 505 spec are.
Your 1 year old car has 37,000 miles on it – and that fact doesn’t bother you.
When the light turns green you stomp the “go” pedal and leave everyone in your dust. And when you get stopped at the next light and they all finally catch up to you, you rationalize it by thinking “Even though I did that. I still got better mileage than they did”.
You’ve considered taking off necessary and legally required parts of your car just to get an extra two miles a gallon. “Those mirror, I don’t really need them, do I”.
You pull up behind another VW thinking at a distance that it’s a TDI and feel a bit sorry for the other driver when you don’t see TDI on the trunk.
You’re on a job interview and think it’s perfectly OK to work into the conversation that your car is a TDI, even though it has no relevance for the job.
Cleaning your snow screen in the summer somehow makes perfect sense to you.
On long trips you actually get angry at yourself because you have to stop to go to the bathroom three times before your car needs fuel.
You know vent and air condition are two totally unrelated things.
You roll down your windows when you drive next to a wall, solid fence, or building just so you can hear the turbo whine.
You sometimes sing the theme song to “Convoy” just because you now stop at Truck stops for fuel. “Dark of the moon, on the 5th of June and a Kenworth pullin’ log, Cab-over Pete with a Reefer on and a Jimmy haulin’ hogs…”
Scoff at people who aren’t “man enough” to use the high volume hose… (until you spill a half gallon of fuel on your shoes.)
You have to tell the gas station attendant, “Yes, I know it is a diesel pump”.
You risk getting in trouble at work because you are checking the tdiclub.com website.
You feel incomplete without checking tdiclub.com every so often to see what new stuff has been posted.
You are disappointed when you pass another TDI on the road and they don’t wave back.
Starting your car makes you smile
You wish for a longer commute.
You see another TDI in a store parking lot, you park next to it, even if there is a space closer to the door.
You get seriously concerned when your TDI is at the mercy of the dealership.
You brag about your mileage.
You drive tenderly to save up soot to “smoke” anyone who ticks you off!”
You look for reasons to work on your car, even though nothing’s wrong.
You buy Delvac-1 oil by the case.
You won’t settle for red gasoline cans. You got to have the yellow diesel ones.
Your wife buys a TDI, and out of jealousy, you buy a rabbit diesel, 3 extra IDI engines and are still upset when you find a turbo motor for $200 and it’s just not enough so you have $1500 worth of mod’s planned for a $50 car.
You start thinking about all the cool mods you could do and you’ve never been a “car” guy in your life.
When starting up a hill, I’ll switch the vents to recirculation mode and let out a dramatic huff and a sigh. Passengers then ask “what’s wrong?” To which I reply something like, “All these stinky gassers need to rev their engines so darn high getting up the hill – I don’t want to smell that crap!”
You fell a sense of pride when one of your children ask’s for you to find them a TDI for their first car.
You consider an article on the technical properties of diesel fuel to be “light bedtime reading”.
When somebody else uses the word ‘Gas’ while riding in your TDI, you say, “Don’t ever use that kind of language in my car again!”
You’re obsessed when you go to the stealership to take a TDI for a test drive and you know more about the engine and features than the salesman does.
You offer to drive for a lunch with coworkers in hopes of getting to brag about your TDI.
You forego getting food during you 30 minute lunch break so that you can browse the tdiclub.com site.
Your laptop smells like diesel.
You pull along side another TDI and neither one of you will look over at each other because you think you’re the coolest one.
“you have your girlfriend read this thread and she keeps on saying ‘Yes that you. . . yes and that too, . . . and that. . . ‘ while getting increasingly worried as she begins to realize the true depth of the problem. Hers, not yours.”
Everyone you meet you want to convert to a fellow TDI-owner.
You assume every TDI owner MUST be a member of tdiclub.com and wonder how they could possibly get the most out of their TDI if they aren’t a member.
You started looking at every Chevy, Ford, and Dodge pickup you see to see if it is a Duramax, Powerstroke, or Cummins engine respectfully.
You get in another car (gas), turn the key and wait for the glow plug light to go off.
You watch worlds scariest police chases, and wonder, “Hey, if it was a TDI, would they chase it from LA to Canada?”
When you drive without the A/C when it’s 90 deg outside, with 90% humidity just to increase your fuel mileage, and your windows are up!
You actually laugh in someones face when they find out their VR6’s spark plugs are 13 dollars apiece.
When the only riding lawn mower you really want is a $5,200 Kubota with a tiny 2 cylinder diesel.
You know you’re obsessed when you hear your office mates bragging about their “ideals” using numbers like 36-24-34 and you proudly jump out of your cubical and state you’re getting 48-38-42. Your buddies fall on the floor laughing and you realize they were not talking about mileage. (best-worse-average miles per gallon)
You wait just the right moment (at night) to downshift in 4th so the tailgater behind you gets “the smoke of his life”!
You know you’re obsessed when you’ve sold your TDI and still come back to tdiclub to read the forum.
When you can’t wait to start the engine after filling up. So all the folks standing there thinking you’ve just put the wrong fuel in your car can hear the sweet sound of surprise.