Buyer's regret? I still don't think so.

Bought a 2003 Jetta TDI earlier this year. The plan was to teach myself to work on it so when anything bad happened I could fix it. I'm moderately good at car repair work and can do brakes , change thermostats, charge A/C, diagnose problems, etc etc. Im excellent at following procedure and following somebody who is doing a job.

Well that was when I had a place to work. I don't now. Its hard to do these things in a slanted lot or doing brakes off of a roadside jack. I actually just fucked myself up pretty bad today doing something that would have been a ton easier doing on jack stands. Blah fuck.

So now I need to get a bunch of work done. I don't trust my arrogant friend, who refuses to follow somebody elses procedure, and a shop total will definitely be above $1400, at least.

Part of me wants to buy the tools to do it myself, and I always have a little doubt in my ability to do car work? Idk.

Maybe I am feeling a bit of buyers remorse. :/ but Damn that car was awesome. 52mpg. :(

What do you guys think? Shop it and bite the bullet or get a little bit adventurous.

I wonder if I could work out of storage unit?

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Here are some suggestions that I found by Googling "rent garage space":

anyone ever rent garage space? - The Garage Journal Board

Rent-a-garage intown? Hobby space / mechanic space (Roswell: apartment complex, leasing, self-storage) - City-Data Forum

Renting a garage/workspace in town - ADVrider

Renting a workshop bay or lift?: Grassroots Motorsports forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

By the way, what is a TDI? My Jetta never got much more than 30 mpg, and that was only on cross-country drives.

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I would look on some VW-specific forums and see if anyone has posted a shop manual. That will help you a ton with diagnosing, etc. The only problem is, german car parts are still expensive. If you are fairly skilled at car repair, I wouldn't sweat it. The more you do, the more you'll learn.

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Money spent on tools is never wasted as long as they are of reasonable quality. Rent a storage unit? Why not? I restored an antique thirty foot boat in one. You have to let the owners know what you are up to though. Short term they may not mind.

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"It's cunnilingus and psychiatry that's led to this" - Tony Soprano

TDI is Turbo Diesel Injection. They're awesome and the engine will tick forever; its just the shitty VW around it that holds it back.

I've found some very good source for parts and actually have a Bentley repair manual, too. Its just the fear of making that un-fixable mistake.