since there has not been any post in the water cooled tech in a month I thought i would take the time to remind every to check there timing belts for cracks,  most are easy to look at by pulling the cover back a little and looking for wear.  A broken timing belt means bent valves or worse.

 A broken timing belt means bent valves or worse.

I actually saw a TDI, 1.9L Diesel once where the belt broke, and in the process of the valves being hit, it caught one of the valve heads, bending it, sent it up at an angle, and actually knocked the mechanical injector out of the head, destroying the actual casting of the head.      Actually, I saw two where this happened, but the other one broke a motor mount, causing all the mayem, so that one doesn't count....

Like Travis said, you can put some things off, but i would not reccomend putting off replacement of the timing belt.  and, for the later cars, always do any tensioners, idlers, and water pumps while you are in there.  It ain't cheap, but it's a lot better than the alternative.   

the diesels are cool when the vlaves either go though the piston or detroy the lifter and the cam , not as forgiving as a 1.8t

that was the one that u ended up with i believe

30,000+ on my bug since i changed the timing belt, still looks great! Just a note might be worth the extra money to change the alternator pulley while its apart, not fun having one go out 500 miles from home