Welcome, and I hat e to say it but I'm laughing. Love the first post.
Feel free to ask a way and we will always do our best to answer. Most of us are here in Colorado and can lend a hand if needed.
Since you have a TDI, it is probably worth checking out
http://www.tdiclub.com/ as well. Dedicated to all things TDI. They will probably be a tremendous resource on TDI related questions. There are a few members here as well that have TDIs.
There is a show this weekend in the Springs,
Dubs Along the Rockies. You both should come down if you can. Great opportunity to meet people and check out some great cars. You don't have to enter, I think the spectator fee is $3/person. It is at PPIR.
VW's will always be a love hate. Love the looks, driving them, the handling, the people. Hate, they tend to be more needy when it comes to maintenance than the likes of a Honda or Toyota. There are trade offs.
If the car is out of warranty, I strongly suggest finding a good independent shop for your maintenance needs. At least for stuff you don;t want to do yourself.
The TDI's I believe have a more frequent timing belt service interval so stay on top of that. I think they all have the glow plug harness fail at some point, but it's usually at high miles. Get it replaced when it fails and should be good for the same time frame.
One of my co workers has a 2000 Golf TDI. Lots of miles, and very few issues in 9 years. A close friend has a Jetta TDI, he is about due for the timing belt, but other than regular maintenance no issues.
There are a number of local groups, some have weekly GTGs. We do not, but we try to get time to get together when we can. This summer just flew by. We tend to be more on the technical side of things, we love cars.
Once again welcome, if you get some pictures, post them up in the member rides forum. Hopefully you two can make it to the show this weekend.