I've been looking for a new car for the wife and its going to be a compact wagon. That leaves the VW Sportwagen and Subaru as the only choices. Since we don't need AWD the VW is it. I swore I'd never buy a European car, but with a diesel option getting 40mpg I'm not hating it as much. Anyone familiar with them? If the engine goes 500,000 and the rest of the car falls apart it won't be saving us much money.

And yes, I know there was a Focus wagon. If the new version was sold here I would buy it, she hates the look of the old one.

 

Well I can tell you that when my friends VW's would need mechanical work, it was really expensive. But for the most part he could do the work himself, the dealership was really expensive for repairs.

Another friend of mine just got a Jetta diesel and is getting 46 MPG with it, he bought the extended warranty so he wouldn't have to mess with repairs himself

 

good motor, garbage electrical

 

I should be able to do it myself as well. Were the parts expensive or just the dealer?

I would like to get that, although even the certified used ones are running about 18g. Apparently a few are having fuel pump failures that require a full fuel system replacement. The premium for a diesel engine + diesel fuel + certified used + warranty is making it look less economical.

 

Parts were expensive some repairs were labor intensive

 

The wife drive an EOS, not a TDim ( I wish) still gets 32-34 actual MPG.

Two friends purchased a new VW Passat and both love them, great milage around 45-50 and they ride well and according to VW the milage should go up some.

My suggestion as I suggested to the wife, buy the extended warrant, bumper to bumper and trade just short of the end date for the warranty.

The EOS is a great but small car.

 

in all honesty, i sell the chevy cruze's, they push 50MPG and have better warranty. they also arent a fortune to fix, as VW's are the biggest PITFA to work on.

 

I am totally confused by Canadian mileage ratings. I was in Calgary last week and saw several commercials claiming ridiculous mpg. The only one I remember was the new Escape claiming 47mpg highway, the same car is 33mpg in the US. Why they use mpg and not kilometers per liter is even more strange.

Chevy is supposed to bring the diesel Cruze to the US next year but unfortunately not the wagon.

 

i had a '79 vw diesel rabbit 5spd with an extra fuel tank making about 24 gallons total. it could go 1000 miles on the highway without filling up...

great car until the block cracked... then the rabbit died (so to speak... )

 

Do VWs require a lot of special tools like Mercedes do?

 

no but you'll find a lot of things use an allen head bolt

 

If you decide to buy, get an extensive set of ratchets, swivels, extensions, and allen head sockets. I helped my neighbor replace a stuck thermostat, took 5+ hours to get to it, we didn't have swivels so that's what took so long....that and we were thinking like typical 'mericans- 'stat on the upper radiator hose, when in reality it was on the lower radiator hose...duhhh. Good luck with your search!

 

you will need a good set of metric sockets and as the other poster said allen
and torx heads
i always found vw's not too hard to work on even though some stuff is tough to get to...
good online resources at vwvortex.com

 

My friend took 2 days and had the front end of the car apart just to replace the thermostat

 

Thanks all. The used ones are holding there value so well that I'm leaning towards a new one that still has the full warranty.