Just paid off my 2008 Passat, get rid of it???

[Dice144]

So I am kind of OCD about paying off debt. Paid off the load faster than I planned.

The car has been nothing but problems. My 2007 cobalt had wayy less issues. Water pump, it took the dealer 3 times to get it right. Lucky that for once, got the warranty so only cost me $100 plus being pissed off.

Then this winter the transmission failed. It took the local VW dealer/the warranty company battling back and forth almost 3 weeks to fix it. Again the warranty paid for itself big time. $4700 repair they claimed. Cost me a $100 plus three weeks of buming rides/rental car for a week.

Frugal guy in me says to just drive it to the ground while I research a new car.

Live in Buffalo so really should get a AWD or 4x4. Last time I posted a thread about this I talked myself out of a new car. I love to go on long roadtrips so need it to be reliable which the VW has proven to be unreliable.

My Uncle (my voice of reason) told me that I cannot bring money with me when dead so stop living like I still make min wage. He said to just get a brand new car and be done with it.

I prefer to buy used anyhow to avoid the first $$$ hit of it being new.

Goal is newer than 2013 with AWD/4x4, heat seats and reliable. My roommate has a 2014 Camry that wasn't bad to drive but wasn't great in snow. We did get a oddly crazy amount of snow this year tho.

 

[pcgeek11]

Ditch the VW and don't look at any of those. If you must get a used car at least go for something that has good value as any low mileage Toyota. Most retain good value and are bullet proof with regular maintenance. The Toyota RAV4 in the 4X4 would do very well in your snow conditions.

 

[tortillasoup]

You don't need 4WD, you need better tires. The Camry sucked in the snow because of the tires completely inappropriate for the conditions. I'd take a FWD with decent tires vs. a 4WD with crappy tires.



Your car is only as good as the tires it rides on. Here in the SFbay area, you can get away with really crappy tires for most of the year.

 

[Dice144]

I got snow tires, did not help with 6-8" snow falls tho! I do agree good tires are very important.

 

[tortillasoup]

I disagree on your uncle and saving the money part. Saving money is a good habit because it's there for you when you really need it, people...not so much. Imagine if you got disabled for about 3 years due to some medical condition. Not having that cushion could mean homelessness and losing everything you ever earned. Having money is a form of peace of mind and I'd rather have peace of mind that I've got the cash than having toys which I know I can always buy used for significantly less money than new.

As for the odd weather, if global warming continues, perhaps the 4WD will be irrelevant as there won't be any more snow up there.


As for the tires, did you have studded tires? Depending on the conditions, you might have been better served either with more tire pressure or less tire pressure. For really treacherous weather, anything less than something like a Jeep Wrangler or equivalent off road vehicle would be unsuitable. A Rav4 with 4WD isn't any better than a Camry.

 

[boomerang]

As for the odd weather, if global warming continues, perhaps the 4WD will be irrelevant as there won't be any more snow up there.

Yeah. I read that this year was the last year for snow. Great advice.

 

[Demo24]

I'm not sure why you even spent $100 on warranty stuff. Also your car basically qualified for a lemon 2 times considering how long it was in for and how many times they had to repair major items. I suspect if you had brought that to vwoa's attention you may have a different car. Either way sounds like the dealer is ripping you off.

Get a Subaru of some kind. Overall pretty reliable and meet your goals, I agree with you awd where you love would be a plus. However, hard to recommend something without budget or other desires (sedan, small SUV?).

Never mind tortillsoup, he seems to come in mostly to tell people they don't need new cars for some reason. However, with your VW either out of or quickly coming out of warranty I'd ditch it before it costs you a lot. Sure a car payment is less than desirable, but a 5k repair bill isn't exactly working in your saving money favor. And for whatever its worth I like buying new cars if possible since it gives me peace of mind as far as how it was cared for. With a Subaru and other brands you might be looking at, buying used may not save you all that much.

 

[cabri]

I'm not sure why you even spent $100 on warranty stuff. Also your car basically qualified for a lemon 2 times considering how long it was in for and how many times they had to repair major items. I suspect if you had brought that to vwoa's attention you may have a different car. Either way sounds like the dealer is ripping you off.

Get a Subaru of some kind. Overall pretty reliable and meet your goals, I agree with you awd where you love would be a plus. However, hard to recommend something without budget or other desires (sedan, small SUV?).

Never mind tortillsoup, he seems to come in mostly to tell people they don't need new cars for some reason. However, with your VW either out of or quickly coming out of warranty I'd ditch it before it costs you a lot. Sure a car payment is less than desirable, but a 5k repair bill isn't exactly working in your saving money favor. And for whatever its worth I like buying new cars if possible since it gives me peace of mind as far as how it was cared for. With a Subaru and other brands you might be looking at, buying used may not save you all that much.

Many warranty setups have a $100 deductible.

I do agree that he has a 6+ year old vehicle with serious problem track record.

Get rid of it before next fall models hit the showroom. Late august/Sept (last week of the month) would seem to be the best time to get value from a dealer as they desire to clean out older stock.

 

[Thump553]

I've owned both a 2000 and a 2002 Passat. Believe me it won't get better. Ditch that money sink hole asap. Next up is when you start paying hundreds of dollars because of bad sensors that light up your dash like a NORAD christmas tree.

 

[leper84]

Frugal guy in me says to just drive it to the ground while I research a new car.

Its a VW, it was driven into the ground when it rolled off the assembly line. This is one of those times a gently used car is going to cost you much more than buying new from a reliable brand.

 

[pauldun170]

You don't need 4WD, you need better tires. The Camry sucked in the snow because of the tires completely inappropriate for the conditions. I'd take a FWD with decent tires vs. a 4WD with crappy tires.



Your car is only as good as the tires it rides on. Here in the SFbay area, you can get away with really crappy tires for most of the year.

My Camry is a beast with winter tires.

 

[PricklyPete]

1st...stop listening to your uncle. You can't take your money with you, but you can become way more wealthy, secure, etc by being prudent with your money. Driving a 2008 vehicle is not slumming it.

2nd... When is your warranty up? I would start aggressively start saving and start looking to purchase a decent used vehicle once the warranty is up. A Subaru or Mazda CX-5 would be pretty good options.

 

[phreaqe]

You don't need 4WD, you need better tires. The Camry sucked in the snow because of the tires completely inappropriate for the conditions. I'd take a FWD with decent tires vs. a 4WD with crappy tires.



Your car is only as good as the tires it rides on. Here in the SFbay area, you can get away with really crappy tires for most of the year.

Good lord i wish people would stop saying this. Its like the option of AWD and good tires doesnt exist. Yes good tires on a FWD will be better then crappy ties on AWD but AWD plus good tires will kick the crap out of FWD with good tires.

 

[Yuriman]

AWD doesn't help when turning or braking in snow, and cars already come with All-Wheel-Braking. Most people drive around in winter conditions without AWD and do just fine. You're definitely less likely to get stuck, but AWD always comes with a trade-off in fuel economy and will probably cost you a few thousand dollars in fuel over the life of the vehicle. It's not a tradeoff I'd choose, but in the grand scheme, it's probably not going to make much difference one way or another.

If you're interested in reliability, Honda and Toyota are your best choices, and you should stay away from German cars:

http://tradeinqualityindex.com/

 

[monkeydelmagico]

I prefer to buy used anyhow to avoid the first $$$ hit of it being new.

Goal is newer than 2013 with AWD/4x4, heat seats and reliable.

CPO just off lease cream puff allows for additional warranty options like extended bumper to bumper. Probably would not need it with Toyota Highlander or Mazda CX9.

Rav4 is OK but such a dumpy looking vehicle. Ditto for CRV and outback/legacy, a sad wrapper hiding decent interiors and mechanicals.

Honda has a new HRV debut looks nice, superior interior, but slow.

Suby forrester is a nice vehicle too IMHO.

You better hurry, will be lucky to make it through the summer with that spontaneous imploding VW

 

[JulesMaximus]

VWs are absolute junk. Everyone I've ever known who has owned them has had problems with them. Congrats VW, you make cars that I will never ever consider buying.

Get rid of it and get something reliable.

I grew up in upstate NY and also spent a year living in Rochester before I moved to California and I never had a problem with FWD cars in the snow. Get a good set of snow tires and you'll be fine for 99% of the driving you will need to do. If it gets worse than that I'd just stay home until the roads were cleared.

 

[Dice144]

I have about a year and a half left of the warranty.

Only got 2k cash on hand plus a trade in. The rest of my money is in stock accounts.

Far as saving money, he yells at me because my comp/pension from military covers 90% of my bills.

So my job is 90% spending money. So he says why drive an older car.

Also have a roomate that is all extra.

My thought was to save for the summer and put down 6k plus on a Toyota or Honda and junk the VW. Thank you all for the feedback

 

[Leyawiin]

VWs are absolute junk.

Heard this over and over on the internet plus from two friends who owned them. I wonder how they ended up being the number two car company in the world and is expected to overtake Toyota? Weird.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Heard this over and over on the internet plus from two friends who owned them. I wonder how they ended up being the number two car company in the world and is expected to overtake Toyota? Weird.

Because people are sheep and advertising works. Every idiot fresh out of college wants a Jetta as their first new car because it is German and they can't afford an Audi.

 

[tortillasoup]

Because people are sheep and advertising works. Every idiot fresh out of college wants a Jetta as their first new car because it is German and they can't afford an Audi.

Hit the nail right on the head.

 

[T2urtle]

Heard this over and over on the internet plus from two friends who owned them. I wonder how they ended up being the number two car company in the world and is expected to overtake Toyota? Weird.

Its not that they are pure junk. Its the fact that they need a more strict maintenance attention. They work great and are loved in europe.

Toyota used to make a great car where you can just put gas and change the oil whenever you wanted. If the timing belt broke, its a non-interference motor and no damage is done. No VW will ever be like this.

The VW owners that i know who actually keep up with service ON TIME and aren't penny pinching normally like their cars. They are just as good as anything out there.

That OP's Passat, well i dont know the whole story but if your a Frugle guy... VW is not the brand for you.

/endVWrant

But about you needing AWD. Eh... I was the same minded as you when i bought my AWD sedan. 5 years of owning it... i could of gotten away with not getting it. Its nice to have but completely not needed. I pay the fuel premium of getting only 16/20mpg in a AWD v6 sedan.

If it really is snowing 8 inches outside, the city should be shutdown and you shouldn't be outside. We finally had a large blizzard and i stayed home instead. This winter was annoying, i could of gone anywhere i wanted BUT i was stuck behind idiots with bald tires and going around other people.

If you must look into subaru's the newest models seem to have GREAT MPG and AWD as a standard. Sadly it seems they moved to a CVT mainly setup.

 

[Dice144]

I go camping a lot and just got a Kayak at end of last summer. The Honda CRV I tested 2013 model seemed to be a nice ride. Not to fast to get my lead foot in trouble.

Planning an Epic road trip in two months to Montana to Flat Head lake. Right now we plan to rent a mini van (better than all that miles on my car).

Top picks so far are Honda CRV and Subaru Outback. Haven't tested a new Rav4 yet.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Its not that they are pure junk. Its the fact that they need a more strict maintenance attention. They work great and are loved in europe.

Toyota used to make a great car where you can just put gas and change the oil whenever you wanted. If the timing belt broke, its a non-interference motor and no damage is done. No VW will ever be like this.

The VW owners that i know who actually keep up with service ON TIME and aren't penny pinching normally like their cars. They are just as good as anything out there.

That OP's Passat, well i dont know the whole story but if your a Frugle guy... VW is not the brand for you.

/endVWrant

But about you needing AWD. Eh... I was the same minded as you when i bought my AWD sedan. 5 years of owning it... i could of gotten away with not getting it. Its nice to have but completely not needed. I pay the fuel premium of getting only 16/20mpg in a AWD v6 sedan.

If it really is snowing 8 inches outside, the city should be shutdown and you shouldn't be outside. We finally had a large blizzard and i stayed home instead. This winter was annoying, i could of gone anywhere i wanted BUT i was stuck behind idiots with bald tires and going around other people.

If you must look into subaru's the newest models seem to have GREAT MPG and AWD as a standard. Sadly it seems they moved to a CVT mainly setup.

I'm not sure how maintenance would have prevented the headliner falling out of my wife's Golf. She bought that car new and it was a pile of junk by the time we got rid of it (which was well before 100k miles).

God I hate VWs.

 

[996GT2]

Top picks so far are Honda CRV and Subaru Outback. Haven't tested a new Rav4 yet.

If you want something reliable that you'll never have to worry about (like your VW), stick with Honda or Toyota. I've spent a lot of time in the new CR-V and Rav4 and you honestly cannot go wrong with either. I don't know about Toyotas personally since I haven't worked on one, but the Hondas I've done maintenance on were very easy to work on and you can DIY many of the required maintenance items.

Subaru isn't bad in terms of reliability either, but I've found the interiors on recent Subarus to be extremely cheap feeling. Sitting in a 2-year old Impreza felt like being in a sea of hard plastic.

 

[Dice144]

If you want something reliable that you'll never have to worry about (like your VW), stick with Honda or Toyota. I've spent a lot of time in the new CR-V and Rav4 and you honestly cannot go wrong with either. I don't know about Toyotas personally since I haven't worked on one, but the Hondas I've done maintenance on were very easy to work on and you can DIY many of the required maintenance items.

Thank you!