My local VW dealer's web site is full of 2011-2014 TDI Sportwagens - 6spd manual - 30's to 50k miles - listed for $13-15k - with a 24month warranty.
Good idea? Bad idea? I clicked a few carfax reports; the cars are from all over the place. So these were scandal cars that were bought back, sat on lots somewhere, and are now being repaired and resold?
Offer them half , and when they stop laughing leave your number.....
They will call you back in a month or 2 .......
Great cars but no resale , they will get tired of sitting on them.....
Loved our '14 TDI Sportwagen, sold it back to VW in '17 during Dieselgate, about a month later I bought a "new" '15 Golf TDI for a song, to replace it, love it too. No complaints.
Have had the full "fix," both stages done to the Golf, no loss of power, no loss of mileage, all is good.
There are a couple huge lots out by me where they have been sitting. Some have been sitting for a very long time...
Recently drove a fixed passat. Pounded out 48mpg at 80mph pretty easily. Dont remember how they drove pre-fix, but it didnt seem down on power or fuel economy by much.
Had it on a hoist too. Visually, VW cut the exhaust, added a pipe with a bung and ran a additional o2 sensor.
I continue to be fascinated by these cars. I wondered how the fix impacted mpg and power, sounds like not much of an impact.
How many are around anymore? I rarely see people driving them. Did VW mostly have them crushed? Or are they still sitting someplace in the desert?
I sort of want to buy one and run it on bio diesel. I'll probably have to put a sticker on the back that tells people it's fixed or I'll get angry glances and chewed out around here.
Just wanted to comment here. I am an owner of one of these cars (2012 Jetta) that I purchased new. I did apply for the buy back but I kept getting rejected because I didn't send in the "correct paperwork" but they never told me what they needed. I sent in a copy of my title but they only kept sending me letters rejecting my application.
In reality I never intended to sell the car back. In fact I decided to modify the car by deleting the DFR and EGR and re-flashed the ECU. Better performance, less maintenance, and higher MPG's resulted. The highest mpg attained was 55 mpg and I could do better but the cars to fun to drive on the highway. Two lane passing only requires pressure on the accelerator, no downshifting required. Keep it down for a few seconds and you're looking at 90-100 mph.
I'm at 50K miles and I am looking at a set of new tires and I just redid the rear brakes (Pads & Rotors only). I will replace the front rotors (Rusty) but the pads are still at 70% so I'll go with them for now. No other issues with the car. Only had to do oil changes so far and that's only once a year (10K miles per year and 10K oil change intervals.)
I have a friend that has a 2002 Focus Wagon that he wants to replace with another "little wagon" but there are few choices with the best one being the VW Sportwagon. Buying a Sportwagon TDI would be the cheapest way and he does like driving my Jetta.
One of my friends bought a buyback car. 6 speed manual Sportwagen.
Dang thing averaged 42mpg with the cruise set to 80 in a rainstorm with temps just above freezing, with three people in the car.
He said the reason why VW cheated the tests was so the DEF tank would last 10,000mi between refills, so the dealership could fill it for the customer as part of the oil change service.
Knurled. said:He said the reason why VW cheated the tests was so the DEF tank would last 10,000mi between refills, so the dealership could fill it for the customer as part of the oil change service.
I always thought these cars did not use DEF.
Slippery said:Knurled. said:He said the reason why VW cheated the tests was so the DEF tank would last 10,000mi between refills, so the dealership could fill it for the customer as part of the oil change service.
I always thought these cars did not use DEF.
The '15(?)-up Jettas did. The earlier cars did not because there was no easy way to accommodate the tank without revising major chassis stampings, and VW did not want to make separate Diesel chassis when their whole MO is using as many of the same chassis stampings as possible across many different model ranges. (A Golf is a Jetta is a TT is a New Beetle is an A3 is an Octavia is a Toledo is a...)
I looked HARD at a buy-back VW Jetta Sportwagen a few weeks back. If you buy a CPO, which you are because you mention the 2yr/unlimited miles warranty, you shouldn't worry. The CPO status covers some things that you'd want replaced after sitting for a long time such as:
When I worked at a VW dealer in college (2.5 years ago), the sales managers told me that a lot of cars don't meet CPO after the inspection. Sounded to me that CPO level is hard to reach so the CPO cars are pretty clean. Obviously watch out for repainted panels and PDR work done even if the CarFax shows no accidents or prior damage.
In reply to MINIzguy :
CPO, at least for GM and probably VW too, it that you have to use factory OE parts in every repair. This is normally well above FLAPS plus markup, which is why you don’t see many CPO cars in general.
Ranger50 said:In reply to MINIzguy :
CPO, at least for GM and probably VW too, it that you have to use factory OE parts in every repair. This is normally well above FLAPS plus markup, which is why you don’t see many CPO cars in general.
FLAPS? Yea, it probably costs a lot and that is why they won't do it as the margins aren't there.
In reply to MINIzguy :
Friendly local auto parts store.
Not to revive a zombie thread, but these TDI Sportwagens are hovering around $10k in my area as VW CPO's. There are a TON of DSGs but even some manuals.
It sure seems like a lot of car for the price. No joke, 2014s with under 50k miles and all the bells and whistles (panoramic sunroof, nav) for under 12k all day long with a 2 year, 24k mile bumper to bumper warranty.
I've never owned a diesel before, is there any reason not to jump on something like this? Diesel does cost more than premium in my area (Tampa FL), but at 40+ mpg it would sure be cheaper than my current SUV (Lexus GX 460) and seems like it could be more fun, especially with a tune and some Golf suspension bits. Any weird/costly maintenance items to consider? I know there is a DSG service at some interval, but would prefer a manual.
In reply to CobraSpdRH :
Its a tune away from being super entertaining on the street. Diesel maintenance is different, and be ready to smell like diesel every time you work on it.
I owned a 15 Sportwagen. Great car, although the city MPG was only good, not great. Also by the time I sold it back, it had started developing the usual VW quality problems, e.g. the window mechanism stopped working intermittently. For the right price, I'd own one again happily.
In reply to CobraSpdRH :
Wow you are right, there are a ton of CPO TDI's in Tampa. Let me know how it goes if you buy one, I might change my SUV hunt into getting a wagon.
Keep in mind that these cars have been sitting for years. We looked at some but the interiors kind of took a beating, they seemed slow to start, and a little smelly out of the exhaust.
I'd low-ball the dealer, they'll give in eventually. Expect no resale value at all for a few more years.
That same price range also gets you a Chevy Volt with under 45k miles. It's not a wagon, and there's no manual option, but it will get better fuel economy in most cases, fuel's cheaper/less frequently needed/easier to find, and maintenance/consumables are much lower. It may or may not be what you're looking for, but it's also a lot of fuel sipping car for the money without any of the VW stigma/jokes.
Javelin said:Keep in mind that these cars have been sitting for years. We looked at some but the interiors kind of took a beating, they seemed slow to start, and a little smelly out of the exhaust.
I'd low-ball the dealer, they'll give in eventually. Expect no resale value at all for a few more years.
Makes me wonder how many of them started having saggy headliners from sitting in the Florida sun. My garaged 2011 GTI's headliner started sagging sometime in 2015 right after the warranty ended
After my wife's 2010 Corolla got totalled a couple months back a friend of mine offered to sell us his 2011 TDI Sportwagon DSG w/ 60k miles on the clock for $8k. He'd had it since August 2018 and had already put snow tires and a tune on it. Definitely an upgrade over the Corolla. With the tune it scoots pretty good around town.
Did they make any of these with all wheel drive?
My friend just bought a red tdi sportwagon for less than $10k at a dealer. It's low mileage and super clean. I have a strict no VW policy, but this is a lot of car with great fuel mileage for the money.
skierd said:Did they make any of these with all wheel drive?
Nope. Which would be awesome because it lights up the front tires with ease pushing 300+lb ft of torque.
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