So, We're Wagon People Now

Our much beloved '09 TDI DSG Jetta sedan is no longer with us.
http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/insurance-adjuster-what-to-expect-aka-dont-total-s/75132/page3/

We suddenly found ourselves in need of another car. We loved our TDI so that we pretty much new we wanted another one. Though some consideration was given to the Cruze Diesel, Grand Cherokee Diesel, and Audi's TDI offerings.

What we knew going in...

We had a '13 2.5l SEL Jetta for over a month as a rental last year and hated just about everything about it. We had a '14 1.8l TSI SE rental for 11 days after the wreck that totaled our '09 Jetta, and while it was much more tolerable than the '13 was, we pretty much decided the MK6 sedan wasn't for us.

What we found out...

We test drove a '14 TDI/DSG Sportwagen, and a '15 TDI/DSG SE Connectivity Jetta sedan. The '15 refresh on the sedans is a noticeable improvement over the previous Mk6 Sedans, I couldn't tell a difference between the new EA288 and our old CBEA engines performance wise, might notice it in MPGs though. The Mk5 was and the Mk6 Sportwagen is a much nicer car pretty much across the board in our opinion; materials, features, fit, finish, feel, road manners, etc. the Mk5 Sedan and the Sportwagen is just the superior car.

Added bonus is that the '14 Sportwagen doesn't require DEF, and my stack of oil filters I have on the shelf for the '09 fit the Sportwagen too.

Since SWMBO wanted new, and you can't get a new Mk5 Sedan anymore, the next closest thing was the Sportwagen. The Sportwagen is still a carryover from the Mk5 Jettas, '15 if/when they show up in the US will be all new. In reality CPO '12 & '13 TDI Sportwagens with <30K miles on them were selling for 85-90% of a new one, we didn't want someone else's maintenance history, or lack-there-of, so new made the most sense to us.

I did my usual, annoy every dealer within ~300 miles of me to get the car we wanted at an agreeable price. I started out with 11, yes eleven, dealers until I had it whittled down to 3, one of which was a local dealer. Plenty of them told me, "no way," or "go buy it there" when haggling price and telling them my best offer I had gotten. I was pretty much a thorn in all of their sides, and probably caused them a few gray hairs, but in the end we got exactly what we wanted, at a more than reasonable price, and even got it local, exact same place we bought our '09.

Enough babbling.

I've already got 129 miles on it, left the lot with 57.

2014, Candy White exterior, Cornsilk Tan interior, TDI, DSG, Sunroof Jetta Sportwagen

Truthfully we're all wagon people inside. Sounds like a good addition.

Well done.

We need more wagons. Diesel wagons.

Nice! Is it just the camera angle or is the front overhang enormous?

In reply to jsquared:

Angle I guess, doesn't look bad to me.

Exact same car, photo from dealer's website.

Nice, my wife's friend has a '12 sportwagen. Drove it a few days ago and I think that I am sold. Have you driven it with a manual? Would it be worth a fly and drive over the DSG? That DSG is very interesting though.

I drove both the manual and DSG extensively. These cars make great power but only in a narrow RPM range - I found the 6 speed kept me busy...maybe a little too busy.

Longtime readers may remember that Per had a manual TDi wagon for a while and wrote about how it wasn't so much fun to drive.

I went back and forth and ended up with the DSG - but it was close.

JFX001 wrote: Well done. We need more wagons. Diesel wagons.

Also V8 wagons

Very, very nice ride!!

I loved the DSG in the TDi that I test drove. It was like being in a LeMans Audi or something.

In reply to singleslammer:

I haven't driven a manual TDI, SWMBO actually asked if I wanted us to get a manual, much to my surprise. While I'm confident in her ability to learn, and the hill holding assist, combined with the TDI's crazy low RPM torque, I'd wager it's probably the easiest vehicle to learn to drive a manual with. Still, I'm not sure I want to put our relationship through her being my pupil, especially when she's got a 3,300 lb "weapon" at her hands. She claimed to know how to drive a stick before we started dating, then I saw her "drive" my friend's 5 speed TJ.

Really though, I dismissed the manual early on because this is our daily driver, car pool car. Maybe it's me getting older, but I don't want a manual in my stop-and-go, work traffic, commuter. Fun car, sure, daily driver no thanks.

With the DSG comes more maintenance, so consider that in your purchase. I haven't checked on the '14 yet, but our '09 called for DSG service every 40K miles. Most dealers are going to charge $400-$500 for that service. I buy the parts (fluid, filter, O-ring, washer) and pay 1.5 hours of labor for the dealer to do the DSG service with my parts and it's around $300.

Congrats on the purchase! I have been interested in these for a few years now, but I have been afraid to bite because of past VW experiences. I look forward to seeing how yours holds up. Good luck!

Welcome to the Grocery Life club. Stickers are almost done, I swear.

In reply to SilverFleet:

I understand where the fear is coming from, but really it's blown way out of proportion. We had over 101K miles on our '09, which is allegedly the "worst" year for the common rails. We had 1 CEL for a bad cylinder pressure sensor (built into the glow plugs, easy fix) that went bad at around 75K miles, and the left rear door handle broke, that was it for unexpected stuff. I put 1 set of tires on it at 43K miles, I was planning on putting new tires on it this Spring, and it still had the original pads and rotors, that still had 15-20K miles of life left in them.

With exception of the cabin filter, I followed VW's recommended maintenance by the book, Mobil 1 ESP 5w30 every 10K miles, and Mann filters. I used Stanadyne Diesel Performance Formula in 80-90% of our fill-ups, closer to 100% when using Winter fuel.

In reply to mndsm:

I'm following along with your art work, I appreciate the work your doing, the GLC idea is great, but I'm staunchly in the anti-sticker on my vehicles camp. I even made the dealer remove their sticker when they took the car to detail before purchase.

Now my tool box is a different story, it's pretty well covered with stickers.

bigdaddylee82 wrote: In reply to mndsm: I'm following along with your art work, I appreciate the work your doing, the GLC idea is great, but I'm staunchly in the anti-sticker on my vehicles camp. I even made the dealer remove their sticker when they took the car to detail before purchase. Now my tool box is a different story, it's pretty well covered with stickers.

I don't expect it to be for anyone to be honest. Its purely for my amusement, and other people like it. I like wagons, I like lampooning popular culture, it just works out lol.

bigdaddylee82 wrote: In reply to SilverFleet: I understand where the fear is coming from, but really it's blown way out of proportion. We had over 101K miles on our '09, which is allegedly the "worst" year for the common rails. We had 1 CEL for a bad cylinder pressure sensor (built into the glow plugs, easy fix) that went bad at around 75K miles, and the left rear door handle broke, that was it for unexpected stuff. I put 1 set of tires on it at 43K miles, I was planning on putting new tires on it this Spring, and it still had the original pads and rotors, that still had 15-20K miles of life left in them. With exception of the cabin filter, I followed VW's recommended maintenance by the book, Mobil 1 ESP 5w30 every 10K miles, and Mann filters. I used Stanadyne Diesel Performance Formula in 80-90% of our fill-ups, closer to 100% when using Winter fuel.

I think that extra stuff you mentioned is the norm for VW's.

In all seriousness...

I had an A3 Jetta (a 2002 GLS 2.0 8V) as a lease. By the time I turned it in at 30k miles, it was completely falling apart. All of the typical VW problems happened, and then some.

If I scored the right deal on a JSW after I'm done with the current DD, I'd probably bite. I've done a lot of research on them, and a lot of the problems (like the HPFP failures) seem to be overblown. No one else offers anything like it in the States.

Anyone know how the Audi A3 tdi stacks up against 2012+ jetta TDI. Which years have problems, etc...

I'm just dumbfounded that after hating everything about your 13 vw you went shopping for a newer one.

singleslammer wrote: Anyone know how the Audi A3 tdi stacks up against 2012+ jetta TDI. Which years have problems, etc...

Sounds weird, but it seems like you get more bang for your buck with a VW TDI over a previous gen A3 TDI.

The VW's appear to have a better infotainment system and are available with a manual. And the JSW is bigger than the A3 if you want a wagon. And they are cheaper.

Cool, I am fine with the VW over the Audi but was curious if there was a reason for the A3 over the JSW. Not sure that I can justify a VW TDI over a Focus Hatch (2012+) with a stick. 10 mpgs better but on pricier fuel and around 8K more buy in. That also ignores the maintenance.

Sorry for the jackin'

evildky wrote: I'm just dumbfounded that after hating everything about your 13 vw you went shopping for a newer one.

You would have too if you were shopping with my significant other. She had to warm up to the wagon idea. She still wanted a sedan, and the '15s are a "refresh" with then new EA288 TDI, slightly nicer interiors, and some minor exterior tweaks. According to a lot of the other auto rags the '15 refresh is the car that VW should have released back in '11 when the MK6 came out. The '15 got rid of the cheap E36 M3ty interior in favor of the MK7 Golf/GLI interior, and they ditched the numb, uninspiring, beam rear and drum brakes for the multi-link GLI/MK5-esque suspension and discs across the model line. So hope was still alive that we might like the '15 better than the '13 or '14 rentals we'd previously had.

We knew going in that the Sportwagen was still basically the same as our '09 but in wagon form, with some fancier gadgets, and a facelift. We drove it first. SWMBO loved it. We then drove the '15 sedan, and while it was head-and-shoulders above the '11-'14 models, it was still lacking, and SWMBO didn't love it. She then decided we were wagon people after all.

We (I) did a LOT of research before even setting foot on a dealer's lot, so we kind of had a clue going in.

Less dumbfounded now?

singleslammer wrote: Cool, I am fine with the VW over the Audi but was curious if there was a reason for the A3 over the JSW. Not sure that I can justify a VW TDI over a Focus Hatch (2012+) with a stick. 10 mpgs better but on pricier fuel and around 8K more buy in. That also ignores the maintenance. Sorry for the jackin'

Aesthetics, I think the previous generation (Mk2), current sedan too, A3 is a better looking car. I liked the looks of '09 JSW better than the '10-'14 too.

I had campaigned for a TDI Mk2 A3 or maybe Mk6/7 Golf as a replacement for my Volvo long before our Jetta was totaled, SWMBO turned her nose up, she thinks they're "ugly" but was okay with it being "my" car. Since we were replacing "her" car those options were only briefly mentioned, because I knew better.

SWMBO has already okayed a Golf R/GTI front bumper cover and grille for our JSW though, so that's somewhere in the queue of projects now.

The Mk2 Audi A3, and the the '09-'14 Sportwagen are VAG A5 variants, so dimensions should be basically the same.

Congrats on actually being a VW repeat buyer!

I have a '03 TDI wagon and it really is IMHO the easiest manual transmission ever. So much off-idle torque you can go 1st through top gear (5th in my case) without ever touching the "go" pedal. It'll idle at 25mph in 5th gear. Up hill. I actually do that sometimes in traffic when I'm bored. Plus, the clutch action is so light it's not tiring to drive in traffic. At 329K miles, I'm still on the orginal clutch (although the throw-out bearing rattles a bit).

The DSG service is a concern to me. While I'm perfectly OK with buying the tools and parts from idparts, I'd be doing that service almost every year with the amount of miles I drive.

Good for you ! ! ! !

I just LOVE small wagons.

That would be wagen in your case . . . wouldn't it?

In reply to Ian F:

DSG is DIYable, plenty of folks do it, when we first bought ours there weren't any kits on the market, outside of dealer level equipment. There was a list of parts needed to make your own kit, and what OEM parts you needed to buy, an how they need to be modified floating around on the forums though. Now ~$100 will get you the tools to physically change the fluid yourself with no scrounging around and hacking stuff together.

I've had it done twice, every 40K, at the dealer, because there's specific temperatures the fluid is supposed to be at before draining, I don't have VCDS, nor to I trust the HF infrared thermometer method some folks use. Whether or not it actually happens at the dealer is debatable, but the trans is supposed to go through a calibration process during the service too.

I wouldn't be surprised if we become threepeat buyers of diesel VAG products. I sooo want the Euro/Ausie AWD TDI Tiguan to show up in the US, I'd probably do unspeakable things to get an Amarok. The new VW Modular platform and EA288 engine should open the diesel option to a lot more models in the future. The next Sportwagen, whenever it's available is on my RADAR, the car show and press models VW was hustling around over the Summer included an AWD, Manual, TDI version. The Holy Grail: manual, AWD, diesel, wagon!!!

I'm still sore about them canning their plans of bringing the GTD to the US, but if they bring me a 4 Motion, manual, TDI, Sportwagen I can overlook A LOT of prior misgivings.

In reply to TeamEvil:

Thanks! It's semantics really, what I've been telling my "friends" that poke fun at me about buying a wagon(en), is to focus on the "sport" part of SPORTwagen.