Recommendations for...commuter car - is the answer Tiguan TSi?

This ia more or less a followup from my last topic asking about cheap and fun commuters. 

I might have detailed our woes with our 2010 Tiguan: PCV and resulting blown rear main seal, and now timing chain tensioner fail with resulting valve damage (it was the subject of a class action suit and resulted in an extended warranty for the chain tensioner). It's all being fixed, along with a new water pump "while we were in there". These major problems - and the high repair costs that went with them - resulted in zero confidence in the car, and the decision to buy something new(er) for my wife.

I was hoping for something fun to commute in, but we'd be just throwing away good money invested in the Tig by just trading it in, so it may be a wiser decision to keep the Tig as my commuter car. It's a 2010 with the dread CCTA engine. I've read about the abovementioned timing chain, rear main seal, and water pump (plastic housing gets compromised by oil leaking on it).

Now that the major failings have been dealt with, can I expect a modicum of reliability from the Tiguan? Or is the car just a lemon design that will continue to be a money pit?

I think your past experience with a VW is the answer you're seeking.  It wasn't a fluke and I don't think the car will magically fix itself.

Your woes will continue. “German engineering” will make you poor...

Might we see a Mazda CX-5 in your future?

swampyankee said:

 

I was hoping for something fun to commute in, but we'd be just throwing away good money invested in the Tig by just trading it in, so it may be a wiser decision to keep the Tig as my commuter car.

Do a google search on "Sunk Cost Fallacy"

I understand sunk costs, and I've bailed on plenty of cars when they were becoming money pits.

But I've also bought more than one car that the previous owner had given up on because they were sick of spending money on it. I could clearly see that they had fixed everything that was wrong and I ended up with a car that was trouble-free and reliable for quite some time.

And that's my question here - having already fixed the well-documented flaws with this car, do I end up with a reliable car, or are Tiguans of this era just lemons?

swampyankee said:

Now that the major failings have been dealt with, can I expect a modicum of reliability from the Tiguan?

Sure, you've dealt with all of the bad stuff.  The 2013-2014 versions of that engine that came with the new design tensioner, water pump, etc. have been pretty reliable, at least among GTI owners back when I had one.

swampyankee said:

 

And that's my question here - having already fixed the well-documented flaws with this car, do I end up with a reliable car, or are Tiguans of this era just lemons?

If you bought a BiTurbo and "fixed" all of its known issues, would you feel it to then be a car you can rely on?

Klayfish said:

swampyankee said:

 

And that's my question here - having already fixed the well-documented flaws with this car, do I end up with a reliable car, or are Tiguans of this era just lemons?

If you bought a BiTurbo and "fixed" all of its known issues, would you feel it to then be a car you can rely on?

Is it THAT bad??

swampyankee said:

Klayfish said:

swampyankee said:

 

And that's my question here - having already fixed the well-documented flaws with this car, do I end up with a reliable car, or are Tiguans of this era just lemons?

If you bought a BiTurbo and "fixed" all of its known issues, would you feel it to then be a car you can rely on?

Is it THAT bad??

 

Well, I know of 3 Tiguans from friends/family that have over 400k miles between the 3 of them, which I'm pretty sure is the cumulative total mileage for all biturbos around the world, so no, it isn't that bad.

But even though you state that you know about sunk costs, you're still falling into the fallacy. You want something fun to drive. The Tiguan isn't fun to drive. It may or may not be reliable, we don't really know, but it likely will be more expensive to maintain than a competitor such as a Rav4, Sportage, or Escape. Similarly, it is likely to be more expensive to maintain than a "fun commuter" like a Miata, Civic, Focus, etc..

So, why does keeping the Tiguan make more sense than getting a Rav4 or a Miata? Did doing the work somehow change the fact that there are vehicles that will do the job better, or make you happier?

In reply to mtn :

Yeah, I know. Although it's not the "fun" car I first pondered, I'd be ok with the Tiguan, since I was the one who picked it in the first place (should've done my homework on the issues). It really isn't bad to drive for a commuter. We'll list all the sunk costs,it's trade-in value on my wife's new car, and compare it with the investment in a $3000-4000 car vs the risk of keeping the Tig and the potential expenses.

If not the Tig, I'll probably be searching for a Mazda 3 Sport. We had a 2010 stick shift and it was a fun car, and reliable. Although the earlier ones had a slightly smaller motor, I like the style better than the smiley-face ones.

swampyankee said:

In reply to mtn :

Yeah, I know. Although it's not the "fun" car I first pondered, I'd be ok with the Tiguan, since I was the one who picked it in the first place (should've done my homework on the issues). It really isn't bad to drive for a commuter. We'll list all the sunk costs,it's trade-in value on my wife's new car, and compare it with the investment in a $3000-4000 car vs the risk of keeping the Tig and the potential expenses.

If not the Tig, I'll probably be searching for a Mazda 3 Sport. We had a 2010 stick shift and it was a fun car, and reliable. Although the earlier ones had a slightly smaller motor, I like the style better than the smiley-face ones.

 

You're doing it again! Your sunk costs are gone! Don't list them at all. 

Come up with 2 numbers.

First number is the anticipated costs from today forward of owning the Tiguan, minus the anticipated residual value left at the end of the 5 years. Guess if you need to. That will be the cost of ownership of the Tiguan for 5 years.

The second number is the cost of a Mazda3, minus what you could sell the Tiguan for today, plus the anticipated costs of owning the 3 for 5 years, minus the value of the 3 in 5 years.

Compare them, then come up with your answer. What you spent in the past does not matter at all. The work you did does, but only from the sense of it will decrease the potential cost of maintenance for the future. That is it.

EDIT To make it more clear. Figure out the cost of ownership for 5 years of the Tiguan. 

-[Value of the Tiguan right now]

-[Anticipated cost of maintenance for the next 5 years]

+[Anticipated value of the Tiguan 5 years from now]

=Total costs of owning the Tiguan for the next 5 years

Do the same thing with a Mazda3 sport. 

Klayfish said:

If you bought a BiTurbo and "fixed" all of its known issues, would you feel it to then be a car you can rely on?

That depends... were the known issues fixed with an LS1 swap?

In reply to mtn :

Ok . We ran the numbers and the Tig is slightly less of a loss as a trade-in. Ill be moving on to that fun, cheap, easy to fix commuter car I asked about earlier.