On Sunday 05 August 2012 11:24:42 Peter Blodow did opine:
> KMC@... schrieb:
> > / snip
> >
> > BTW I would never own a modern VW diesel...what an over priced
> > engineering nightmare.
> >
> > dk
>
> My wife and own two identical modern VW diesel cars, Tourans 1.9 liter,
> 115 horsepower, seven seated, and drive them with about 6 liters fuel
> for 100 km (about 33 miles/gallon) in normal use, i.e, not over 140
> km/h. They will go about 200 km/h at the cost of a little more fuel
> consumption. Both of them have some 120 000 km on the counter after
> almost 6 years now. I have filled in exactly 4 liters of motor oil in
> total since we own them. No defects, no replacements, not even headlight
> bulbs. We had them at the shop each twice so far since the cars demand
> when service is due, depending on severeness of use, number of cold
> starts etc. No rust, no visible erosions. We just sit, start, drive.
> Absolutley no thought of the cars entities. I didn't even bother to look
> what's below the big air filter box in the motor compartment, and,
> frankly, I don't care. We never ever had such problemless cars before,
> not even the Nissans, although they were pretty carefree.
>
> I bought them for about 16 000 Euros each at the age of one year. I
> wouldn't know a better car and a better price.
>
> Peter Blodow
I have had the opposite experience Peter. In 2007 I bought a 5 yo gas jetta
that cost the dealer, who gave me a 90 day warranty, somewhere around $3500
USD because everything that moved, promptly broke, including the sun roof
which fell out of the hole in the roof. Front door window motors at
$400/copy, 2 sets of headlight assemblies because the ones in it were
already crazed and yellowed so bad you had to turn them on, and get out
with a flashlight to see if they were lit. 2 sets later I finally had
headlights that worked because the internal wiring of the first 2 sets
burned up. The car could not tolerate an unlocked door and locked us out
of it with the keys usually dropped in the wifes purse many times. When it
did it with the keys in the switch, and I had to pry a door open far enough
to be able to hit the button on the armrest for the 4th time I said thats
it. I wrote a check for 17k USD for that car, and got $3500 USD in trade-
in value against a 2007 RAV4 20 months later. Smartest move I ever made as
I figured it was worth even less if I had executed it like a horse with a
broken leg which I was sorely tempted to do. I will give it credit, the
engine, a 2.4L 4, ran very strong & well once you got past all the damned
paranoid computer problems designed to keep it from collecting mileage.
This Toy? Stick the key in the switch and drive it to NY & back with only
3 fuel stops in 900 miles round trip, getting about 7 mpg better than that
Jetta ever dreamed of. It never got more than 21 mpg.
That is why, despite all the hurrah about Toys and stuck gas pedals, Toy
continues to sell well. They Just Work(TM). If I live long enough, I'll
probably buy another when this one is worn out, but at 40k miles, it seems
to be ready to go another 200k with some fresh rubber as needed. That will
no doubt outlast me since I'll be 78 in a couple months.
Cheers, Gene
--
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
My web page: <http://coyoteden.dyndns-free.com:85/gene> is up!
Did I say 2? I lied.
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