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Considering buying a new or new used car
- Thread starter puma1552
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For those still following, just a couple updates - car finished production on 3/17, and already today, 3/19, it shipped which is crazy…I was expecting it to sit in the holding lot outside the factory for a couple weeks at least before it got moving. Along with the lightning fast shipping is an updated ETA of 4/9, but that still seems long given it's only going from Detroit to Minneapolis (albeit primarily by rail which is pretty slow). Built and shipped 1 month to the day from order, fantastic.
The only thing I found is the next car will have four doors! My current Acura only has two doors and getting out of a two door car in a crowed parking lot is an exercise in yoga. 
The only thing I found is the next car will have four doors! My current Acura only has two doors and getting out of a two door car in a crowed parking lot is an exercise in yoga.
Well if you buy another acura, that's won't be a problem.
No coupes in the current Acura lineup
What a load of stereotypical BS.
My 2004 Jetta with 140,000 miles had only a few minor repairs. I did all regular maintenance etc, but that's a given. You need to take care of your car if you want it to last.
-t
And by "few minor repairs" you probably mean replaced half of the car already. Those early 2000s Jettas tend to be very unreliable. Also, "regular maintenance" with these usually implies replacing the remaining half of the car.
Again, can you guys actually do anything else that just post stereotypical BS ?
My out-of-pocket repairs (outside of the regular / recommended maintenance items) were:
* Crank Sensor ($260)
* Fuel Pump ($130)
* G Sender ($230)
* Water pump ($130)
* Coolant Temp Sensor ($146)
* Turn Signal switch ($260)
For 10 years/ 140k miles, that's entirely acceptable.
-t
Congratulations. You're an exception to the rule. Your experience doesn't change that VW is one of the least reliable carmakers and the Jetta may be their worst car. Congrats, but VW is garbage in the reliability department.
That's interesting, since I've logged 20k miles on mine without a single issue, and my wife's '12 Beetle has been flawless for two years now as well, and that's a first year car.
My roommate owns a 2003 she purchased new. It wasn't completely horrible but wasn't great either. But she only has 75K on it.
On the other hand, when I bought my Integra in 2005 a coworker had an '01 Jetta which was a complete piece of junk. She put a couple of thousand in it every year. One time she asked me if I can fix the sunvisor for her. I looked at it - the swivel was made of cheap brittle plastic and broke. It was all metal on the Integra. That was the day when I realized I was absolutely right for crossing VW off the list.
With that said I think the original aircooled VWs are cool in their own hippy way. Watercooled - not so much.
From experience with ordering cars, your car will probably arrive at the local depot much earlier than 4/9 or 4/11. That date is put in to give the dealer time to go pick the car up on a truck with a bunch of other cars, and bring them in all at once.
.. From experience, you can get the dealer to go pick it up themselves as soon as it arrives! So there's that..
That's awesome though! I learned to drive in Mustangs (v6 ones though, sadly) - the driving school I went through was a big fan of them, and every car I've had since was RWD so like you, I have a hard time.. living with FWD. lol
Can't wait to see the pictures Mustangs are pretty sweet! Now if only I wasn't spoiled by huge cars.
.. From experience, you can get the dealer to go pick it up themselves as soon as it arrives! So there's that..
That's awesome though! I learned to drive in Mustangs (v6 ones though, sadly) - the driving school I went through was a big fan of them, and every car I've had since was RWD so like you, I have a hard time.. living with FWD. lol
Can't wait to see the pictures
Mustangs are pretty sweet! Now if only I wasn't spoiled by huge cars.
My understanding is the problems usually begin at around 75,000 miles. VW has certainly gotten better, but all car reliabilities have, and VW is still in the bottom ten in brands.
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This is just it. We can't survey enough people to negate the actual statistics and metrics employed by larger scale automotive surveys and magazines. No one has fantastic data, but the fact is a German cost to own is greater than a Japanese one.
From experience with ordering cars, your car will probably arrive at the local depot much earlier than 4/9 or 4/11. That date is put in to give the dealer time to go pick the car up on a truck with a bunch of other cars, and bring them in all at once.
.. From experience, you can get the dealer to go pick it up themselves as soon as it arrives! So there's that..
Now this is a neat tidbit - you're saying that when the transporter full of new cars comes in, that's actually a part of the process in the dealer's control and they go out and grab those cars from the last rail point? I always assumed the dealer didn't have any control over any part of the process.
Congrats!
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Hm... where are in Boston exactly?
As a former VW owner in Boston, there are over 10 VW dealers in a 20 mile radius to me.
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Bingo. I've owned almost a dozen VW/Audi products, including the notorious MK4 gen cars. None of them were piles of crap. I experienced no more major issues than my old Toyotas, etc.
Pics or it didn't happen
haha soon enough...car is now in st paul just miles from here at the final rail offloading point just awaiting a transport truck to pick it up and bring it to the dealer...the dealer called the lot and told them to mark it HOT so that it gets picked up asap...could show up tonight??? but likely tomorrow or saturday.
Took delivery yesterday! Currently at the dealer having the GT500 axleback exhaust installed!
Here it is right off the truck with te raptor it rode with in the background:
Here's how I took delivery, I went through the PDI checklist and crossed off things I didn't want done which included removing any plastic so I drove off the lot with the exterior/interior plastic still on it. Had 5.8 miles at delivery:
After first wash and removing plastic:
Pulled over for a couple pics this morning on the way to the dealer:
Ignore the dark spot, it's crap on my lense:
Love this car and I did this car right; I ordered exactly what I wanted, didn't settle, was there when it came off the truck, didn't let them do any cosmetic prep and rode along on the prep test drive. Now I just need to detail and enjoy!
Here it is right off the truck with te raptor it rode with in the background:
Here's how I took delivery, I went through the PDI checklist and crossed off things I didn't want done which included removing any plastic so I drove off the lot with the exterior/interior plastic still on it. Had 5.8 miles at delivery:
After first wash and removing plastic:
Pulled over for a couple pics this morning on the way to the dealer:
Ignore the dark spot, it's crap on my lense:
Love this car and I did this car right; I ordered exactly what I wanted, didn't settle, was there when it came off the truck, didn't let them do any cosmetic prep and rode along on the prep test drive. Now I just need to detail and enjoy!
Thanks!
It's funny, I knew it was showing up at the dealer yesterday so I took a half day and headed over to the dealer at lunchtime. Car showed up about a half hour later so my sales guy ran over to tell me the truck was here (I wanted to get pics of it on the truck) so I ran across the lot but by the time I got there the car was unloaded and the truck was gone already, lol wtf? It's a big dealership and the transporter truck only had my car and the red Raptor in the background, so he offloaded them in about a minute I guess. Oh well, lol.
Gonna keep this car a long time.
I also went back to the dealer this morning and had a Ford Racing Shelby GT500 axleback exhaust installed…it sounds fantastic now.
It's funny, I knew it was showing up at the dealer yesterday so I took a half day and headed over to the dealer at lunchtime. Car showed up about a half hour later so my sales guy ran over to tell me the truck was here (I wanted to get pics of it on the truck) so I ran across the lot but by the time I got there the car was unloaded and the truck was gone already, lol wtf? It's a big dealership and the transporter truck only had my car and the red Raptor in the background, so he offloaded them in about a minute I guess. Oh well, lol.
Gonna keep this car a long time.
I also went back to the dealer this morning and had a Ford Racing Shelby GT500 axleback exhaust installed…it sounds fantastic now.