Prospective TDI owner with some questions

Hello everyone! Brand new guy here looking to buy a VW "buyback" TDI in the near future. I did post a hello in the new person thread, and have been reading up a bit on here, but have some specific questions...

I'm looking at the Passat and possibly Jettas, 2011 - 2015 and prefer the manual tranny, but the auto wouldn't be a deal breaker... My budget is about $14 - 15K or so max. Major differences with the 2015s?

Is there a particular year that has been more problematic in terms of reliability that I should avoid? One year better than the others? I'm fairly mechanically inclined and can do some of my own maintenance work, but I am new to diesels in general.

I'm reading some horror stories about the HPFP blowing up... Is this still an issue or have the bad ones been phased out? Any way to check on this before buying a bad one?

Things to look out for with a buyback? Maintenance items to take care of right away? It looks like some of these cars were sitting for a while...

Is the DSG auto or manual transmission more reliable in general?

Thanks in advance!

I just picked up a DSG wagen last month and wanted something with less than 30k on it but I would have bought higher mileage with a manual transmission. I saw my car pop up on car gurus for $9900 with less than 15k on it but it was a salvaged title, got smacked in the rear, repair was just alright but for the mileage I couldn’t pass on it.

I immediately changed the oil and fuel filter and have an air filter ready to install, that’s about all I’ve done for maintenance. I run fuel conditioner for added HPFP lube and cross my fingers, I saw the car fax and it was pretty vague, appears to have sat on the lot for a year and was totaled out at 1500 miles

Greetings and welcome, we are glad to have another member and are happy to help any way we can.
Your budget should get you a very nice low miles TDI.
A few things to note on VW and TDI, things like fluids and rubber parts like Timing belt, hoses, and what not are a critical thing to your TDI, much more than in a typical car. Keep in mind that the timing belt is a service in Time and miles, 80K miles or 5 years, whatever comes first, DO NOT put this item off. seeing as your looking for a 2015 or less, you are going to need to know when that belt was serviced regardless of miles. Say you look at a 2012 with 30K on the clock, well chances are the belt was never changed and is well over due. Things like that. before you go shopping around, familiarize yourself with the service intervals for the miles and age of the car and make sure that stuff was either done or you do it and use it as a bargaining chip, the more you know about this gives you much more power dealing with price negotiations.
Each year comes with its own set of challenges, there is a great thread about this somewhere here about what to look for and rust issues on these cars. Do a search, i dont remember what the thread was called but its out there and maybe someone can post a link??

the 2014 and 2015 are about the best ones IMO as its right before all the issues came up and anyhting less than 2016 will avoide much if any of a buy back to its name.

Im not a guru on these newer cars and i cant help with the HPFP issue, but there should be plenty of info here in the apropriate section of the forums for this.

In general, find one with a full service history so you know at least that it was looked after but assume it was done by a shade tree troglodyte jagoff who did it on a shoe string budget. Assume the worst and take care of the critical things first like timing belt and fluids.

Dont bother with mods or power upgrades untill you have put some quality brake pads, and some high grip 300 or less tires on it, this will go lightyears for your traction and ability to manhandle the car, if thats what you what to do on a weekend.

best bang for your buck is a tune, then a few supporting upgrades, but leave the air filter and exhaust stock even if your going full drag race. The only thing that is even worth modifying for the exhaust is a DEF delete. Its not so much the emission issue, as it puts extended miles back into the engine and MPG and such. its your call after you read to your eyes bleed on this stuff.

a few tools you WILL want to get when it comes time to do anything is
Vag-Com cable and VCDS from Rosstech.com this will tell you EVERYTHING there is to know about what the car is doing and what the issues are. From the AC, breaks, to the engine management. its the #1 tool to have in figuring out whats going on.

dont buy box store parts, OEM or such will go a long way vs the crud you will get and regret otherwise, you can do things like repair your own parts easily so dont go slapping a new reman alternator or calipers or CV axles, you know, stuff like that.
anyways im getting way ahead of myself here, happy shopping, keep us posted on what you get.
here are a few videos on helping you buy a car.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSi8xuRm5eE
Chris fix has a full series on this, i highly suggest you give it a watch.

Great information guys! Thank you for the help!!

Hello all! I finally pulled the trigger on a 2015 Passat SEL with DSG, after months of looking around online!

The car is very clean with 38K on the odometer, and one prior owner. The car was originally from Las Vegas, NV, and I couldn't find a spec of rust anywhere! The carfax showed the car sat for about 5 months after the buyback period...

I bought from a dealer and the car was certified, so I'll have the 2 year warranty in addition to the VW 10 year emissions parts warranty. The dealer did the 40K service, new brake fluid and replaced the tires and battery...

Picking the car up this coming week! I'm pretty excited! A few questions though... Anything I should do maintenance wise right away that the dealer may have overlooked? Fuel additive or cleaner? Thanks in advance!

You should have had them do the DSG service as a prebuy requirement as it is due at 40k and they usually charge $400 or more to do it.

Lightflyer1 said:

You should have had them do the DSG service as a prebuy requirement as it is due at 40k and they usually charge $400 or more to do it.

Click to expand...

Yep, it was done with the 40k service before I bought it.