Out of the loop on the 2015s. Can you fill me in?

I returned my 2012 TDI wagon last June and I miss it. I'm not happy with the Forester I bought as a replacement so I started looking at 2015s and was pleasantly surprised by the pricing.

This is Canada and I see 2015s with 40,000-80,000kms (25,000-50,000 miles) for well under CAD$20,000 (USD$15,500). I'm talking about hatchbacks here. The wagons are much more money.

I plan to look at a few of them this week. What do I need to know? These cars are at dealers (non-VW). I assume these have the emissions fix. Are there any reliability, power or fuel economy issues with the fix? Even if I get a 25% drop in MPG, I would not be unhappy. However, I would like to retain the torque and power.

What's the warranty on these puppies? Is it transferable?

Any other issues or gotchas?

Help me back into the TDI fold!

These are bought back, fixed cars. In the search I just did, they all (practically) listed VW Auburn Hills in the ownership chain. The nicer ones they (VW) released back into the marketplace via auction. Those who bought the fixed, rerelease cars seem to have taken a bath, as far as I can tell. The one I just bought sat on a lot for 6 months. The owner took a loss on it (he told me and all indications are he was being honest). Another one I did not buy has gone unsold at a dealership lot since mid summer last year.

All these cars are DSG’s, by the way, the manuals are still hard to find.

How do they run? I did not previously own a 2.0 diesel. I have owned two VW 2.0 gassers, and it runs great compared to them.

I sold my 2009 JSW back to VW and with financing and just a bit more, I got a brand new 2015 GSW with better options in September. I'm fond of the DSG, so it's OK with me. Better technology, more power and more torque. Drove it home from Orlando area, about 10,000 km, and averaged about 5.5 L/100 km. I was not trying to be fuel efficient as I had a schedule to meet. Power, fuel economy, and torque are all just fine. The lighting package for those of us in the northland is well worth the money.

I hope this is helpful.

Mythdoc said:

These are bought back, fixed cars. In the search I just did, they all (practically) listed VW Auburn Hills in the ownership chain. The nicer ones they (VW) released back into the marketplace via auction. Those who bought the fixed, rerelease cars seem to have taken a bath, as far as I can tell. The one I just bought sat on a lot for 6 months. The owner took a loss on it (he told me and all indications are he was being honest). Another one I did not buy has gone unsold at a dealership lot since mid summer last year.

All these cars are DSG’s, by the way, the manuals are still hard to find.

How do they run? I did not previously own a 2.0 diesel. I have owned two VW 2.0 gassers, and it runs great compared to them.

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What do you mean by taken a bath? Are you talking about the brand new 2015s that sat, unsold, until dieselgate played out?

Mike in Anchorage said:

I sold my 2009 JSW back to VW and with financing and just a bit more, I got a brand new 2015 GSW with better options in September. I'm fond of the DSG, so it's OK with me. Better technology, more power and more torque. Drove it home from Orlando area, about 10,000 km, and averaged about 5.5 L/100 km. I was not trying to be fuel efficient as I had a schedule to meet. Power, fuel economy, and torque are all just fine. The lighting package for those of us in the northland is well worth the money.

I hope this is helpful.

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Your fuel economy sounds about the same as my 2012. I'm torn between picking one of the 2015s up or the brand new 2019 Jetta. Damn, the interior and tech package on the new Jetta is super sweet.

icecoaster said:

What do you mean by taken a bath? Are you talking about the brand new 2015s that sat, unsold, until dieselgate played out?

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Nope. As I related, I am talking about low mileage cars that VW bought back, then auctioned early to mid last year. If you look at a bunch of Carfax’s, like I just did, you see that VW Auburn Hills was in the ownership chain and then the cars were auctioned somewhere between about April and June, 2017. Dealers who bought these cars have lost money. I am one of the beneficiaries this week.

Mythdoc said:

Dealers who bought these cars have lost money.

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Proof? Or just a guess?

KITEWAGON said:

Proof? Or just a guess?

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Well, those are the two extreme poles of it, so I would say neither. I don’t have proof, but I am not just making a guess, either. I just concluded a search for a Golf. There were easily 75 cars available with less than 50K miles within 200 miles of my zip code. The KBB fair market prices shown online are all thousands higher than the current asking prices for these vehicles, which tells me that a significant market correction is underway. If you look at carfax information, many of them have sat for 4 months all the way to a year on lots, in some cases.

Now, to my particular purchase. I set out the expecting to trade for $10K. I ended up paying $8999. The dealer, unasked, waived his doc fee, offered $1000 more on my trade than KBB, didn’t even look at my son’s car, which was absolutely filthy, and told me very straightforwardly that he was losing money. Now, you’ll hear that all the time, but something about this transaction told me it was a relief to him to get out from under the Golf TDI.

But, you’ll maybe say that this is not proof. I say, you don’t need an anemometer to know which way the wind is blowing.

Just wondering. I just bought my JSW for about $3800 less than it was originally listed for. But I don't think it means the dealer lost money. I had to work them down on the price and they seemed pretty firm with the floor. So my take is that they just didn't make the big profit that they were initially hoping for, but who knows.

I do agree that the KBB prices are screwed up on these vehicles right now. But they are correcting. For example, the car I bought is still up on carguru, but they lowered the "assumed price" or whatever it is by around $400 since last week.

A car salesman told you he's losing money? Of course that's true.

Seriously, these cars are pretty good deals. However, a lot of people here complained about the small rebates on the never-titled leftover '15s on dealer lots when they came available a year ago. But I ended up with a never-titled GSW for about the same money as as a bought back one with some miles on it would cost today. So the deals are good, but in some ways the market is just finding its level.

It's much different in Canada, it seems.

I called around today and visited my local VW dealer. VW kept all the good 2015 buybacks and distributed them to dealers. From what I can gather, they are moving briskly with some of them sold before they even arrive on the lot.

Prices are not bad - CAD$22,000 for a Highline Golf hatch with 50,000kms. For a similar wagon, they are asking $30,000. But, the Highlines especially are moving fast. I put my name in at one dealer expecting a Highline hatchback next week.

The non-VW dealers have quite a few 2015s but it seems like they got the bottom of the barrel. I called a couple and they both had accident history.

It's a tough call for me because I can get the 2019 Jetta with 6 speed for $20,495.00.

Oh and one other thing: VW dealers are offering 0% financing for 48 months on the used TDIs. That's tempting.

icecoaster said:

Oh and one other thing: VW dealers are offering 0% financing for 48 months on the used TDIs. That's tempting.

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Nice! That is pretty unheard of on a used car. In the USA VW is offering 1.99% on all CPO's. I was pretty happy with that even though I had to take a 60 month term.

I like the look of the new Jetta. Its the first Jetta sedan that I would consider in a LONNG time...since the 2005's. I like the new styling and its finally on the MQB platform. I thought they were too ugly from 2005.5 to 2010 and then the 2011's were bland AND decontented (though I've seen some SEL TDI's that make me eat those words).

Have you seen a 2019 Jetta yet? I've seen two at auto shows and was decidedly underwhelmed. Big and cheap are the words that come to mind.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

Have you seen a 2019 Jetta yet? I've seen two at auto shows and was decidedly underwhelmed. Big and cheap are the words that come to mind.

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I have not seen one in person. What looks cheap about it? Historically, VW does a damn good job with interiors, especially the dash and instrument panel. To me, that's where "cheap" usually plays out. Take a look at Honda for instance. Great cars but I could never get myself to buy one because of the cheap and crappy dash.

'19 Jetta interior seemed very cheap to me. Shapes are odd (octagonal theme) and the plastics are hard. It's very much like the '11-13 Jetta VI Sedan, maybe not even that nice. Even the headlight switch is small and flimsy. You may not mind it, and materials quality may vary with trim levels, but I would be sure to see one before you buy.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

'19 Jetta interior seemed very cheap to me. Shapes are odd (octagonal theme) and the plastics are hard. It's very much like the '11-13 Jetta VI Sedan, maybe not even that nice. Even the headlight switch is small and flimsy. You may not mind it, and materials quality may vary with trim levels, but I would be sure to see one before you buy.

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If that's the case, it makes me want the 2015 TDI even more. I really appreciated that decent interior quality on my 2012 and I think the 2015 is even better.

I'm just wondering if the Nav unit is worth it. If not, I can just look for a Comfortline.

Lighting pkg is the one to look for the rest is easily swapped like leather or nav. Search in Quebec they tend to be lower in price and more selection on dealer lots. We all upgraded in the family from 2012-2014's to new 2015's when they were released and so happy the DEF equipped cars run better and cooler according to live data.

Not sure how many of you frequent Carvana, but they have some decent deals on 2015 TDIs as well.

The range is $15,500 - 19,500.

Just another option to consider for those "in the market."