soldierguy
Veteran Member
I feel like I'm about to do an AA meeting intro, but I'm Dan, and I'm a SuperCommuter. Roughly 220-225 miles round-trip every day to get back and forth to work. I thought I'd start a thread for me and any other supercommuters or folks with lots of miles on their Jettas to share experiences, stories, issues, etc.
The car: 2015 Jetta TDI S with DSG. It's a buyback car that I picked up last weekend as a certified pre-owned with a little less than 12,500 miles on it. I've had it less than a week, and I've already put over 1,000 miles on it. In a typical month, I’ll put about 4500+ miles on the car, doing weekday commuting and a few errands on the weekend.
First impressions: it's a fantastic highway car. Quiet, smooth, well-controlled body motions without being harsh at all, comfy seats, easy-to-use climate and stereo controls, not much wind noise or road noise. I came out of a 2016 Prius that in less than 21 months, I put 93,500 miles on it. The climate controls and stereo controls drove me nuts on the Prius…8 buttons and 3 toggle switches for the climate control, it required looking at it to operate, and it would often choose to do something I didn’t want it to do. The stereo was a touch-screen, again requiring that you look at it to operate it, which bothered me a lot. It was great around town, but nowhere near as good as the Jetta on the highway. In the short time I’ve had the TDI, I’ve fallen in love with it…I know it is an object and a tool, but I love the grumbly engine, the torque, and I’m digging the DSG…it behaves like a manual that just happens to be electronically controlled. I’m smitten with the whole car. And the deal (purchase price and warranties) made it a no-brainer to move to the Jetta.
My commute has me driving just a few miles in town before jumping on the highway. One stop on the way to work to get more tea, then it's back on the highway until I'm about 5 miles away from work. On the way to work I gain 1500 feet in elevation, and the prevailing weather pattern has about a 5 mph headwind most of the way in to work. The way home is the opposite, but the prevailing weather pattern has me driving into a 15-20 mph headwind, a little less in the winter. Speeds are 68-70 mph for just over half of it, 70-73 mph for just under half. Temperatures are HUGE swings...it's mild where we live, but where I work sees huge swings...it's not unusual for me to see 50+ degree temperature swings each day in the summer, leaving the house in the low 50's in the morning, and leaving work in the afternoon at over 100 degrees. In the winter, it’s not unusual for me to leave the house in the morning at 45 degrees, and by the time I get to work it’s in the mid 20’s.
Why do the commute? After I retired from the Army, I ended up (unintentionally) spending a couple years renovating an old house that had been in the family since the 1960's. Fast forward: we got the house finished, and I started looking for a job. After finding out I got the job I'm in (a FANTASTIC job with great people and really good money), rather than move, we decided that we'd stay right there, I'd commute, and my husband would go back to school. He's just been offered a great job for when he graduates in May, so the commute will be ongoing for the foreseeable future. He's got a 10 minute ride on his motorcycle to get to school. We don't split the commute because there is truthfully nowhere in-between where we live and where I work where we'd want to live.
Anyway, as I rack up more miles, I'll add comments, and if anyone else wants to jump in with their stories/experiences, when you’ve replaced certain parts, problems, good things, etc…by all means do it!
Cheers!
The car: 2015 Jetta TDI S with DSG. It's a buyback car that I picked up last weekend as a certified pre-owned with a little less than 12,500 miles on it. I've had it less than a week, and I've already put over 1,000 miles on it. In a typical month, I’ll put about 4500+ miles on the car, doing weekday commuting and a few errands on the weekend.
First impressions: it's a fantastic highway car. Quiet, smooth, well-controlled body motions without being harsh at all, comfy seats, easy-to-use climate and stereo controls, not much wind noise or road noise. I came out of a 2016 Prius that in less than 21 months, I put 93,500 miles on it. The climate controls and stereo controls drove me nuts on the Prius…8 buttons and 3 toggle switches for the climate control, it required looking at it to operate, and it would often choose to do something I didn’t want it to do. The stereo was a touch-screen, again requiring that you look at it to operate it, which bothered me a lot. It was great around town, but nowhere near as good as the Jetta on the highway. In the short time I’ve had the TDI, I’ve fallen in love with it…I know it is an object and a tool, but I love the grumbly engine, the torque, and I’m digging the DSG…it behaves like a manual that just happens to be electronically controlled. I’m smitten with the whole car. And the deal (purchase price and warranties) made it a no-brainer to move to the Jetta.
My commute has me driving just a few miles in town before jumping on the highway. One stop on the way to work to get more tea, then it's back on the highway until I'm about 5 miles away from work. On the way to work I gain 1500 feet in elevation, and the prevailing weather pattern has about a 5 mph headwind most of the way in to work. The way home is the opposite, but the prevailing weather pattern has me driving into a 15-20 mph headwind, a little less in the winter. Speeds are 68-70 mph for just over half of it, 70-73 mph for just under half. Temperatures are HUGE swings...it's mild where we live, but where I work sees huge swings...it's not unusual for me to see 50+ degree temperature swings each day in the summer, leaving the house in the low 50's in the morning, and leaving work in the afternoon at over 100 degrees. In the winter, it’s not unusual for me to leave the house in the morning at 45 degrees, and by the time I get to work it’s in the mid 20’s.
Why do the commute? After I retired from the Army, I ended up (unintentionally) spending a couple years renovating an old house that had been in the family since the 1960's. Fast forward: we got the house finished, and I started looking for a job. After finding out I got the job I'm in (a FANTASTIC job with great people and really good money), rather than move, we decided that we'd stay right there, I'd commute, and my husband would go back to school. He's just been offered a great job for when he graduates in May, so the commute will be ongoing for the foreseeable future. He's got a 10 minute ride on his motorcycle to get to school. We don't split the commute because there is truthfully nowhere in-between where we live and where I work where we'd want to live.
Anyway, as I rack up more miles, I'll add comments, and if anyone else wants to jump in with their stories/experiences, when you’ve replaced certain parts, problems, good things, etc…by all means do it!
Cheers!