Back after 52 years!!

In 1963 my first car for a newly married military guy was a 63 Beetle with a sunroof. The next one was another Beetle followed by a Karman Ghia. Many other vehicles followed, including many diesels from Stuttgart. About 2 weeks ago I got rid of my wife's E Class Diesel and got her a Passat TDI SEL Premium. She really liked it and I liked it so much, I got rid of my E Class Diesel and got one for myself. They are a unique blend of size, luxury and economy. The only sound that might be better than the EA288 engine starting might have been my 911 exhaust! I am looking forward to enjoying these vehicles.

Amazing, isn't it? Many of us who own the NMS tend to fault VW for cutting corners in the attempt to make these cars affordable. To a degree it's true. On the other hand I've had folks who would normally consider nothing less then an Audi, MB, or any of the luxury brands hop into our SEL Premium and comment that this car is at least on par with theirs.

My thoughts? There comes a tipping point where more bells and whistles are really beside the point. Maybe not so much when sitting in the garage and one has time to fiddle and the neighbor comes by... At which point one can accumulate bragging rights.

It's more about the actual driving experience. Handling, comfort, performance, and maybe range. Notice I didn't mention economy as the TDI is not an economy car. Rather, the TDI is an amazingly frugal user of dino juice and therefor is able to stretch its legs over very long distances.

So when that nice black MB or BMW rolls past me I have no envy in my heart. My SE and my wife's SEL roll down the road at 70 mph just as well as theirs. Granted, they may have more toys to play with, but at road speeds I think it best to be safe and comfortable rather than be playing with some distracting gadget.

Oh... The bonus is that I know their MFI isn't indicating anywhere near 50 mpg. Mine is and it's pretty accurate!

My thoughts exactly

jimbo1mcm said:

In 1963 my first car for a newly married military guy was a 63 Beetle with a sunroof. The next one was another Beetle followed by a Karman Ghia. Many other vehicles followed, including many diesels from Stuttgart. About 2 weeks ago I got rid of my wife's E Class Diesel and got her a Passat TDI SEL Premium. She really liked it and I liked it so much, I got rid of my E Class Diesel and got one for myself. They are a unique blend of size, luxury and economy. The only sound that might be better than the EA288 engine starting might have been my 911 exhaust! I am looking forward to enjoying these vehicles.

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Almost an identical story here. Married on graduating college in 1970 and purchased a new bug with sunroof--drove it for 200 plus thousand miles. Picked up a Karman Ghia, which I hot rodded in the 80s. Left VW, traded in a BMW M Coupe on an TDI SEL in 2012 Christmas. Love the car.

What generation E Classes did you sell? I've been thinking of replacing my aging W124 300D and waffle between a Passat, W211 CDI, and new E250. I like the 2.1L engine in the E250, but the car is more complex and has more features than I care for. Plus run flat tires, which I would have to throw out immediately. And the Passat allows me to stick with a manual transmission, which is a big plus in my book.

Welcome! Mine story is a bit different, but similar. I was completely planning on my first car to be a beetle back in the mid 80s. A friend of my father's told him nobody would ever spend more than a couple hundred dollars on one and wouldn't let me buy one for about $600 (real sweet low mileage car). But.... it was probably good in the long run. I knew nothing about cars and couldn't work on them myself - and once I could, I made up for it by buying just about every VW I came across 30 VWs and an Audi so far. I have a feeling I would have been soured by VW if I had bought one back then.
I did take 'a break' in the middle there - leaving watercooled VWs behind but went right back full speed. Currently have 5: 57 sunroof, 00 Golf 2.0, 00 GTI VR6, 04 Jetta TDI and 13 Passat TDI.

IndigoBlueWagon said:

What generation E Classes did you sell? I've been thinking of replacing my aging W124 300D and waffle between a Passat, W211 CDI, and new E250. I like the 2.1L engine in the E250, but the car is more complex and has more features than I care for. Plus run flat tires, which I would have to throw out immediately. And the Passat allows me to stick with a manual transmission, which is a big plus in my book.

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I had 2 O5 CDI's. ( no adblu!!) One had 195,000 the other 155,000. Wonderful cars but ordinary repairs starting getting very expensive. The E250 looks like a very nice vehicle.

I have similar stories: 1981 Passat Wagon 1.6 Diesel (non turbo) back in Europe. My father got it new and took it over in 1987.
Purchased 1996 E300 Diesel in 2000 and traded in for 2013 TDI . The E class was incredible costly to maintain even though I got it pretty early in its life. Passat is ok other than heater core failure, door latch frozen, warped rotors at 15k, alignment issues, pulling to the right, "Hancraps" dead after 20k. No turbo issues yet ....knock in the wood.
Will trade in in the fall for 535d. I am set on that.

I love my bimmer, although its approaching 15 years old, we still use for our "date nights". When looking for the next daily driver, I considered a 335d, but at twice the price, and given everything the passat has to offer, it was a no-brainer. Love the car. Only real issue was the heater core, which the dealer promptly repaired at no cost even though I was 13,000 miles past my warranty.

jimbo1mbm, welcome back!