Good Lord, it’s a Buyer’s Market on Low Miles Golfs

I decided to look for low miles Golf TDI S for my son’s daily driver. I set a search for under 30K miles, within 200 miles of my zip code, under $17K. There must be 75 cars in the list. Several are under $14. Dieselgate is a gift that keeps on giving!

Ended up waiting a couple extra weeks and my SEL popped up within 20 miles of me! Shame more people aren't taking advantage.

Not in Canada

But if you are set on getting a manual the options go down quite significantly. The wagons seem to fetch a bit more as well.

If you don't mind an S or SE version and an automatic, then there are about 180 to 200 golfs (not the station wagon). However, you add in the manual transmission and SEL trim options the number available drops to 2. This is from auto trader.

I never realized how rare the manual transmission is becoming.

Yeah, he is 25 and a manual would terrify him. I guess I didn’t raise the boy right. But the paddle shifters are a nice feature on the Golf, even the base trim.

Yeah, it was nice getting mine brand new for $8K off last May, and with a 162k mile warranty. What's not to like?

Btw, I find the paddles useless. I'd prefer to shift just a hair before redline, but the transmission overrides that and shifts automatically before that when in manual mode. VW took all the fun out of them.

I am down to three clean S’s under 15K miles, all at $16 and under. If I want an SE (which I don’t, son could care less), I can get one at 25K miles for $16,900

Just picked up an SE with just under 9k miles for $17,900 for my fiancé last week. Manuals in SE or SEL are very, very rare. S models are easier to find with manuals and dropped all the way down around $13.5k around here. This was after months of scouring auto trader, car gurus, craigslist multiple times a week. Also had dealerships completely drop the ball a few times and almost seem as if they didn't want to sell cars. The prices for the fixed 11, 12 and 13's aren't much lower if at all.

I just bought one of the nicer DSG Golfs. 15K miles, $15,400 but they gave me $1000 more on my trade than the other shops. I expected to trade for $10K and ended up out the door for $9K.

As a 3.0 owner, I am surprised at how capable the little 2.0 is. In other ways, the car is a VW, which is to say, solid and tight. I am happy, but will my son wait to spill a milkshake all over the car? Not likely.

I've learned through painful experience that kids' first cars should be considered disposable. They seem to learn and do better with the second one. Sometimes.

^^^^^^^ This. The first car is treated like a Bic and the second a Zippo.

http://www.craigdsm.com/used/Volkswagen/2015-Volkswagen-Golf-1c35b1c70a0e0a6b4909c1057d67e5df.htm

Not mine. No affiliation.

my three stepsons totaled 11 cars between them....is that a record?

thundershorts said:

my three stepsons totaled 11 cars between them....is that a record?

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On a percentage basis, my youngest DAUGHTER equaled that wrecking 4 cars (totaled) by the time she was 20. Now she is the most careful driver in the family (@ 36 years old).

Hmmmm - this thread has me thinking.

I owe $0 on my 15' Sportwagen S with 41,000 miles. If I fix it I get about $6600. If I sell it back to VW I get about $24,500 back. But now I'm wondering if I could turn my car in and convince my local VW dealer to sell me MY car back for $15,000 and pocket the $9500.00.

Of course, I don't know the logistics of who has dibs on the car after I turn it in. The dealer? VW? I'm also oversimplifying. I'd have to pay taxes on it again and find something to drive while it's checked out and fixed. But I'd still probably come out at ahead.

The odds of getting your car back are pretty slim.

Mythdoc said:

I decided to look for low miles Golf TDI S for my son’s daily driver. I set a search for under 30K miles, within 200 miles of my zip code, under $17K. There must be 75 cars in the list. Several are under $14. Dieselgate is a gift that keeps on giving!

Click to expand...

We got our CPO GSW TDI S DSG with 10,800 miles for $15kOTD, wasnt passing that up!

tdiinsc said:

We got our CPO GSW TDI S DSG with 10,800 miles for $15kOTD, wasnt passing that up!

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Great deal. Yep, it is nice to be a buyer now.

I think the odds of getting my car back wouldn't be that slim. While I was at the dealer yesterday for my winter/summer tire swap I was informed they can actually resell turned in cars. They don't have to be taken away first. Of course, I realize some people just say crap to say crap so I did a little research:

http://www.autonews.com/article/20170904/OEM02/170909929/vw-dealers-diesels-tdi

I didn't ask if they'd entertain the idea since I'm keeping my car. This thread just made me think about the low price of used TDI's right now vs the restitution amount and how one could possibly make a few bucks more if a dealer was willing to work with them.

Congrats to any of you who are buying gently used TDI's at such low prices. Good on you!

Initially, bought back cars were going to be fixed at a central location and then offered to dealers in auction. I think that model has been replaced with dealers buying cars at auction and fixing them themselves before resale.

I don't know who you spoke to at the dealer, but I'd also be a bit dubious about any buyback information that comes from anyone but the owner of the dealership. The article you linked to is over six months old. Not sure that info is current, either.