To mod or not to mod....?

I'm hopping for some advice on what to do with my 2011 sportwagen. It's a 6 speed, sport package?, panoramic in great shape. I've been a VW/Audi guy on and off for years - I'm old lol. I had a 1987 scirocco 16v all through college and beyond, a couple cars later an A4 Avant sport package, now the sportwagen. I bought the tdi a post fix car with 60k. Under warranty I've had the dpf replaced (& maybe egr). The dealer was great, got a nice loaner for almost a week. However, had it been out of pocket I would have been crushed. I owe about $2500 on the car and according to 'the books', my almost $400/month car payment has pretty much covered depreciation and not much more. Trade in is a dismal $3500 ish! The car needs a wheel bearing and probably breaks soon which I will do myself. I currently have 107k miles.

BTW, I REALLY enjoy driving the car. I love to double clutch through windy back roads and get the most from the roughly 1800 rpm peak power band/window. Highway speeds between 80-100 are my norm and I love how effortlessly top gear gets me between those speeds while returning great mpg.

so here's my dilemma. Do I put some $ into this car to make it more fun (& hopefully reliable) and keep it for another couple years(or more). Or should I pitch it and start again with a different car? I've waited to consider mods because of the warranty. That is nearing the end of it's lifespan. If I keep it, what mods would make the most sense? I'm ok with spending up to $2-3k (possibly more) but only if it will reliably and noticeably enhance the grin factor on the car for.the next couple years at least. I have a baby on the way so the practicality of a wagon is even not appealing. What I absolutely want to avoid is keeping a money out and throwing money at something with no end in sight. If VW would have kept the 72k bumper to bumper warranty on the GTI I would most likely be going that route. However, I do find the idea of a sleeper performance diesel wagon appealing. Sorry for the novel. I welcome and value the feedback of this forum very much. I hope to hear your ideas. Thanks in advance

With the current global situation and your personal situation (baby on the way), I wouldn't waste a single penny on frivolity. I'd put every spare cent into an emergency fund. Sorry, I know that's probably not what you were hoping to hear.

Turbobrick240, I'm all honesty, it's the last thing I expected to hear (and I guess wanted to as well). Your advice is the exact course of action unmentioned and what I'm most likely to do. As I respond to you I'm realizing I am/was hoping for someone to suggest a 'reasonable ' plan to make the car more fun. Lol. Damn! The first reply is A voice echoing the sensible option I hoped to be steered away from. Thanks for your input.

The least expensive car is the one you already own.

wheel bearings and brakes and front end parts will need replacing on any car. making a payment on a newer car with warranty likely is more expensive than some odd repairs..... the hpfp could or would be the biggest worry in my mind in these cars.... use fuel treatment and good fuel.
When/if you need to fix the emissions again, if your area does not check, do the delete and a stage 2 tune, you can do all that yourself too (possibly mail the computer out for the tune) That could be a good fix plus it's noticeable in the smiles dept.when you step on it,!!
Our '12 has 237k km, just did the brakes, rear bearings, about to do the fronts, a coil spring has been broken for months but whatever..... ours is showing a lot of rust, that warranty claim just went in, we were debating looking at something but like turbobrick says, it makes more sense to keep what we own, there's no trade in value, few people will buy a used vw car in this area and we should do some other savings and debt paying before having a shiny new money pit in the yard.
Even doing most of the mechanical work on the car myself now is a reality, i could spend $4-500 on changing these front wheel bearings at a shop or just take all day and do it at home, i can't make $500 a day in wages.....
A reality check was seeing a '16 Jetta for $12k (cdn). likely a great deal but the poor fella who traded it in must have took a bath.

Thunder Chicken said:

Our '12 has 237k km..... ours is showing a lot of rust, that warranty claim just went in

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Any more info/links about this corrosion warranty?

turbobrick240 said:

With the current global situation and your personal situation (baby on the way), I wouldn't waste a single penny on frivolity. I'd put every spare cent into an emergency fund. Sorry, I know that's probably not what you were hoping to hear.

Click to expand...

That's an interesting and solid take.


However, I am kind of doing the opposite.


Just had our first in January, and intend to keep the car a good while. The extended emissions warranty is done after the next oil change, so I'm slowly stockpiling some parts for the next phase.


Got a good deal on a 2Micron set up. Solid hedge against costly replacements should the HPFP go. Have a deal pending for EGR delete, exhaust and Flashzilla. This will ditch the failure prone emissions components, lower heat and prolong the life of the turbo, plus eliminate FMIC icing. Learning more about the CP3 swaps as the original CP4 has ~230k miles (and ten years) on it. Timing belt is basically due with the next oil change.



Idea is, keep up on preventative maintenance and remove or bullet proof the things prone to failure and keep going.

Welcome to the forum. Your post couldve been writen by me. All the way down to the 2011 6m! I put a Kerma non delete on after I went thru a few covered issues. (warrenty expires 2/21). I would rather treat the new DPF nice having much less soot production from the new tune, than kill it with the VW dieselgate compromise. Take care of your DPF & HPFP and you should have a fun practical keeper.

Contrary to turbobrick I think a reasonable, wisely directed few dollars is well spent in this car. Assuming its in good shape to start. Ive kept sevveral cars on the road for 250k miles with good maintenance. Its been MUCH less expense overall. I know its not a bigger b5 wagon, but it still has more room for a kid than most hatchback/wagons.

Best luck to you

I wasn't suggesting that regular maintenance is an unneeded luxury/frivolous. I do think deletes, tunes, $400 steering wheels, and the like are a luxury. Everyone's situation is different to a certain extent. I just bought a dune buggy last month. That was unquestionably a frivolous, luxury purchase. But I basically have almost no expenses, substantial savings, and most importantly- no family to support. Anyhow, that was just my nugget of wisdom, everyone is free to use their resources however they choose.