Should I buy a Certified Passat TDI?

Been a while since I've been/ posted here since I sold my 2014 Passat TDI back to VW in March 2017. Been driving a 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee CRD (with the Mercedes OM642 engine) since then.

But I've got the itch.

I miss a stick shift like Rose misses Jack. I've been snooping Craigslist and Autotrader, etc, looking at all my options for a sub-$25k manual trans 4-door vehicle, and lo and behold in the past week or two several 6-speed TDI's have popped up under 30k miles at insanely low prices. Two of them at one dealer, a 2012 Jetta Sportwagen and a 2015 Passat, are both listed under $17k.

The reason I opted for the buyback was twofold - my Passat had really low miles, and the amount of buyback was enough to pay it off and buy a replacement in cash without financing, and I firmly felt at the time that VW would suffer in the US as I saw the TDI enthusiasts being their core demographic. I did NOT want to end up holding on to a vehicle that would be an orphan in 5 years with little support. (I've had 2 orphan vehicles - a 2006 Jeep Liberty CRD and the 2007 Jeep GC CRD. Had a service advisor at a dealership one time question me on a maintenance service request as I mentioned it was diesel - literally said, "Oh I didn't know they made those." Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy.)

Understanding that this is an enthusiast forum, I fully expect a biased answer. Heck maybe I'm just looking for justification to make a car change I don't really need, since my Jeep is running fine. But what's at the core of my question is this: what is the long-term viability of TDI's in the US? What are the pro's and cons of a 2012 non-DEF TDI that's been "repaired" and a 2015 Passat TDI with DEF that has had Phase 1 completed?

linewarbr said:

<snip>But what's at the core of my question is this: what is the long-term viability of TDI's in the US? What are the pro's and cons of a 2012 non-DEF TDI that's been "repaired" and a 2015 Passat TDI with DEF that has had Phase 1 completed?

Click to expand...

Long term? VW has decamped from the diesel market in North America, so I would say "nil." But the 2015 fixed Passats are out there at attractive prices, nothing wrong with them.
Are you going to be "orphaned?" Our second car (the Passat will be turned in this month or next) is a 2004 SAAB 9-5 wagon, which is a daily driver. I just did the 195K oil change on it. SAAB has been a "legacy" brand for a decade now, and we've still been able to replace the radiator, driver's side half-shaft w/ CV joints, and exhaust. And I found a Bosch rebuild alternator for it with zero issues, and were able to replace a smashed-in driver's door very quickly. While the SAAB 9-5 was produced for a decade with very few changes, and so there's comparably a pretty good number of roughly the same vehicle out there, I don't know why you'd have any trouble for a decade, either..

DEF is meaningless in comparison, the but everything else about the 2015 would lead me to the 2015 Passat.


Gen3 seems to be a polished platform, going with a Gen1 would kinda seem like a step back wards, IMO.

Knowing myself, I wouldn't have even posted this if there was such thing as a 2015 6MT Passat TDI Wagon. I'd be over there doing paperwork lol.

(I like wagons)

What do you mean by viability? The two Jeep diesels you've owned are very low volume vehicles, and never had the parts and service availability that VW TDIs enjoy.

If you are concerned about being able to maintain a Passat for years to come, I wouldn't be. If you're wondering about resale value, that's probably a gamble. Since there won't be any other manual transmission diesel sedans that size available whenever you sell, it may command a premium. Or it may not.

If you replace one of your Jeeps with the Passat I guarantee you'll save money.

Caveat emptor. I would not touch a TDI unless I had the service history; not sure if "certified" status will offer enough protection to you. The previous owner had zero incentive to properly maintain the car, once they knew they were going to take advantage of the buyback. When I turn my Jetta in in a couple weeks it will be about 6k miles past the recommended oil change, have an AC that is about to go out and have a not-so-slowly leaking rear tire that can't be plugged. And those are the issues I know about.

Of the two I would go with the 2015 Passat. They come with an outstanding warranty.

My interpretation from reading threads in this forum is that the EA189 Gen 1 vehicles are having a harder time post-fix with issues (EGR heat generation taxing cooling system and causing coil plugging, and other issues). Not all EA189 Gen 1 engines appear to be experiencing this, but there is a lot of noise in this forum about them.

The EA288 Gen 3 vehicles don't appear to be having near as many issues post fix. There are some saying. Many are saying the EA288 Gen 3 vehicles are actually peppier and are returning slightly better fuel mileage post-fix, while others are saying they engine has lost torque and fuel mileage decreased (I would say a majority found no change to something positive post-fix).

I believe the EA288 engine was much closer to actually running at the EPA/CARB emissions levels, so the changes made to reduce emissions were not as significant than those required for the EA189 engine.

Just my interpretation of what I've seen from this forum threads.

JCG, exactly and your sage advice applies to any leased vehicle also-Carfax anyone?