New TDI - Extended Warranty, or not?

Thinking about getting a new TDI Jetta. Does it pay to get an extended warranty? I've looked this up and found info on previous years cars. Should I get it on an '03 w/manual transmission? I can do some minor engine work myself.

Thanks

I'm not a big fan of extended warranties. The warranty companies know the risk involved and price them accordingly. Usually there is a nice profit for the selling dealer as well. It's all about gambling for the most part. Some folks come out ahead by having a warranty, others never benefit at all. The question is "do you feel lucky?"

IMHO, you're usually further ahead to take the $1000 or so they charge for extended warranties and stick it in a safe investment. In XX years/miles when the factory warranty is up, you'll have more than what you paid sitting in the bank available for repairs if necessary. The only thing you know for sure is if you buy the warranty you definetely are going to spend $XXXX.XX, without the warranty it's a gamble how much more or less than that you may spend.

If you are the type to lose sleep over worrying about "what-if's" and a major repair could cripple your finances then it might be something you'll want to buy. Or you might want to buy something cheaper in the first place so you can afford repairs/maintenance down the road.

You should be able to buy an extended warranty later when you get closer to the expiration of the factory warranty. It might cost more then but your situation may be totally different then.

Beginning with 2002 models, the bumper to bumper warranty was extended to 4 years and 50 k (up from 2 yrs), and I believe most problems will become evident within that time. My guess is that unless you're putting very many miles on the car right from the start, the extended warranty might not help a lot.

Some things like the MAF, injectors, the injector pump, glowplugs, etc. come under the "Emissions Control System Warranty", which according to our manual is good for just 2 yrs or 24k miles on our 2002. I'm not sure if any extended warranty will get over that.

I bought my TDI last year and they offered me an extended warranty of 7 years/75000 miles which I took. It cost about an extra $5 a month but I thought it was worth it. We'll see if it actually pans out that way. I currently only have 14,000 miles on the car.