Cheap or not, there have been several gurus posting that TDI tstats fail slowly without owners realizing it with predictably poor fuel mileage as a result. More to the point, these specific cars have been in holding for an atypical period of time--we may only have around 100k on them but they're five years old now.
The tstat on my beetle was about $15 bucks for everything including the housing. Holding it in my hand doesn't distinguish it from any other tstat I've ever replaced, but maybe my EA288 one is ultra fancy. Not sure of how difficult it is to get too, but placement doesn't really mean much to me in terms of the manufacturer's design. The oil filter is the same ole one, too, but it's definitely more of a pita to get to than my 2012.
Anyway, the point isn't whether one owner should replace the tstat; he wants to change it and no one knows where to get one is the thread's topic as far as I read it. I didn't see him asking us opinions whether he should change it...although since it's publicly posted people can post their opinions but they've already said their piece so no real reason to belabor the point if you think he doesn't need to change it, right?
