Anyone else happy with dieselgate?

I'm not happy.
1. VW is finest auto maker, I have VW's thru out my life. Like their product. It destroying their reputation. Semi-trucks producing way more soot, but I think it's attack on business.
2. I hate the buy back process. It's fault both VW and lawyers. we should not put in position - like 911. The problem is if process goes faster than no time to buy a replacement car, but buy early replacement car will end up with two payments!
They should process and and pay off loan and transfer car on VW temporary trust. Than continue with buy back waiting lines.
3. Kills diesel in USA and more likely around the world.
Electrical crap is not replacement for the diesel cars, it's more pain and $$$ to consumer with electrical faults

Mr. Furious said:

Did you even read my post? That's exactly what I said - that there would be significant political pressure to go easy on Ford or GM, which would have resulted in a much different outcome: one that was far more favorable to the automaker and less favorable to the consumer.

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Right X 10

I went from 16MPG (at best) to as high as 50MPG initially. Averaged about 40MPG overall over the 3 years of ownership. A few issues fixed with Warranty, a slight drop in fuel economy with a correction, but overall I feel I didn't lose much.

I don't need the fuel economy as much now, my mileage for the year went from 33K+ to barely 20k. I'm looking for a more local job, but my current job requires less days/miles now.

I wanted the VR6 SEL, but opted for the TDI SEL for fuel economy. Now with D.G. I can slide into a newer, more feature rich VR6 SEL Premium for little more. My first VW impressed, enough I'll try another. 3 GM's, 1 Dodge and now 2 VW's. From 17yrs old to 39. I may stay or leave, but for now, I'm happy. I married a Toyota gal from a Toyota family. Not yet for me.

I feel this deal was poorly thought out. I am still waiting for buyback still having to make payments and spent a lot of money to keep the car on the road while all this sorted out and will not get anything back after VW pays off my loan. Out of pocket expenses on maintenance and repairs in the last year were close to $3,000. Glad the rest of you made out ok.

Fav40 said:

I went from 16MPG (at best) to as high as 50MPG initially. Averaged about 40MPG overall over the 3 years of ownership. A few issues fixed with Warranty, a slight drop in fuel economy with a correction, but overall I feel I didn't lose much.

I don't need the fuel economy as much now, my mileage for the year went from 33K+ to barely 20k. I'm looking for a more local job, but my current job requires less days/miles now.

I wanted the VR6 SEL, but opted for the TDI SEL for fuel economy. Now with D.G. I can slide into a newer, more feature rich VR6 SEL Premium for little more. My first VW impressed, enough I'll try another. 3 GM's, 1 Dodge and now 2 VW's. From 17yrs old to 39. I may stay or leave, but for now, I'm happy. I married a Toyota gal from a Toyota family. Not yet for me.

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Welcome to the wonderful world of marriage

I was a Honda guy ~ 1st car (WE) bought was a new 2001 Camry LE ~ Damn fine unit~ sorry it got away from us with only 106,000 miles in 2015

In 2015, she got her RAV$ LIMITED ~ and I got my 2015 TDI (S) DSG ~ that is when I sold my 2003 Golf GSL 5 MANUAL

If I do the "fix" that will be it for me

If I do the BB ~ most likely at this point it will be a 2017-2018 Camry LE

But with a close eye on the Golf Wolfsburg (sp?)

Mr. Furious said:

Did you even read my post? That's exactly what I said - that there would be significant political pressure to go easy on Ford or GM, which would have resulted in a much different outcome: one that was far more favorable to the automaker and less favorable to the consumer.

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I don't think you two are of the same opinion. The opposite, actually.

Will do well in the end, no matter what I do regarding the “FIX” vs Buy Back

Do not appreciate the many problems of the buyback SNAFUs with currant owners ~~ as this might happen to me

Noting the BB amount is substantially more than I paid for it

Noting the “FIX” comes with a great long transferable WARRANTY

Overall Happy with my future

But will reserve final thoughts until it’s 100 % gone and done.

Noting that I am still considering the “fix” ~~ and the RE-GEN situation is a boogie man for me to worry about


The BB is the most likely end for me ~~ possibly as late as June 2018 ~~ at that time will have to suck it up regarding the new car buying crapppollla

Relieved and fortunate describe my feelings. Financially, the '09 was a disaster largely negated by the miraculous settlement. I put up with too many wallet crushing repairs for too long. But the settlement did ease the transition into a new car.

If I ever feel like rolling the dice on the residual, I may consider leasing an Audi in the future. But I'm likely finished with VAG for good.

Did you even read my post? That's exactly what I said - that there would be significant political pressure to go easy on Ford or GM, which would have resulted in a much different outcome: one that was far more favorable to the automaker and less favorable to the consumer.

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You are delusional and obviously didn't read my post. The EPA would have been even harder on a US company than VW despite how many lobbyists GM and Ford have. Also, the media would condemn them in the court of public opinion. Democrat Party pols would be grandstanding by grilling CEOs in congressional hearings, etc. As I pointed out, there have been so-called "activists" and assorted moonbats going after US car companies for decades and the media will always remind readers of past failures. VW et al. catch some heat to make it look good, but eventually get a pass.

Q-Ship said:

<frothy frothy ranty ranty>

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This is what you said:

if you think there would not have been political pressure to go easy of GM or Ford, you are dreaming.

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In my original post, I said that I felt that there would have been political pressure to go easy on (though, in fairness, not to go easy of) GM or Ford. Thus, your response was not reflective of what I posted and indicative that you were too busy prepping your rant against the "Democrat party" to either express what you intended to convey or to read what I posted.

Poorly worded, I'll admit, but the crux of the matter is that despite any political pressure for leniency, Ford or GM would be crucified as bad if not worse than VW; and I provided examples of how they had been in the past.

And as far as I am concerned, the Democrat Party is many things but democratic isn't one of them.

I won't say I'm 'happy' about having my Jetta returned. I loved driving that car. But the way in which I used it made little sense - something I didn't realize when I bought it. A lot of my driving was local and 7-10 miles one way - to the golf course most often.

I'm retired.

I thought it would be my last car. Doing the math - at the time I bought it I was driving about 7k per year - probably 1,000 on the scooter and another 1-1.5k on the Ghia. With those kind of numbers it stood to reason that I was going to wear out before any of my vehicles according to the insurance actuarial charts.

Now I have a Nissan Leaf. Nice enough little car and pretty handy for short trips. No need to go out of my way just to get a motor warmed up enough to dispel moisture in the oil and get the gears lubed up etc etc. For longer distance I bought a 2006 Buick Lucerne CXL last week - it has every option on it but the V8. Nice car but it ain't no Jetta.

Q-Ship said:

Poorly worded, I'll admit, but the crux of the matter is that despite any political pressure for leniency, Ford or GM would be crucified as bad if not worse than VW; and I provided examples of how they had been in the past.

And as far as I am concerned, the Democrat Party is many things but democratic isn't one of them.

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How about you do us all a favor and keep the politics off the forum? you are only going to start an opinion argument and get threads locked.

secondly, you act as if ford and GM hadn't ALREADY been caught cheating on emissions in the late 90s. Along with honda and some others. The precedent is clear for widespread cheat attempts from a vast variety of manufacturers. What makes this cheat different is that for the first time ever, a manufacturer actually admitted they cheated. Ford didn't do that with their magic deactiviating econoline emissions systems at highway speed, and neither did honda or GM with their various schemes.

Hell this is't even VWs first rodeo, they were caught in the 70s once as well.

In your examples which are more rant than fact, you fail to differentiate between a safety hazard and an emissions cheat, two different animals. Getting raked over the coals because people are dying due to an unsafe product is a bit different than a clever scheme to spoof an emissions test.

VW is getting hammered right now because they learned nothing from the billions of dollars fined in 99 apparently. However, more cheaters will come out, this is a cyclical situation.

In your examples which are more rant than fact, you fail to differentiate between a safety hazard and an emissions cheat, two different animals.

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They are facts and if you are intellectually honest you can research them yourself. My point is that there have always been people, groups, media outlets etc. gunning for the domestic three and in some cases, facts have never gotten in the way of a good story. The bottom line is that I disagree with Mr. Furious. I maintain that if GM or Ford had gotten caught doing what VW did, there would not have been any mercy granted from any quarter. Case closed.

nucklehead said:

I won't say I'm 'happy' about having my Jetta returned. I loved driving that car. But the way in which I used it made little sense - something I didn't realize when I bought it. A lot of my driving was local and 7-10 miles one way - to the golf course most often.
I'm retired.
I thought it would be my last car.

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While not quite retired, your situation sounds not terribly dissimilar from mine. I enjoy the driving dynamics of my TDI, but it was the wrong car for how little I drive. I would say 'relieved' is more accurate than happy, given all the potential grenades associated with the emissions system. I, too, was thinking this would be my last car. But I'm not really married to the car so, cest la vie.

I am still shopping for a replacement vehicle, as my daily driver, while reliable, has issues. Still on the lookout for that MB W123 diesel unicorn that floats my boat and hits all the buy buttons. But also looking at a new WE Golf. Saw one at cars.com the other night in Puyallup, I think, in the mid 18K range. We'll see what kind of offers bombard me when I turn the car in 2 weeks from today.

Q-Ship said:

They are facts and if you are intellectually honest you can research them yourself. My point is that there have always been people, groups, media outlets etc. gunning for the domestic three and in some cases, facts have never gotten in the way of a good story. The bottom line is that I disagree with Mr. Furious. I maintain that if GM or Ford had gotten caught doing what VW did, there would not have been any mercy granted from any quarter. Case closed.

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They DID get caught in emissions cheats. You can look up the facts yourself on what happened.
GM and Ford would never have been so foolish as to admit their guilt. They did not last time.

Stop trying to compare safety issues with emissions cheats. Your argument that they received massive bad press over safety problems where people died or could die, so therefore they would receive similar bad press over an emissions cheat is a flawed argument, especially when both these companies plus many more committed emissions cheats in the recent past as well. The reality is people dont care much.

Im betting you didnt know cadillac recalled half a million vehicles over a cheat, honda 1.5 million, ford in the 200k range. Ect

Yes, they all (most) have gotten caught in some type of cheating the system, emmissions or mileage estimates. I will agree with the statement that VW has been hit the hardest, to date. Remember, VW was forced into admitting the cheat or none of their 2016 models were going to be certified for sale in the US. I don't remember any other manufacturer being threatened that severly. The fines seem rather high for emissions cheats when the fines for failures causing death are less than cents on the dolloar for comparison.

kjclow said:

Yes, they all (most) have gotten caught in some type of cheating the system, emissions or mileage estimates. I will agree with the statement that VW has been hit the hardest, to date. Remember, VW was forced into admitting the cheat or none of their 2016 models were going to be certified for sale in the US. I don't remember any other manufacturer being threatened that severly. The fines seem rather high for emissions cheats when the fines for failures causing death are less than cents on the dollar for comparison.

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Might be true that the EPA values life less than the quality of air??????

2015vwgolfdiesel said:

Might be true that the EPA values life less than the quality of air??????

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It may be more accurate to say that the FTC (or whichever agency was involved) values life less than EPA values the quality of air. EPA wasn't involved in the safety hazard stuff.

Actually there are three different agencies that probably don't communicate unless locked into a court room with CARB. EPA, FTC, and NHTSA. NHTSA was not involved in dieselgate.

Stop trying to compare safety issues with emissions cheats. Your argument that they received massive bad press over safety problems where people died or could die, so therefore they would receive similar bad press over an emissions cheat is a flawed argument, especially when both these companies plus many more committed emissions cheats in the recent past as well. The reality is people don't care much.

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Bad press is bad press. Vilification is vilification. The reason or circumstance is just the vehicle (no pun intended). If you think our domestic media isn't biased against US companies, you are woefully (or willfully) ill-informed. There are none so blind as those who will not see.

Q-Ship said:

Bad press is bad press. Vilification is vilification. The reason or circumstance is just the vehicle (no pun intended). If you think our domestic media isn't biased against US companies, you are woefully (or willfully) ill-informed. There are none so blind as those who will not see.

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As ive said a few times now, domestic manufacturing emissions cheating incidents have happened. The press on those incidents is out there for you to look at. You are less interested in considering how the press ACTUALLY handled the ACTUAL cheating incident than you are in propping up a conspiracy theory that is not supported by clear precedent on the subject.

The standard is big press on day one, but no blood and guts and interest is lost. The only people who care about the TDI cheat are people dealing with it. Just like the only people who cared about the econoline cheat were the ones needing to have a recall to fix it and pissed about highway mileage after that. The press loses interest if people arent dead and dying like a safery recall.

Just like every other time, in 3 to 5 years, the VW emissions cheat will be forgotten. Just as the billion dollar fines handed out to heavy truck manufacturers in 99 to early 2000s are generally forgotten.

I think I'm pretty happy, I had two TDIs. The buy back process was FUBAR in my case.

2009 Jetta bought in 2008 with 143k on the clock. I think I paid $23k for it back then. VW dropped $11,100 into my checking account Friday for it.

2015 Golf s model with DSG 43k on the clock and $8900 left on the loan. I'm taking $8900 from above and paying this one off then taking it in for the fix which I will get $6400 for. The remaining 2k is going into my savings account to be used as a personal lease reduction on a 2016 Mercedes C300

Don't forget the 2 grand in credit cards they gave me.

I know I will never buy vw again especially after going thru the vw buyback on top of their lies. This was handled so poorly. My car was 2 years old and had rattles and smelled like diesel in cockpit last several months. Made me think this car was going to be a problem as it got older anyways.

Met with VW post turn in and they thanked me. I had nothing to say and just walked out. Cold day in hell I would do business with them again as there are plenty of good cars by other companies that are better and less costly to run.

I was also very surprised that after having to visit my dealer 3 times to get the by-back finalized, I was not approached by a salesperson. I even walked the lot and checked out a BWM 428 and an Audi A6. Not one peep from a sales person. I have been receiving mailers from a dealership 80 miles a way!

thorpatterson_ritz said:

I know I will never buy vw again especially after going thru the vw buyback on top of their lies. This was handled so poorly. My car was 2 years old and had rattles and smelled like diesel in cockpit last several months. Made me think this car was going to be a problem as it got older anyways.
Met with VW post turn in and they thanked me. I had nothing to say and just walked out. Cold day in hell I would do business with them again as there are plenty of good cars by other companies that are better and less costly to run.

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thorpatterson_ritz said:

I know I will never buy vw again especially after going thru the vw buyback on top of their lies. This was handled so poorly. My car was 2 years old and had rattles and smelled like diesel in cockpit last several months. Made me think this car was going to be a problem as it got older anyways.

Met with VW post turn in and they thanked me. I had nothing to say and just walked out. Cold day in hell I would do business with them again as there are plenty of good cars by other companies that are better and less costly to run.

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4 Accords ~~ 1 RAV4 ~~ 1 Civic ~~ 2 Camrys have been good to us.

But, ~~ me thinks the vw gassers are good to go ~~ my 2003 Golf GSL gasser was a fine car ~~ only sold it to get auto trans

If we do the BB ~~ price will be the issue for a new ride

2012 TDI Happy with outcome

I had the fix done on my 2012 TDI and it changed it a bit but the only down side that I have found is that it slightly decreased the fuel mileage by about 2 MPG in the city and maybe 1-2 MPG on the Highway. What surprised me though is that in D Mode, the car used to be kind of sluggish but now it feels more like the S mode. S mode still is faster on take off but that’s not really related to this fix. I have noted a new engine noise but since I have driven it for a while now, I hardly notice it. I’m happy with my car. And they finally fixed the airbag so I might not be killed by it if I get in an accident. Oddly though, since they replaced the airbag, it’s been having problems with the starter switch which I posted about and got a reply on how to clean the switch when this happens. So hopefully that will take care of it or I’ll just take it back to them and tell them that they messed up the switch during the airbag install and see if they will fix it. This is sort of off subject though. I’m glad I kept mine and got a good payout very quickly from VW and sort of quickly from Bosch but overall I am happy with the fix. Not happy we all had to go through the BS and probably won’t buy another VW sadly. I read today that VW is thinking about releasing another diesel model. Hmmmm! Scott

thorpatterson_ritz said:

I know I will never buy vw again especially after going thru the vw buyback on top of their lies. This was handled so poorly. My car was 2 years old and had rattles and smelled like diesel in cockpit last several months. Made me think this car was going to be a problem as it got older anyways.
Met with VW post turn in and they thanked me. I had nothing to say and just walked out. Cold day in hell I would do business with them again as there are plenty of good cars by other companies that are better and less costly to run.

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I bet you spent that money with such anger and hate!!!! Btw before dieselgate many people could agree with your last statment, no one said they were the best things and the cheapest to operate.

Before dieselgate we had two TDIs, now more than a year after our last buy back we still have 2 VW's, sadly I wish we still had two TDIs.

At this point, I guess I can respond to this in two phases:

1) As far as the cars and fix go, no issues whatsoever. Everthing works, everything drives fine (or better) that prior, and no issues to date. Still need P2 on the 2015, but P1 is done there, and all on the 2013 . . . I can't say that I was unhappy about $$$ "falling from the sky" but . . .

2) I disagree with the entire concept of this program, simply because VW was forced to pay end users $$$ for what I see as imaginary damages . . . I would have been happy if the fix was the only option, and I got nothing, since I had not been harmed in any way. Stinks of government overreach in *my* opinion (and I don't want a new debate on this - simply presenting where I am on this . . . ).

Were TDI still available, I'd continue to buy them . . . this set of events had not affected my decision process in that area in any way.

. . . my $.02 . . .

I did buy another diesel. 2017 Ram 1500. Dieselgate didn't scare me away. When it comes time to replace the jsw, I probably won't be getting another diesel or VW. It will be my wife's choice and she's pretty soured on VWs right now.