09 JSW or 10 JSW/GOLF Variant or Estate Wagon

First of all I'm a newbie. Now, I've been trolling this forum and another in search of info on JSW TDI's. I like the technology (TDI) and I really like the car. I've visited the local VW dealership here in Savannah and have looked at the car and also gotten a brochure. They only have 2 JSW TDI's and both are DSG. I love the DSG in the GTI because of the paddle shifters but I'm more interested in the manual in the TDI. Anyway, I test drove the JSW TDI with DSG today and came away impressed. Lots of get up and go. Smooth power delivery with no turbo lag and it felt just like a regular "gasser". I wasn't able to really sample the mfd as I didn't know enough about it nor it seems did the salesman. Couldn't access the instantaneous fuel consumption and such. BTW, the one I test drove was a white exterior with a beige interior and had the optional pano roof. For cost purposes I'd delete the pano and I'd really prefer the manual although the dsg was pretty nice...yes, I drove it in sports mode and regular auto. Didn't go into the manual mode though. Anyway, told the salesman that I'd like a white w/anthricite interior(salesman says that most of the white ones come with the beige interior....not a big fan of the beige in that it will show up dirt very quickly IMHO) with manual and the Nav package (he also says that it might be difficult to get the Nav with a manual but they could get a local electronics shop to put in a nav unit for about 1K...doesn't sound like the Rosen unit). He looked but couldn't locate one in the US. He talked to his manager and said that I could special order an 09 in that configuration with $3k down and wait up to 120 days. Hmmmm, I thought that I've read where they've actually stopped production of the 09's and have geared up for the 10's. Geez, by the time I'd get delivery of the 09 the 10's will be out and according to the spec sheets I've seen you can option HID's and all will come with BT. Two options that I would really like. Plus I've seen some interior shots of the new ones and like the changes they have made with some switch gear (windows and door locks etc.). So, unless a white/anthricite manual w/ Nav shows up somewhere I guess I'll be waiting for the '10 model.

zagato27, welcome to the forum and good luck in your car hunt. I read your really long paragraph , but didn't see a question in there. Was there something you wanted to ask?

-darren

darrenf said:

zagato27, welcome to the forum and good luck in your car hunt. I read your really long paragraph , but didn't see a question in there. Was there something you wanted to ask?

-darren

Click to expand...

Sorry about being long winded. Just wanted to relate my experience in the "hunt". I guess my questions are:

Has production ended for 09 JSW's? Or can you really still order a custom build from the factory?

Anyone seen the "one" that I want locally? JSW, white/anthricite, mt, nav.

Seems a bit high to me to put down 3K on a special order. Anyone else special order and how much did you put down?

Kind of funny when I told the salesman that I wanted a mt. He said that they are rare. Then I asked him if he had sold any JSW's and he said yes. Any of them mt's? Yup, all of them. Geez, why so rare?

Anyway, cathartic to put it all on print. Thought bout it last nite...I'm waiting for the '10. I'll keep researching and here....lots of great info. Cheers

Zagato, contact member 3193. Chris Farnham is a salesman at VW of Langhorne. He can probably find what you want and give you a great deal to boot.

Sincerely, Dweisel

3k down seems very high. One dealer where I live ordered a car to my specification at no charge. It's manual trans., as most cars come in with DSG. I don't see any reason why you can order manual with nav. Just find a dealer that asks for a more reasonable deposit, or none at all.

No worries - I'm long winded too (as you will see in a moment) -- my eyes just get lost in a long paragraph.

It will be hard to comment on the '10 since no one here has one yet, but if you've read this thread:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=239152

then you are probably up to speed on what we know. As for finding one that meets your spec, I can share my process in case it helps.

Sept. '08 - dealerships were running waiting lists and asking for deposits. I am an instant gratification kind of guy -- if I waited a month for the car I would have picked out something else to buy -- so I wanted to get it right away.

I went to VW's website and looked up all the dealers close to home, then a little further out, then a little further out. It's hard because they report the 10 dealers near your location so you have to work to widen that circle. Anyway, I wound up calling about 40 dealerships asking them what they had.

I decided in advance what features I had to have (MT & pano), what was optional (wheels, rear airbags, iPod) and what colors I would take (black, dark blue/gray, dark gray).

I only found a couple of cars and none met my spec 'till I called a dealership in central TN (I'm in central NC). They had it, would sell it to me for $700 over MSRP w/ no doc fees (started negotiating at $3000 over MSRP) and they agreed would pick me up at the airport an hour away to bring me to the dealership. I closed the deal by fax, then booked a one-way flight for the next morning for $120 (not bad considering, but the TSA took a particular interest in my one-way, next-day booking!).

24 hours later I was driving my '09 JSW, black/anth, MT, pano with 17" avignons back home and I've been in driving heaven ever since (now at 25K miles).

Today I would get a better deal and could probably find one within a short drive, but gas was over $4/gal at the time, so the equation has changed a bit.

I would almost always want the newer model, if I could wait, but there are a couple of things to consider:

1. Gas prices go up in the summer and Diesels should be in higher demand again,
2. Volkswagen has been slow to bring in many Diesel engines (they are all made in Germany), presumably because of the higher profit on them in Europe. The currency shift of the last 9 months should improve that, but I would bet that they will be concerned about the Dollar/Euro exchange in the future given the fiscal policies of the two bodies as related to the current financial crisis.
3. Can you really wait 6 months or more to start enjoying your new car?!

Whatever you decide, good luck in finding just the right car and report back often!

-darren

dweisel said:

Zagato, contact member 3193. Chris Farnham is a salesman at VW of Langhorne. He can probably find what you want and give you a great deal to boot.

Sincerely, Dweisel

Click to expand...

Well, haven't contacted member 3193 but did go to the VW of Langhorne....a candy white with anthricite and mt......SOLD. I'll see if I can track this guy down and who knows. Thanks for the info

I did an order last July; $1000 credit card deposit, but dealer never charged the card because VW never picked the order for production. I canceled after 7 months and found a manual JSW that was acceptable (with help of Chris and other friendly salesmen, and Autotrader.com). Again I used my credit card for $1000 deposit to hold the car we bought.

NEVER give a non-refundable deposit. Always insist on a credit card deposit.

Well, my car search is over for the time being. Looks like I'll be looking at the 2010 models.....late 2010 models if not the 2011's. Too bad in that I did find a JSW TDI in white with anthracite interior and a manual w/ pano (which I could do without) and Ditto's (I'd rather lose the pano and upgrade to the Avignon's) but could have lived with it. Yes, another casualty of the economy. The good news is that I'm really won over by the JSW TDI. So, I'll still be here to keep up. Who knows, maybe my Maxima will just keel over.....no don't really want that, it's been a great car and I do like it. BTW, Max has 160k and still going strong. I have found a bunch of interesting stuff on this forum. "Fuelly" for instance (see my updated signature with my first Fuelly entry). I'll keep up with that. Told my son about it so he could "get going" with his Fit. He has all the records of his fillups and think it would be interesting to get them in and see what the numbers say. Well it's back to trying to get through the refueling stories thread. Cheers