2011 Touareg Exec TDI - Good deal?

[emerscape]

Thinking about buying a 2011 Touareg Exec TDI with 75k miles that I found on craigslist for $16,900. Given the mileage and the emissions warranty (have to find out if the fix has been done and when) this seems like a pretty good deal. Any concerns or considerations?

https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/ctd/d/south-walpole-2011-volkswagen-touareg/6851140384.html

 

[KITEWAGON]

I saw that one. I think it looks like a lot of car for the $. I assume it was a buyback and has the fix so it should have 4 yr/48k warranty. Nice color combo.

I'm not familiar with differences between the T2 and T3 series, but we like our 2014. We got half the fix money so our 2014 ended up costing about this amount with 110k miles on it. Purchased in February of 2017.

 

[emerscape]

Thanks!! Unfortunately already sold but they said they can find me another one.

 

[KITEWAGON]

I wouldn't necessarily rush. I feel like the T2 buyback Touaregs are just starting to hit the market. I doubt they'll flood it like the JSW's have, because there are way fewer Tregs, but I think there will be a healthy stream of buybacks available. Our friends loved theirs but the buyback was just too much money to turn down.

 

[emerscape]

Thanks. I looked at a 2014 Audi Q7 TDI the other day. Guy said that they've dried up but I feel like there weren't many Audi's around. With that said I'd agree with you about the Touaregs as I've been watching and until recently there were only a couple around.

 

[Mythdoc]

I owned a 2011 Touareg. Compared to later years, it was a little more likely to suffer from steering wheel shake, and a little more likely to have problems with various components of the emission system, which was new for 2011.

My own did not have a constant problem with the steering wheel, only occasionally, and all of my emissions work was done under factory warranty. Given the extended warranty now in place, I would not hesitate to buy a 2011 if the price and condition was right. Do a test drive on the highway at 65-80 to check for SWS.

 

[bizzle]

I wouldn't bother with a Q7 unless you *need* the 3rd row. Back to back between a Q7 and the '13 Touareg we decided on made the Q7 seem like a lumbering lump. Next to each other there wasn't even much difference in size and I expected major differences.

Actually, I didn't drive the Q7 but I explained to my wife that she had to because I didn't want to ever hear her say she wonders what it would have been like and it's the major reason I drug her along for our trip from SD to LV and back same day with the kids in the car That was because we got our 2013 Exec down to $15,900. Based on that, I'd say the 2011 wasn't a hot deal but my deal has caught notice--even my lender said whoa wait the market value on that is $22K (and the check they were cutting for me) what happened?

Anyway, one of the techs made a face when I suggested my wife hop in the Q7. And when she drove off he described some negatives aspects between the two. I just listened since he's got an agenda to sell me a car, but at the same time the Q7 was older and had been on the lot longer so it was a strange play, imo, so I took it at face value. It was confirmed when my wife got back because the first thing she said when she got out was, "nope." So I don't know the exact differences but they were obvious to my wife and I wouldn't think she considers herself a discerning driver.

I just did a quick search when we decided to grab an Egg (pretty much happened over the weekend) but there is a significant difference between the engines' current power capabilities and also how much they can be opened up after tuning (the T3 is what I consider a massive increase in both). That probably had a lot to do with what they were both feeling in their pant seats since the Q7 was an older model (I think it was a 2011).

I'm not a fan of the interior of the older models. That Q7 could have been an 09, though, it was definitely dated inside.

 

[KITEWAGON]

That is a great deal on the 2013. How many miles?



The Touaregs might as well be Audi's in terms of interior finishes in my opinion. Ours is very lux.

 

[bizzle]

74K miles.

 

[KITEWAGON]

That is a great deal with those miles. Ours is about to roll up on 150K. We've had it since 110k. I have full service records and so far it hasn't needed anything except for 1 set of brakes front and rear (rears lasted to 140k miles) and tires. Lots and lots of tires. I do have one recent issue with the RNS 850 setup that I'm about to start a thread for, but the car has basically been flawless so far.

I'm kind of hoping that the ad blue system fails soon so that we can get it fixed under the extended warranty. If it fails after warranty I'll probably just delete it.

 

[bizzle]

I'll look out for that thread and see if I can add anything. Mine has full service records, too. Crossing my fingers for no issues for the foreseeable future

My adblue system hasn't failed but my dealer told me to bring it in and they're going to swap it out. I'm not sure if he's reading the TSB correctly as I thought it was only in the event of failure but if they want to replace it preemptively for free I'm not going to stop them.

 

[KITEWAGON]

I'll look out for that thread and see if I can add anything. Mine has full service records, too. Crossing my fingers for no issues for the foreseeable future

My adblue system hasn't failed but my dealer told me to bring it in and they're going to swap it out. I'm not sure if he's reading the TSB correctly as I thought it was only in the event of failure but if they want to replace it preemptively for free I'm not going to stop them.

Do you happen to know what TSB is calling for the adblue system replacement?

One thing that I wish the Treg had is the ability to fill the adblue from the fuel fill door. Because it drinks a lot of adblue and its a hassle to have to empty the trunk and pull the spare out every couple months. Speaking of which, have you seen the inflatable spare? I've never seen anything like it.

 

[bizzle]

I have never seen anything like that spare. I'm curious if it can be deflated and put back in the space! I don't have the adblue heater information in hand. I didn't even ask about it, the rep told me about it. I think it comes up as a standard recall on their computer from what I was seeing over his shoulder. But I do believe it still needs to fail before replacement according to the fine print--I didn't see anything that would contradict that.

I took the rig into the dealership and had it registered with them since it had all of it's service records. The oil change is about $30 extra dollars compared to doing it myself with idparts' OE oil--$60 difference if you use the least expensive oil option. For that kind of money, I'm going to let them do the oil changes while it's in warranty and do the other stuff myself.

I've found warranty issues get resolved a lot quicker when I've been a service customer on record. I don't think the other fluids aren't on an interval so there won't be a record of me not doing them at the dealer. My cost for the tranny fluid is still $20/l!

 

[KITEWAGON]

The spare can be put back. The PO of our car had to use it and said that it did work.

Good thought on the oil change and being a customer for warranty stuff. Also, if you don't do a topside oil change then changing the oil sucks. I think there are about 14 fasteners on the giagantic 2 piece belly pan that has to come off. My oil extractor failed on me when I tried to change the oil last time so I had to do it from underneath. I'd pay $30 not to do that again.

I probably should have done the same thing, but the dealer is inconvenient for me and I try to stay out of there as much as possible. They have a buy 3 get 1 tire free promotion so I'm planning to get a set of tires there this month. Maybe that will help my cause if we need the warranty.

 

[bizzle]

I try to stay out of the dealers as much as possible. And in this case, they're a brand new VW dealer crew that are taking up temp space in a Ford dealer so I have even less confidence than normal. They're the only dealership within a couple hundred mile radius, though.

Last time I bought tires from VW, the only time and it was because I had the $500 VW gift card from dieselgate, the corporate website points out they will price match. It wasn't as easy as calling any dealer for whatever reason since I only found one dealer willing to do it (could have been due to the fact the tires I was buying were for my BMW and not the VW so they weren't a standard size VW had available), but they did eventually price match to America'sTire. Unless you pay them some potentially ridiculous amount for mounting and balancing, or maybe if you buy from them every time you need tires, my impression it's the service that generates money for them more than the goods.

I've got an oil extractor but I've read my engine isn't supposed to be changed topside. With my 2015 GSW's filter being on the bottom, I'm not sure I should have even bought this extractor at this point...but I wasn't planning on the Touareg at the time

 

[bizzle]

I forgot to mention, the dealers are supposed to be filling up your adblue "between service visits" which might be yet another reason to have them do the oil.

I did print the pages of that particular settlement point to the dealer and have it noted in my file. That said, I don't know how frequently I'll get in-between service fills since it's likely to be trading a couple hours of waiting for a $10 dollar savings :\