Dieselgate, The Canadian Edition

[Bahamut]

I really wish they would tell us the deal. At 95,000km on the original Conti's I'm down on the wear bars and need to make a decision as to how much I going to put into tires.

I replaced the original Hankooks that came on the car with Goodyear Eagle Sport tires in January: sadly I had no choice as the one tire was run about 1-2km flat, and the other tires were needing replacing soon anyway.

You could always put new tires on, and if they issue a buyback, put on some tires from a junkyard and keep the new tires for the next car (if they are the same tire size). There is absolutely no resale value on used tires, so they are pretty cheap to buy.

 

[JohnNS]

I replaced the original Hankooks that came on the car with Goodyear Eagle Sport tires in January: sadly I had no choice as the one tire was run about 1-2km flat, and the other tires were needing replacing soon anyway.

You could always put new tires on, and if they issue a buyback, put on some tires from a junkyard and keep the new tires for the next car (if they are the same tire size). There is absolutely no resale value on used tires, so they are pretty cheap to buy.

Had to replace mine this year too. I plan to put the winter/steel rims back on

 

[Baba O'Riley]

Still on original Hankooks, approx 90k on them, but left winters on. They also have around 70k and will need replacing.
2 sets tires =$2000
Timing belt coming up $1200
Plus another couple bits totalling around $800.

All in all around $4000 needs spending. No problem in the normal course of ownership, but not a chance with this buyback coming up.

Still got the $1000 prepaid cards, so I am looking at around $5000 to put toward new vehicle, plus buyback, which using US numbers appears around $18,500.

Not sure if I will give VW my business, but feel I should give them opportunity.
Sportwagen, AWD, with 6mt would be my preference.

 

[Bahamut]

Owned two Volkswagens prior to this Passat (2004 Jetta TDI - 365,000 km driven, 2007 Jetta 2.5 - 150,000 km driven).

On the one hand, I've collectively put over 600,000 kms on VWs since 2004 and feel an affinity for the brand. On the other hand, I'm really annoyed with this situation: not so much with the actual emissions "cheat", but more so with the way that VW Canada has communicated with Canadian customers. They've left us in the dark for the most part, without much information to go on.

My impression, and this is only my grumpy impression , is that Canadian TDI owners seem to be treated as 2nd class citizens compared to U.S. TDI owners. Maybe July 29th will change this, maybe it won't.

 

[Bahamut]

Still on original Hankooks, approx 90k on them, but left winters on. They also have around 70k and will need replacing.
2 sets tires =$2000
Timing belt coming up $1200
Plus another couple bits totalling around $800.

All in all around $4000 needs spending. No problem in the normal course of ownership, but not a chance with this buyback coming up.

Still got the $1000 prepaid cards, so I am looking at around $5000 to put toward new vehicle, plus buyback, which using US numbers appears around $18,500.

Not sure if I will give VW my business, but feel I should give them opportunity.
Sportwagen, AWD, with 6mt would be my preference.

Wow, that would be tricky balancing the level of maintenance with the potential buyback. I agree with you though: if there is a buyback, no way I would do that level of service. Mind you, if it takes them another 1-2 years to process all the buybacks, that could change things a bit.

 

[Bahamut]

Had to replace mine this year too. I plan to put the winter/steel rims back on

How about a nice quality set of Hyundai Pony tires/rims? I would roll on the floor laughing at the sight of a VW showing up with a 13-inch wheel/tire combo!

 

[zxcv1000]

I'm just upset there basically has been no update for the Canadian market since September 15, when this all started. There isn't a gag order in place in the courts up here, so whey has nothing been released so far?

 

[Bahamut]

I'm just upset there basically has been no update for the Canadian market since September 15, when this all started. There isn't a gag order in place in the courts up here, so whey has nothing been released so far?

Love those wheels in the pic! Are they BBS wheels?

And yes, going on 10 months without a decent update for the Canadian market is irritating to say the least.

 

[Steve Ferrous]

HPFP warranted

One thing that could sway my decision is that in the US, they are going to extend the warranty for the HPFP for 4 years/48k miles. Without re-hashing the likelihood of such a failure, my sphincter could relax a bit if I decide to keep our two TDI's.

 

[zxcv1000]

Love those wheels in the pic! Are they BBS wheels?

And yes, going on 10 months without a decent update for the Canadian market is irritating to say the least.

Yes, the are LM reps

 

[Gizzmo_jr]

Dealer offered me a $2k incentive on trade in last week. That's being given to anyone with the effected TDI. Still waiting for official wording.

 

[FVWVWF]

Dealer offered me a $2k incentive on trade in last week. That's being given to anyone with the effected TDI. Still waiting for official wording.

$2k seems a bit low considering the situation VW is in at the moment. Thats just my opinion.

 

[zxcv1000]

I don't think that 2k has anything to do with what's going on. That's just the dealers trying to get more business to make up for lost revenue.

 

[tobianogreg]

These guys are quite positive re Canadian TDI buyback.

 

[alexvtr]

The 2k$ "promo" to TDI owners has been there since the scandal broke. You don't even have to trade in your current TDI. Any owner of an affected TDI can walk in and buy any VW and get 2k$ rebate.

But I wouldn't advise to trade in ATM considering we're just 2 weeks to (hopefully) know a little more what VW Canada intends to do. For sure, any potential buyback / compensation will take a while to put in place but at least you should know a bit more the value of what you're trading.

 

[Bahamut]

The 2k$ "promo" to TDI owners has been there since the scandal broke. You don't even have to trade in your current TDI. Any owner of an affected TDI can walk in and buy any VW and get 2k$ rebate.

But I wouldn't advise to trade in ATM considering we're just 2 weeks to (hopefully) know a little more what VW Canada intends to do. For sure, any potential buyback / compensation will take a while to put in place but at least you should know a bit more the value of what you're trading.

Totally agree with this! The $2,000 promo has been around for a long time. To put this amount into context, the VW dealership I drive by every day has a big sign up at the front of the lot advertising up to $4,000 off a new vehicle. They also have a sweet brand-new Tornado Red GTI that has been sitting there since April (that is definitely not a car that should be sitting around).

 

[JohnNS]

The closer we get to the announcement the more nervous I get driving the VW.

The other day we stopped (second car back) for people in a crosswalk, much tire squealing behind us as others stopped/weren't paying attention.

I think at this point the only potential to keep us in a VW is the Alltrack. It doesn't solve our needs 100% but we also have to be smart about it. If the incentives are there... well..

The new tiguan would fit the bill (space, awd), but I don't see it being out soon enough for us to make the jump.

 

[Gizzmo_jr]

The wife wants a Tiguan but the 2017 model is not getting the update like the Euro (MQB platform), where as the mk7 Golf TSI has all new tech I'm looking for (active cruise, etc)

 

[Bahamut]

The closer we get to the announcement the more nervous I get driving the VW.

The other day we stopped (second car back) for people in a crosswalk, much tire squealing behind us as others stopped/weren't paying attention.

I think at this point the only potential to keep us in a VW is the Alltrack. It doesn't solve our needs 100% but we also have to be smart about it. If the incentives are there... well..

The new tiguan would fit the bill (space, awd), but I don't see it being out soon enough for us to make the jump.

I'm in the same boat: getting nervous about driving my Passat right now. I have a "loss of depreciation" waiver on my insurance policy so if the vehicle is written-off before August, I will get MSRP back from the insurance company (verified this with my broker). After that, though, I stand to lose a lot in a write-off situation.

Already have a 1999 Ford Crown Victoria queued up as a replacement vehicle if I need it, and the Passat will get parked in a locked garage until the buyback happens. If no buyback is announced, I guess I drive the car as usual.

 

[JohnNS]

The wife wants a Tiguan but the 2017 model is not getting the update like the Euro (MQB platform), where as the mk7 Golf TSI has all new tech I'm looking for (active cruise, etc)

Yeah the 2018 is going to be quite good from what I hear, but that's next fall I think - not waiting that long. Alltrack should be Octoberish. If the deals are there we may bite.

 

[joey003]

Almost half way through July, so we are getting closer to seeing what will be said for Canada. For some reason I don't feel like we'll be getting an easy buyback setup like in the US (hope I'm wrong).

I did purchase a new vehicle a few months ago, and it's coming in September, so I'm curious what will happen with a potential buyback and timeframe.

 

[tobianogreg]

Whoa. Reportedly CARB has rejected the 3.0 recall plan. Things might be getting more expensive for VW.

http://www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/vw_info/vw-diesel-info/vw-diesel-info.htm

 

[Bahamut]

Whoa. Reportedly CARB has rejected the 3.0 recall plan. Things might be getting more expensive for VW.

Ouch! And with every catastrophic screw-up on their part, I can feel a Canadian settlement getting more and more unlikely...maybe I'm just being cynnical.

You can add this to the extraordinarily large pile of trouble that VW is encountering: http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCAKCN0ZT1SR. They may try to claw back executives' bonuses if they are fined in Germany.

 

[Lucsar]

I wasn't sure where I could ask this question but here goes any how. My coworker drives a 2011 Jetta TDI, he tells me he received a letter from VW Canada last week. It just basically says that a settlement has been reached in the U.S. and that Canadian customers will be notified shortly of the proceedings on July 29/16. I drive a 2015 Passat TDI, my car is leased , his is owned. I have'nt received this so called letter as of yet. Just wondering if anyone here has received this letter ? Any ideas on what procedure people who lease their cars are going to go through ? Thanks for the info, always appreciated...

 

[Bahamut]

I wasn't sure where I could ask this question but here goes any how. My coworker drives a 2011 Jetta TDI, he tells me he received a letter from VW Canada last week. It just basically says that a settlement has been reached in the U.S. and that Canadian customers will be notified shortly of the proceedings on July 29/16. I drive a 2015 Passat TDI, my car is leased , his is owned. I have'nt received this so called letter as of yet. Just wondering if anyone here has received this letter ? Any ideas on what procedure people who lease their cars are going to go through ? Thanks for the info, always appreciated...

In my case, there was no physical letter, but an email instead from vw@ricepoint.com: came through on June 28. No details on the procedure for people who lease their cars in Canada: from what I've read of the U.S. deal, you can terminate the lease early. Not sure about additional compensation though.

There are a couple of places online that list the contents of that email: the reddit link https://www.reddit.com/r/tdi/comments/4qfq9k/as_a_canadian_tdi_owner/?st=iqlm8gx6&sh=921afe3d has it as someone cut-and-pasted the entire email into one comment.

 

[Steve Ferrous]

Lucsar, I sent you an email with the letter so that you can see what it says.

 

[tobianogreg]

I think the fact they are sending out letters is a good sign for us. This likely means they are still sensitive to the image they are projecting to Canadians and a reaction to the criticisms regarding the dearth of info so far.

I might be overthinking this but doubt they would waste the postage if the plan was to throw us to the wolves.

 

[zxcv1000]

The letter was the exact same thing they have written on the vwemissionsinfo.ca website.

 

[Lucsar]

Lucsar, I sent you an email with the letter so that you can see what it says.

Hey Steve , thanks for the email... Got it.

 

[Bahamut]

I think the fact they are sending out letters is a good sign for us. This likely means they are still sensitive to the image they are projecting to Canadians and a reaction to the criticisms regarding the dearth of info so far.

I might be overthinking this but doubt they would waste the postage if the plan was to throw us to the wolves.

Maybe they consider postage paid as a low-cost way of calming down TDI customers before they drop a huge nasty surprise on us.

I sincerely hope you're right though that they're still considering how Canadians perceive them. If you read their responses on the @VWCanada Twitter feed, they seem to rotate between several "canned" responses: most of which relate to the idea of "we cannot talk about discussions currently under way" and "you're a valuable customer". I hope there is some sincerity there.