Help me decide on 2010 JSW

[wwrivers]

My wife and I are very, very interested in buying a 2010 TDI JSW in the next few days, but have some questions.

We live in a town that doesn't have a VW dealer. The closest one is about 75 miles away, although there are others at 100 - 120 miles away in different directions. Our first thought was it would be dumb to buy a new car (with warranty, maintenance, etc) without having a dealer nearby. Now, we are convincing ourselves to go for it, as the JSW sounds like the perfect vehicle for our needs.

We live in Montana, have two little kids, and want a vehicle for around town, road tripping, and also camping trips (mostly paved roads). We have an SUV that we can use for backwoods stuff and bad snow storms, but it gets bad mpgs and we don't want it to be our primary vehicle for town, ski days, or road tripping.

How is the JSW in the snow? We live in a hilly town and get snow periodically throughout the winter, although typically it melts off and doesn't stay on the roads. We do have a short steep driveway that has us concerned. Some friends who drive Priuses here advised against one of those as they say their Priuses don't do well here in the winter.

Manual or DSG? Does the manual get even better mileage than the EPA says?

Any negatives to the sunroof? My wife is way into that feature.

Any experiences with infant seats in the JSW?

Do 17" wheels give the vehicle more clearance (for snow, dirt roads, etc)? Do they hurt the mpg's?

Thanks for any and all advice as we try to decide what to do. We are going to drive a JSW tomorrow and may buy it if we like it as much as we think we will.

 

[Exmasonite]

I can chime in on a couple of your questions:

1) Manual vs DSG: I say go for manual. Couple of reasons: Slightly better mileage, less/cheaper maintenance, reliability (DSG recalls: 1, Manual: 0). For snow/bad weather, i also prefer shifting when able to get more torque, etc (although arguably you can do the same in DSG's sport mode)

2) Snow- haven't had a chance to experience yet but i did go out and buy a set of snow tires/rims to use during the winter. do a search on winter tires and you'll get lots of info/recommendations. FWD, manual transmission, ESP, snow tires- probably as good in the snow as you're ever going to get

3) sunroof- don't know much about this feature. I'd say do a search. I've seen a few threads about increased noise, rattling, etc. Seems like a nice feature but my concern is that it's just one more thing that could break and when it does, it is essentially raining in your car.

personally, i love my '09 JSW TDI and can't recommend it enough.

 

[PoliPino]

For a couple of your questions:

Manual vs. Auto. I bought the manual, and I calculated 37.3 mpg on my first tank of fuel, with about 60% city driving. I can't compare that to the DSG, but it's pretty good, if you ask me.

Sunroof. I have absolutely no complaints about the Pano. roof. My son (1 yr old) loves being able to look out the roof from the back seat. I haven't noticed any great amounts of wind noise or anything from it. I'm sure it's louder than the non-roof models, but not enough to be annoying in any way.

Infant seats. We made sure that our child seats would fit in the car before we bought the car. Right now we're using a pretty bulky Evenflo seat - forward facing - for our son. It fits very well (his feet aren't touching the seatback at all) and the front passenger has no problems with having to keep the seat way forward or anything. Using it rearward facing, or using the infant carrier with the base does make it a little tighter, but it would still fit behind the passenger seat without too much trouble. You might have to move the passenger seat up a little, but not enough to be uncomfortable, IMO. But with the car seat in back it would make it very tough to have any more than one person next to it in the back. The car is a little too narrow to fit the seat and 2 across.

 

[wwrivers]

Thanks for the replies! I really appreciate the information. Looks like we are going to drive a fully loaded manual tomorrow (one of the few we can find near here (one of the few we can find). I don't really want all the features, but my wife does. I think I'd prefer the 16" wheels if they get better mpg, but we may take what we can get.

We will try the backseat with two carseats -- front facing for 2.5 year old, and rear facing for the 6 month old.

 

[psyphy]

I have a 2010 JSW with DSG-had it 1 month & I love it. The DSG is fun to drive, although the shifting is a little quirky & takes getting used to but I will often use the tiptronic mode. My kids have jetta's & in PA & Michigan they've had no trouble with snow without using snow tires. I skipped the sun roof as I'm 6'2" & that makes my head hit the top. I'm beyond the munchkin stage, but my guess is that it will involve a little more contortions than an SUV for getting them in & out of car seats.

Not to be disloyal to VW's but I'd think about the Outback--the 2010 is SUV size inside, which is why I didn't want it, but between that & the AWD it's worth thinking about.

 

[meowguy]

If you are young and drive manual, by all means get it. Otherwise, the DSG is the finest auto I have ever driven.

As for the sunroof. You need to be aware that putting that large a hole in your roof creates some structural weakness. You have a wife and two kids.

To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, when we bought our 03 Honda Odyssey the factory would not provide a sunroof if you had dual sliding doors. It weakens the structure too much.

I have had my JSW for three weeks. The honeymoon is alive and well. Great little car, lots of room.

 

[hammersc]

I've read about the pano roof being great. I've also read that the cover that covers that giant sunroof is perferated and lets in lots of heat and light when you might not want it to. Montana summers shouldn't be hot enough to have to worry about this though.
I test drove one with the pano roof and thought, "Wow, that is a big sunroof. Wow that cover revealing the sunroof is pretty cool - almost like a dome opening or something. Wow when it's closed and covered it is still really hot and bright thanks to the holes in the cover." But I live in South Carolina where the avg high from May to September is upper 80s with plenty of 90s. And being tall 6'3" sunroofs rob headroom, especially in the rear. Just my opinion. It has its up and downs so check it out and judge for yourself.

 

[barkleygracie]

Thought I would chime in, since my reason for buying the TDI is the same as yours. We have 2 kids (14 and 12) that we shuttle around all week on short distance runs.

My LX470 is great for long trips with tons of gear (bikes, dogs, kayaks, you name it), but it was killing us around town, averaging 12 mpg.

I wanted something a little smaller to ferry kids without bleeding my wallet every time I fill up. Test drove a couple of hybrids, but they were spartan on the inside, and merging onto the highway was a near-death experience.

I've only had my JSW (black/cornsilk, pano, nav, rear air) for 5 days, but I can honestly say it has exceeded my expectations in every respect. It's fun to drive, has lots of power, and I love how it hugs the curves (my LX always feels like it's going to topple over). I am not a big driving afficenado, but after reading this forum, I feel like I need to spend a little more time trying to make the most out of the DSG.

We all love the sunroof - it gives the car a really open feeling, and my 6' husband is OK with the height. No extra noise that we can tell. Of course, we haven't been in 90+ degree weather yet, so we don't know about added heat. Haven't driven it in snow yet, either.

There's plenty of room in the back for kids gear, trips to the warehouse club, dogs, etc. The stereo is great as well. And the icing on the cake is that I am averaging about 35 mpg on the first tank !

We still have the LX470 (it's 12 years old), and will hold onto it for the long trips we take 4-5 times a year. But day in and day out, the JSW is the bomb in my book !

 

[RaleighTDI]

We have the DSG with pano roof... my wife is not a fan of a stick, and given the 6 speed that does require more "work" if you look at it that way. The DSG is a very different automatic than anything I have ever had, but I really have enjoyed my first weeks with it.
We have two children and we love the sunroof - The open air feeling in the car is great. TBD on summer heat, but I think we will be ok. I am 6' 1" and have no issues with head room at all. In terms of one more thing to break... I guess that is true, but hey, not heard of any problems on the board, and I have had roofs for years on cars parked outdoors all year with zero issues so again - not going to worry about it.
In regards to dealerships - that is something to think about... but if you love the car I'd go for it. Heck once the warranty is done everyone around here seems to recommend a local mechanic anyways.

 

[tomo366]

That's because the DSG is not Really an AUTOMATIC.........There is no Torque Converter.........It is really an automatically shift manual Transmission
In simple terms, it is two separate manual gearboxes (and clutches), contained within one housing, and working as one unit.[2][3][5] It was designed by BorgWarner,[4] and was initially licensed to the German automotive industry conglomerate Volkswagen Group

 

[thebigarniedog]

My wife and I are very, very interested in buying a 2010 TDI JSW in the next few days, but have some questions.

We live in a town that doesn't have a VW dealer. The closest one is about 75 miles away, although there are others at 100 - 120 miles away in different directions. Our first thought was it would be dumb to buy a new car (with warranty, maintenance, etc) without having a dealer nearby. Now, we are convincing ourselves to go for it, as the JSW sounds like the perfect vehicle for our needs.

We live in Montana, have two little kids, and want a vehicle for around town, road tripping, and also camping trips (mostly paved roads). We have an SUV that we can use for backwoods stuff and bad snow storms, but it gets bad mpgs and we don't want it to be our primary vehicle for town, ski days, or road tripping.

How is the JSW in the snow? We live in a hilly town and get snow periodically throughout the winter, although typically it melts off and doesn't stay on the roads. We do have a short steep driveway that has us concerned. Some friends who drive Priuses here advised against one of those as they say their Priuses don't do well here in the winter.

Manual or DSG? Does the manual get even better mileage than the EPA says?

Any negatives to the sunroof? My wife is way into that feature.

Any experiences with infant seats in the JSW?

Do 17" wheels give the vehicle more clearance (for snow, dirt roads, etc)? Do they hurt the mpg's?

Thanks for any and all advice as we try to decide what to do. We are going to drive a JSW tomorrow and may buy it if we like it as much as we think we will.

Welcome to the tdiclub. The biggest difficulty I think you are going to face is to find a new TDI without being gouged. There have been plenty of threads recently where people have paid MSRP or higher. The same thing happened in 2009 when the new CR TDI was first released. Toward the end of the production run, the prices were around invoice. The key is patience. Those that paid $3(k) over MSRP in 2009 are sure regretting their foolishness now. So, while the above questions seem to be the most important questions, the reality of the price and whether your dealer is part of the gouging problem is the real question. I would recommend patience and if you can delay your gratification buy one in April. You will save yourself a cartful of money.

As to your other questions, the DSG is the least valuable tranny option to have (the Manual Trannies get snapped up first). A well respected Guru on this Board stated that the DSG is a $3000 dollar mistake --- I cannot improve on that statement. Good luck on your purchase and welcome to the tdiclub.

 

[Turbine Suburban]

I paid $1500 below sticker for an 09. I can not imagine paying anywhere near sticker for one of these,, even more so knowing what I know now.