ScottBob
Member
Here I am with my third VW TDI... You can read more about my previous two at https://forums.tdiclub.com/index.php?threads/new-to-me-2014-jetta-tdi.491152/
Basically, a few weeks before a trip to Kentucky in early April to visit my sister (and to see the solar eclipse), I made the mistake of letting my teenage nephew borrow my 2014 Jetta TDI so he could go to work (because his P.O.S. Nissan Altima was in the shop). Bad news! Head on collision!
Okay, calm down, calm down, there were no injuries, and no airbags deployed; it was low speed fender bender in a tightly congested neighborhood with cars parked along the ditches. It was still driveable, but the driver's side headlight, bumper, grill, and hood were all crunched in. I managed to piece together the front bumper, air dam and quarter panel with zip ties, making it look like a FrankenVolkswagen, and drove it to work daily for about a month while waiting for the insurance details to be worked out. (I ended up renting a car for the trip, and made my way to Bloomington Indiana to view the eclipse in it's maximum totality.)
Long story short, the insurance company paid $6300 and I got another $1000 for the wrecked Jetta on an auction site, and started looking for a new car... Well guess which way I went... I'm now the proud owner of a 2015 Jetta SE TDI with 6 speed manual. (2014 TDI had a DSG, so I'm learning how to drive a stick shift all over again...)
It was about $8000, with 159,000 miles on it, but it was immaculate, with only a very few dings here and there (what I would call fair wear and tear for a 9 year old vehicle with 159,000 miles on it.) According to Carfax, the previous owner was the original buyer and took good care of it and did all the maintenance, with both emissions recall modifications having been done (and the Adblue tank was replaced at 135,000 miles).
The only maintenance that I can't find any record of having been done was the timing belt. I contacted the dealership where the previous owner did all the other maintenance, and asked them to check their records, but no record of it being changed. Chances are that it might have been done by an indie shop, but there's no way to tell short of taking everything apart and looking for a date code on the timing belt itself.
Seeing that the timing belt was way past due for replacement, I went ahead and bit the bullet and had my local VW dealership change the belt (and idlers, pulleys, water pump, cooling system flush, and everything else that is supposed to be done). Total cost was around $1700.
The car now has 163,000 miles on it and is way out of warranty, so it's time for tunes, deletes, etc. I even bought a Ross VCDS cable. I intend on driving this one until the wheels turn square (and I'm not letting my nephew borrow it!)
Basically, a few weeks before a trip to Kentucky in early April to visit my sister (and to see the solar eclipse), I made the mistake of letting my teenage nephew borrow my 2014 Jetta TDI so he could go to work (because his P.O.S. Nissan Altima was in the shop). Bad news! Head on collision!
Okay, calm down, calm down, there were no injuries, and no airbags deployed; it was low speed fender bender in a tightly congested neighborhood with cars parked along the ditches. It was still driveable, but the driver's side headlight, bumper, grill, and hood were all crunched in. I managed to piece together the front bumper, air dam and quarter panel with zip ties, making it look like a FrankenVolkswagen, and drove it to work daily for about a month while waiting for the insurance details to be worked out. (I ended up renting a car for the trip, and made my way to Bloomington Indiana to view the eclipse in it's maximum totality.)Long story short, the insurance company paid $6300 and I got another $1000 for the wrecked Jetta on an auction site, and started looking for a new car... Well guess which way I went... I'm now the proud owner of a 2015 Jetta SE TDI with 6 speed manual. (2014 TDI had a DSG, so I'm learning how to drive a stick shift all over again...)
It was about $8000, with 159,000 miles on it, but it was immaculate, with only a very few dings here and there (what I would call fair wear and tear for a 9 year old vehicle with 159,000 miles on it.) According to Carfax, the previous owner was the original buyer and took good care of it and did all the maintenance, with both emissions recall modifications having been done (and the Adblue tank was replaced at 135,000 miles).
The only maintenance that I can't find any record of having been done was the timing belt. I contacted the dealership where the previous owner did all the other maintenance, and asked them to check their records, but no record of it being changed. Chances are that it might have been done by an indie shop, but there's no way to tell short of taking everything apart and looking for a date code on the timing belt itself.
Seeing that the timing belt was way past due for replacement, I went ahead and bit the bullet and had my local VW dealership change the belt (and idlers, pulleys, water pump, cooling system flush, and everything else that is supposed to be done). Total cost was around $1700.
The car now has 163,000 miles on it and is way out of warranty, so it's time for tunes, deletes, etc. I even bought a Ross VCDS cable. I intend on driving this one until the wheels turn square (and I'm not letting my nephew borrow it!)