The service our dealer provided
alone was enough to not want to give VW another dime of our money. The fact that I can't trust my car going to a
dealer and getting
correctly performed service being an issue all to it's own.. The newest scandal seals the deal absolutely. It's not the pollution, though, the ability to burn clean was a paramount decision in buying the car originally. It's not the principle--I understand why they'd do it. If de-tuning the car (and this is speculative) is the fix to meeting emissions specs, we likely would have never bought it. If we wanted something asthmatic and dreadful to drive we would have bought a Prius. We knew Toyota's reputation for standing by their product and still, we chose the TDI. Not the happy go lucky edgy VW advertising campaign, nor, the mythbusters "tour" of the CJAA had sold us completely on the car--it was the driving experience that sold us. The car was zippy and agile. Something it's opposition was not. The interior was spacious and aesthetically pleasing. The ride was quiet and smooth. The handling and braking were superb compared to the shopping cart like characteristics of the Prius.
I just signed up and this is my first post on this forum. In the past, I only came here for the tutorials since terrible customer service at the dealer prompted me to wrench on the machine myself. I've been really grateful for the wealth of information you all provide but I never really paid much attention to troubles other TDI owners were having... until now. I'm a little overwhelmed at the number of HPFP failures. DPF failures (if the speculative fix is correct) will only continue to increase. Is there some critical failure in the DSG too? I mean.. ***!? Add these potentially catastrophic ingredients together and mix thoroughly with a dash of EPA emissions scandal and what
sane, well informed car buyer would buy one of these from us? What does it say when it's reported not even Volkswagen will
take one in? I always wondered why resell value was in the toilet.
At the same time, however... we love our TDI. It's been (relatively) reliable for us and we drive the piss out of it. Feeling performance go down and noticing a decrease in MPG after the update was a bummer but the car has been good to us and we were never 100% on whether it was the update or not that caused it.
Unfortunately, we live in California, so we'll likely be required to perform the (speculative) de-tuned update but you know what? I say bring it on. The quicker Cali and the EPA gets the notification that my VIN has received the update, the quicker I can send my computer off to be retuned. I'm in a county that only smogs at the point of sale and if it's worthless anyways--even in the eyes of it's own creator--what have I got to lose?