Volkswagen's Clean Air Act violations on 2009+ TDIs spark huge recall, investigations

[bubbagumpshrimp]

When I test drove the Outback (a few years ago), it seemed pretty roomy. What killed it for me was the numb ride -- no road feel. It was sure soft and comfy though. It just wallowed around corners. If I wanted that, I'd head over to the Buick dealer as well. ;-)

That's a frequent complaint that I've heard about some of their cars. Other than the WRX and WRX STI...I guess they aren't targeting the "spiriting driving" crowd.

I don't know why it felt that way, but according to the specs the GSW has more cabin room and less cargo capacity compared to your and my JSWs.

That's part of my issue. I have a sedan. I would have been happier (cargo capacity wise) with the JSW. The GSW though...yeah...I thought the storage area looked very small. I parked my sedan next to one just to compare my trunk vs. the hatch and I wasn't at all impressed with the space back there (in the GSW).

 

[ray96disco]

That's a frequent complaint that I've heard about some of their cars. Other than the WRX and WRX STI...I guess they aren't targeting the "spiriting driving" crowd.



That's part of my issue. I have a sedan. I would have been happier (cargo capacity wise) with the JSW. The GSW though...yeah...I thought the storage area looked very small. I parked my sedan next to one just to compare my trunk vs. the hatch and I wasn't at all impressed with the space back there (in the GSW).

My jsw is a '14 model and, with the back seats folded up, I've slept two people in the back. Tight but doable.

 

[Rudyjo]

Most of the members of my Miata club are older than you so that is no excuse!

I'm 65 and have a Miata. I never thought it would happen, but the Miata doesn't leave the garage much any more. I actually enjoy driving my GSW / 6speed more than the Miata. It will probably be going up for sale soon.

 

[bizzle]

My jsw is a '14 model and, with the back seats folded up, I've slept two people in the back. Tight but doable.

The GSW has a smaller cargo area, but probably the same space with the seats folded down. My wife and I have "camped" at the beach a few times...but then again we've done it in the beetle years ago so the Sportwagen seemed luxurious in comparison

I didn't notice that bubbagumpshrimp had a regular Jetta. I keep getting tempted by the Jetta Hybrid but I read no one is able to get the mileage claimed and I don't think we can make the trunk work with baby stuff and the battery in the way. We do have an eGolf, though, but it's only for running around town.

 

[tysonxj]

DIY: Lift for TDI Sportwagen (for oversize tires)
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=341676

 

[ray96disco]

DIY: Lift for TDI Sportwagen (for oversize tires)
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=341676

I've looked real hard at that. We spend time in Big Bend and other places plus getting out to friend's farms and ranches for hunting, etc. and the Land Rover's a pig on gas. Wonder if a Tiguan transfer case will swap in. May not need to trade up to a GSW AWD when they show.

 

[jayp111]

So.....anyone heard any estimates on when the 2016 TDI's will go back on the market?

This is not an IF....its a WHEN...

Hopefully VW gets their act together before I replace my current wv with a Mini Cooper JCW just for giggle......

 

[ray96disco]

So.....anyone heard any estimates on when the 2016 TDI's will go back on the market?

This is not an IF....its a WHEN...

It will be after CARB & EPA agree to the fix VW offered up. A nickle says those will be the first cars fixed.

 

[jayp111]

It will be after CARB & EPA agree to the fix VW offered up. A nickle says those will be the first cars fixed.

I had not seen an announcement that a fix had been proposed to our benevelent overlords at CARB/EPA

Forgive me for not combing through all 1000 pages of this thread and a couple others but iirc the "fix" for the 2015-16's is simply to remove the test evasion software and a possibly tweak to software....the cars as is should be capable of meeting emission standards

 

[bubbagumpshrimp]

DIY: Lift for TDI Sportwagen (for oversize tires)
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=341676

Ah. Lift kit. That's on my list of things that I'll never do again (Jeep and Land Cruiser).

 

[gearheadgrrrl]

If I don't need an SUV, 99% of you don't either...

I live in Minnesota, currently out in the country. I've driven to and from work in all our legendary blizzards in front wheel drive golfs. Driven dirt roads in spring breakup when they were so muddy and collapsing that the pickup trucks tried to stay in the middle of the road while the Golf danced around them. Hauled 4 people and with 2 wheelchairs and 2 bikes on the roof too, folded the seats down and slept in the back when all the motels were full. Moved a friend and saved her the cost of a rental truck, just drove the JSW down to Florida with 320 kg. of motorcycle parts plus me, no problem. That was a light load, two years ago hauled a motorcycle down in the JSW. No hitch on the JSW, but got one on the A4 Golf and it regularly tows up to 750 kg.. I've got a 4WD pickup, but my TDIs have hauled everything I've needed to haul so I haven't insured and driven it for several years.

Think about it... The Golf and Ford Focus are the best selling cars in Europe, and SUVs and pickups are rare there. If they can live quite well without big ass SUVs and pickups, why can't we?

 

[Smevans]

I took my 2015 TDI (26,000 miles) to a few dealers to see what they would offer for trade in's.

Nissan dealer- $11,500
Toyota dealer- $10,000
VW Dealer- $13,500
Carmax- $15,000

 

[whitedog]

If they can live quite well without big ass SUVs and pickups, why can't we?

Because we have more, cooler places that we want to go.

Have yo uever hooked up your golf to a 17,000 bus stuck in 18 inches of snow and pulled it up, out of the ditch?

Have you ever taken your JSW on the Rubicon?

Have you ever driven your Golf through a four foot deep water hole?

 

[bubbagumpshrimp]

I took my 2015 TDI (26,000 miles) to a few dealers to see what they would offer for trade in's.
Nissan dealer- $11,500
Toyota dealer- $10,000
VW Dealer- $13,500
Carmax- $15,000

That translates to "we don't want your car." I'm surpriswd that Carmax was that high. It's just more polite to go through the motions of generating an offer than to cut someone off as soon as they hear "TDI."

 

[Smevans]

That translates to "we don't want your car." I'm surpriswd that Carmax was that high. It's just more polite to go through the motions of generating an offer than to cut someone off as soon as they hear "TDI."

Yea. Toyota and Nissan said their dealer has put a hold on selling any used TDI's until a resolution is known. Carmax offer is tempting. I would love to walk away from this thing.

 

[jayp111]

Yea. Toyota and Nissan said their dealer has put a hold on selling any used TDI's until a resolution is known. Carmax offer is tempting. I would love to walk away from this thing.

How many miles on the car? (edit...missed the 25k)

What color and model/options?

Might be willing to fly to oregon and take it off your hands

 

[GoFaster]

I had not seen an announcement that a fix had been proposed to our benevelent overlords at CARB/EPA

Forgive me for not combing through all 1000 pages of this thread and a couple others but iirc the "fix" for the 2015-16's is simply to remove the test evasion software and a possibly tweak to software....the cars as is should be capable of meeting emission standards

VW was to have submitted a proposal to CARB on Nov 20th and CARB had some time to review it. It's known that VW submitted a proposal, but what it contained was not public information. CARB has delayed their review period to Jan 14th 2016 on the grounds that VW was submitting significant additional information through December. Now it seems like CARB is sending out requests to some (presumably local) VW TDI owners to borrow their car for 3 months. Since we are dealing with a government organization, presumably this documentation will become public information in due course, but that has not happened yet.

That's what we know. Now for what can be speculated from it. CARB is wanting to borrow cars for three months (I'm thinking that they are probably going to have to buy them - I sure wouldn't give them carte-blanche to do anything they want with my car.) Let's suppose that gets going sometime in January - let's say late January after CARB has reviewed VW's proposal. It means their testing completes in April - May. That's my guess for the earliest that you will see CARB/EPA approve something.

Remember, a 150,000 mile durability test running 24/7 but including a decent number of cold starts and the requisite soak periods takes six months minimum. And that's if nothing goes wrong.

We knew from the beginning that it was going to take some time to get this sorted out ...

 

[jayp111]

VW was to have submitted a proposal to CARB on Nov 20th and CARB had some time to review it. It's known that VW submitted a proposal, but what it contained was not public information. CARB has delayed their review period to Jan 14th 2016 on the grounds that VW was submitting significant additional information through December. Now it seems like CARB is sending out requests to some (presumably local) VW TDI owners to borrow their car for 3 months. Since we are dealing with a government organization, presumably this documentation will become public information in due course, but that has not happened yet.

That's what we know. Now for what can be speculated from it. CARB is wanting to borrow cars for three months (I'm thinking that they are probably going to have to buy them - I sure wouldn't give them carte-blanche to do anything they want with my car.) Let's suppose that gets going sometime in January - let's say late January after CARB has reviewed VW's proposal. It means their testing completes in April - May. That's my guess for the earliest that you will see CARB/EPA approve something.

Remember, a 150,000 mile durability test running 24/7 but including a decent number of cold starts and the requisite soak periods takes six months minimum. And that's if nothing goes wrong.

We knew from the beginning that it was going to take some time to get this sorted out ...

Muchos gracias

 

[St.Hubbins]

There seems to be four types of people who buy a TDI:
1. The "Don't Tread on Me" crowd: wants great mpg but could care less about environment. Typically deletes DPF and owns guns. Normally an oldschool diesel head. This is not their first TDI. They want to keep their TDI, by saying, "pry my TDI from my cold dead hands.
2. The Hippy crowd: wants great gas mileage and cares about the environment. Would've run biodiesel in the CR TDI, if they could. However, they know their are tradeoffs and are not buying the "pollutes 40x any other car. Realizes the car is still green when you consider CO2, CO and particulate matter. They offset by riding bikes and recycling. They also want to keep the TDI through this fiasco because they realize it's better for the environment to keep a car for a long time instead of buying a new one every three years. This is not their first TDI either.
3. Jack Johnson family crowd: these people just traded in their three year old prius for a new TDI. Typically, the dad looks like Jack Johnson. The stay at home mom is hot and wears yoga pants with a cool surf inspired trucker hat. They have beautiful kids and shop at whole foods. They say they care about the environment and are scheming a non-profit for tax writeoffs. These people are noobies to the TDI. They are the most irate and want to dump their car. Oh, and they have a Jack Johnson CD permanently in the stereo.
4. Engineer nerd: not their first TDI either. Likes the technical marvel of a small diesel, along with it's efficiency. These guys keep the car and drive it. They usually wear high wasted jeans with a shirt tucked in. Rather soft spoken but willing to have a geek-out session over the car. These people are less emotional about it and want to keep their cars too. They know the struggle of the engineer vs bean counters. These guys develop fixes like I dunno, a micron filter and fuel pump.
Any more?

solid 1.5 here - and in my spare time i break into TDI's owned by "3"s, and steal their Jack Johnson/Ben Harper (same person?) collection for skeet-shooting fun.

confession - i am a sucker for occasional Whole Foods splurges. $5 organic blackberries? surely they're age-defying!

 

[jen_madcity]

Yea. Toyota and Nissan said their dealer has put a hold on selling any used TDI's until a resolution is known. Carmax offer is tempting. I would love to walk away from this thing.

My Honda dealer is taking TDIs on trade. You should see what Honda will offer. Can I ask if it's S, SE, or SEL? Wagon or hatch?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[dmarsingill]

Because we have more, cooler places that we want to go.

Have yo uever hooked up your golf to a 17,000 bus stuck in 18 inches of snow and pulled it up, out of the ditch?

Have you ever taken your JSW on the Rubicon?

Have you ever driven your Golf through a four foot deep water hole?

Like this.....

http://renegades.us/trailreports/irongap20060121/cummins/dscn2813e.jpg


This was 10 yrs ago, but you get the idea.

Note.......My Jeep retained all factory emissions equipment(my county requires emissions testing)


Donald

 

[dmarsingill]

I took my 2015 TDI (26,000 miles) to a few dealers to see what they would offer for trade in's.

Nissan dealer- $11,500
Toyota dealer- $10,000
VW Dealer- $13,500
Carmax- $15,000

Remember .....26000 miles is 2 yrs of use to a trade-in value. I would be OK with the CarMax offer. If you don't want to sell it privately, that is the way to go. If it were me, I would keep it until you break even on the loan-to-value ratio.

Donald

 

[I800C0LLECT]

I think everybody is at odds over why they may not get a good trade offer.

Everybody who's trading is seeing the ugly side of used cars and blames vw for lost resale. Others are basically stating that it's just the norm.

I have family members that flip cars and tdi's are hit and miss. They have great resale with informed buyers and aren't worth a cent to uninformed.

Most dealerships are going to use the scandal as leverage to screw you over. It didn't validate any ideas that you've lost resale. It only validates that you're dealing with an *******.

With that said...I've never had any luck with any vehicles or any friend's vehicles when it came to trade in. One time I hit the perfect storm and grabbed a nice chunk from a piece of scrap Ford 500. So I'm sorry your stories of being victimized don't hit a chord with myself or others.

The truth is...dealerships would go under if they were losing on trades. Next time somebody swears they got a great value trading in they probably didn't hand over all the facts.

So please stop whining about it being vw's fault. There's a lot of people cashing in from all angles. The best one?..."your car isn't worth anything after vw scandal!!"...."I just made $10K flipping a TDI!!"

 

[romad]

I'm 65 and have a Miata. I never thought it would happen, but the Miata doesn't leave the garage much any more. I actually enjoy driving my GSW / 6speed more than the Miata. It will probably be going up for sale soon.

Well, I'm only a year older, but I've had the Miata 26 years (bought it in July 1990). Actually the main reason I have my Jetta wagon is because after my late mother gave up her driving license at age 91, I needed something to take her places since she could not get in and out of the Miata. So, my Miata doesn't get the miles it used to even after it stopped being my daily driver to work. But now that my mom has passed away, the Miata will be getting more use, including going to the monthly club meetings.

 

[I800C0LLECT]

here's part of an email...I couldn't get rid of the header and I'm sure my wife wouldn't want her email on the forum. If anybody wants a copy just PM me...

When we heard the shocking news that VW had installed software on diesel models to produce inaccurate emissions tests, we felt compelled to offer our customers the opportunity to trade for another car. Most loved their VW diesels so much they kept them.
But a few decided to trade for another car. So, we now have an inventory of about 30 pre-owned VW diesels. These cars are in great condition. They offer great performance. Most are still under factory warranty. And because of the emissions test discovery they are valued thousands below their original prices.

Recently smart buyers have asked about these cars. They realize their value as excellent transportation options. And while they disapprove of the emissions issue, they believe VW will eventually develop a solution that will bring these cars into EPA compliance. We hope that will happen, but it is not something we can guarantee at this time.

However, in response to numerous requests, we are putting these cars on the market and offering them at incredibly low prices. You can find them on our website. Each car comes with Priorities For Life: oil and filter changes and state inspections for life; and your engine guaranteed for life.

And we add this additional guarantee. If and when VW announces a solution to the emissions problem, we will bring your car into compliance at no cost.

Should you have any questions about these cars please feel free to give me a call or email. Thank you.

Kenny Dunn
804-855-4030
kdunn@priorityauto.com

I'm not sure I'd call these amazing low prices or anything but one thing sticks out. Anybody remember VW giving dealerships large incentives for helping out owners with trades? I bet this is part of all that. They also win out with a new interest loan and add-on equipment, guarantees, warranty, etc.

Anyways...the prices don't seem to be very compelling if you ask me. As of right now there's 6 left of the original 30 from December 7th. Check'em out...

http://www.priorityvw.com/searchused.aspx?fueltype=Diesel+Fuel&utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=special-diesels

 

[I800C0LLECT]

2013 Jetta w/Manual w/ ~25K miles Reduced by $2107 since 12/12/2015

Now $15,746...was $17,853


2013 Beetle DSG w/71K miles....$15,000 was $15,995

2014 Jetta DSG w/19K miles...$18,245 was $18,995

2013 SportWagen Manual w/47K miles...$17,495 was $18,495

I'm sure the previous owners received similar trade values as everybody else that's complaining. It looks like Priority dealership made good money flipping them. I'm guessing the first 24(already sold in less than 3 weeks of the ad) vehicles probably didn't get reduced in price as these are just what's left.


EDIT: pics

 

[Smevans]

So please stop whining about it being vw's fault.

And yet... it is.

 

[TDILeo]

Just received a $50 gift card from VW of Salem (OR) where I purchased my TDI. They will up it to $100 off any service $300 or more. Nothing earth shattering but VW is in a giving mood this season. More interesting is the Tampa FL return address. Hmmm...

 

[I800C0LLECT]

And yet... it is.

woah woah woah....completely out of context.

When I used the word "IT" I was referring to resale value. I agree the emissions problem is VW's fault.

 

[Smevans]

woah woah woah....completely out of context.

When I used the word "IT" I was referring to resale value. I agree the emissions problem is VW's fault.

But the emissions problem caused the resale value. KBB is down 13% for VW Diesels since the scandal. VW as a whole is down 7% after the scandal. Now its not VW's fault that I no longer have a need for the car. But without the scandal I could have walked away without negative equity.

But it is what it is. I am putting storage insurance on the car tomorrow and will wait a few months to see if the dust settles.