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Date:         Tue, 5 Jun 2001 22:30:54 -0400
Reply-To:     Todd Guttman <tguttman@COLUMBUS.RR.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Todd Guttman <tguttman@COLUMBUS.RR.COM>
Subject:      Re: Comparison Shopping for Cars (Volkswagen & Toyota content)
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Ken - I agree with Marc, but it's going to be really difficult for your friend to find a new Golf or Jetta TDI out there right now. 01' TDIs are, because of the recent fuel price hikes, scarce and dealers are charging well-above list price for the ones they have. I actually found one in Cleveland last week, agreed-upon a price with the salesman only to be told by the sales manager that "because of the national shortage we can only accept list price plus an additional $750." Needless to say, I told him what he could do with his 'shortage'.

Although, I agree with Marc that Jettas (and Golf's and new Bugs) have fahrfahrgnugen - I'd recommend that your friend also consider a plain old DX 2.0 liter Camry with a 5 speed manual transmission if you can find one. They'll get 35-40 mpg on the highway on regular unleaded gasoline and the engines are nearly bullet-proof. I've had two with 200+ thousand miles on them. The most recent, an 89', turned 282,000 miles and, other than regular oil changes with Castrol, required only 4 sets of new tires, 3 mufflers, and one starter. That's it - I never even changed the timing belt (as I understand, it's a non-interference engine - if the timing belt breaks, it just stops and doesn't trash your valves like a Honda). While the Camrys don't have personalities nor are they as fun to drive as a Golf or a Westy - they sure are reliable.

Tell your friend good luck and if you happen to find where VW of America is hiding all the 01 TDIs - let me know.

Todd

85 Westy 'Rivendel' Columbus, OH

----- Original Message ----- From: Marc Perdue <marcperdue@ADELPHIA.NET> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM> Sent: Tuesday, June 05, 2001 8:31 PM Subject: Re: Comparison Shopping for Cars (Volkswagen content)

> Ken, > > Take a closer look at the warranties. VW's standard 2 year/24K warranty > would probably be insufficient for such a high-mileage driver. VW's > also tend to be somewhat temperamental and parts are expensive. My last > Honda Civic, with 3 year/36K warranty, I drove to 96k with NO problems > whatsoever, save for those resulting from an accident I was in. For > dependability, it's hard to beat a Honda. On the other hand, Jettas are > so much more fun to drive, are eminently tweakable, and a friend of mine > has 400K on his TDI with few problems. > > Just a few thoughts, > Marc Perdue > '87 Westfalia > '00 Passat Variant, 1.8T > > KENWILFY@AOL.COM wrote: > > > My friend is a long distance daily driver (commutes three hours or > > more every > > day each way to work and back!). I have grown weary of fixing his 15 > > year > > old Hondas every weekend so I am trying to talk him into buying a new > > car > > with a warranty plan, etc. > > So last night I spent a few hours at www.autobytel.com. I went there > > thinking that there was no way that my friend could afford a VW since > > they > > were higher priced than the other cars in their class and for no good > > reason. > > So I checked out Hyundai, Honda, Toyota, Nissan, and just for the > > heck of > > it, Jetta and Golf as well. What I found was very surprising to me. > > The > > Hyundai, which is the cheapest cars to buy, actually worked out to be > > almost > > identical to the Jetta and Golf (the Elantra was more expensive) to > > buy and > > own for five years! The Toyota Corrola (the most boring car ever > > concieved > > by mankind) was similarly expensive and on par with the Jetta or Golf > > when > > you added little things like Air Conditioning, and Power Steering > > (Hello > > automakers, these are no longer options!). > > > > The only two cars I found that seemed cheaper and a good value to buy > > over > > the Jetta or Golf were the Nissan Sentra and the Honda Civic. Both > > were > > rated very high, they got good fuel mileage and came with a lot of > > standard > > equipment. However the make or break it might be in the warranty. I > > know > > VWs 100k mile drive train warranty is good, but I don't know what kind > > of > > warranty Honda or Nissan offer. The Jetta and Golf I looked at were > > the TDI > > model and got 49 mpg highway burning the now cheaper diesel fuel, so > > factoring this in the Jetta and Golf may still come out cheaper in the > > long > > haul than the other two. > > > > Conclusion, even though I went into this research with the bias > > opinion > > against the VWs, I was so impressed by the price and option comparison > > that > > now I am leaning heavily in that direction for my friend. Any input > > from TDI > > Jetta or Golf owners is welcome. > > > > Thanks, > > Ken Wilford > > John 3:16 > > www.vanagain.com > > Phone: (856)-765-1583 > > Fax: (856)-327-2242 >


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