Thread: He did the math
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Old 07-08-2013, 09:07 PM   #7 (permalink)
NachtRitter
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Location: Placerville, CA
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Helga - '00 Volkswagen Jetta TDI
TEAM VW AUDI Group
Diesel
90 day: 51.85 mpg (US)

Mathilde - '99 Volkswagen Eurovan Camper
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Quote:
Originally Posted by UltArc View Post
Also, from my limited experience, there is no replacing parts or working on VW transmissions. It's buy a new one. Or replace it with a used other one, but the transmissions are built to be driven to death and replaced- from what I have been TOLD, I am not a mechanic, or VW expert, I have just known two people with VWs who had transmission issues. 2002 Passat and 2004 Jetta. Allegedly they continue to produce them this way.
Any idea if those were manual or auto trannies? Rebuilds are possible for either the manual or auto trannies on the MkIV Jettas (the 2004 would fall under that), but the auto rebuild is pricey and since the autos (apparently) tend to fail more often than avg auto trannies, there's a chance that it'll fail again. The manual trannies, on the other hand, are pretty solid and can be rebuilt fairly easily. In my case, I swapped out the top (5th) gear on my 5spd for a taller one; I could have done it without removing the tranny from the car but since I was doing the clutch anyway, it was really easy.

That's kinda the point I was getting at... a lot of the folks buying the MkIV VWs (Jetta, Golf) new got to learn the hard way that the autos were crap. A used car buyer can look at the data and know if they want an auto tranny, they should avoid the MkIV VWs, thereby potentially saving themselves a bunch of money and grief. There are a LOT of nice used cars out there.

Obviously, I'm glad there are some folks out there that are buying brand new cars every few years, otherwise there wouldn't be enough good used cars for the rest of us to buy. Even with all the incentives and bonuses and discounts, I simply haven't gotten the math to work out in favor of buying a new car (at least not one I would want to own).
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