Super-Commuter & high mile thread

Sooooo....I know I started this thread, but I no longer have the Prius. I ran across a deal today that was too good to pass up, so I traded for a '15 VW Jetta TDI with the DSG transmission. 12,450 miles, it's had the first part of the emissions fix completed, and later this year will get the second part (more on that in a minute).

I know, I know...ridin' dirty. But I've been missing having a VW....I've had 5 or 6 (I think this is number 6). A Jetta or Golf TDI would have been my first choice for the commute I do, but the Dieselgate thing was in its early stages, and none were for sale when I needed a commuter. So I snagged the Prius 21 months and 93,500 miles ago.

For those that are interested, there are two parts to the fix for the '15: a software update (part one), and a hardware + software update (part 2). The hardware fix is to replace pretty much all the emissions components on the car with new, updated parts. The '15 Jetta/Golf TDI fix involves more because of the hardware replacements, but it also means those components will likely last longer because of the AdBlue injection system. Long story short: Diesel particulate cleanup and NOx cleanup require vastly different air-fuel ratios to work well, and by isolating the NOx treatment with AdBlue injection, the car can run lean (like Diesels do), prolonging the life of the Diesel particulate filter and maintaining fuel economy.

The sweetener is the warranty. The entire engine, entire fuel system (including the pricey high-pressure fuel pump), all emissions components (including but not limited to DPF, EGR, AdBlue system, etc), and the turbo are warrantied out to 162,400 miles, with all warranty disputes to be decided in favor of the consumer.

Another sweetener to my particular deal: in the negotiations, they mistakenly wrote down the car's mileage as the price of the car. They caught the mistake, but ended up eating most of it and cut my interest rate on the loan so the payments were the same as originally quoted.

I know my fuel economy won't be as good as the Prius, but it should be close. I know that Diesel fuel is more expensive than gas, and I'll also be paying for AdBlue. I know the DSG transmission requires a pricey service every 40,000 miles. But when I run all the numbers, it was a no-brainer decision: for a SIGNIFICANTLY reduced payment and overall lower monthly expenses, I'm getting a car with nearly 80,000 fewer miles, a solid warranty on the expensive bits, it's quieter on the highway (key for me because I drive so much), and the car will be paid off before I'm out of warranty coverage (I'd have been well beyond the 150K California-mandated battery warranty before the Prius was paid off). I couldn't pass it up.

Cheers! Enjoy your Prius! I enjoyed mine, but now I'm ridin' dirty.

 

The deal just got sweeter. In addition to the 162,400 mile warranty on the entire engine, fuel system, turbo, and all emissions equipment, VW just started sending letters out to those who bought Certified Pre-Owned 2015 TDIs like I just bought (haven’t heard of other years getting them yet). The letters give a 2-year, unlimited mileage bumper to bumper warranty. Given my commute, I’ll be somewhere north of 120,000 miles when the bumper to bumper warranty expires.

No hand-calculated fuel economy numbers yet, but the dash display yesterday looked promising...59.6 mpg on the trip home from work yesterday, and 50.5 indicated for the tank as a whole, which has included about 80 miles of stop & go city traffic. It’s probably optimistic, but should be in the ballpark...other owners report 0-2 mpg difference between the dash and hand calculation. I was anticipating low 40’s...I hope I was wildly pessimistic!

I enjoyed the Prius, but switching to a CPO VW TDI just made too much sense.


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