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I'm kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place...we have a 330i lease that expires in about 4 months, but if we wait TOO long to act, the rarity of 03 manual wagons will keep increasing. So, since we'll be keeping this one for a longer time (5-7 years), might as well try to get one while the gettin's still good...
Your story sounds just like mine, a year ago May. Production of the '02s had ceased and I wanted a 5 speed GLS wagon, to keep for 6-8 years. I could only find 4-5 of them in my state and surrounding, and only 2 in a color I wanted. Also, the special financing rate of 2.9% was going to expire at the end of the month, so I knew I had to act fast! Felt really good when I got mine a a couple hundred over TMV and that special rate! Today, seems like '03s are in relative abundance and that special rate is still here too. Oh well, I'm still lovin' the car anyway!
Thanks!
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What is the issue - you don't like the sound, the disc won't play at all, won't accept the disc, won't eject the disc, etc? You'll get better responses with a bit more info.
Btw, members can tell you the name of the dealership and the area it's in. They just can't mention individual salespeoples names or link to dealer sites here. Hope this is helpful. Good luck.
Revka
Host of Hatchbacks & Wagons
Of course your answer is appropriate and there are a multitude of effective sites. What I was actually looking for was a personal reference on a dealer in the NY/NJ/CT Metro area that will be easy to deal with on a new Passat GLX Wagon.
The last time I shopped a Passat, I decided to go with an Audi A6, and now I regret it...Audi is just too high-maintenance, especially now that I'm out of warranty and paying my own way! I am suspicious that the W8 will be just as finicky as an Audi,and repair costs long term will be staggering due to parts costs now that it has already been discontinued with less than 200 units sold. I like to drive cars 8 to 10 years , which makes me very hesitant about a W8 wagon. Maybe a lease on the W8 is more feasible. Any thoughts or comments?
Mark
Thank you.
drjoshua- Sorry you have not gotten a response here yet. You may also want to check out some of our FWD vs. AWD discussions. To start, here's AWD, FWD, RWD - Which is the Best? Use your copy/paste so you don't have to re-write your entire message. You may find some helpful information just by reading through the posts there. Good luck.
Revka
Host of Hatchbacks & Wagons
Can anyone recommend a dealer in central NC based both on service and PRICE.
Thanks !
Good Luck
However, I have negotiate the price with the Internet Sales Manager. I made sure that there wasn't any cost for transporting the car from out-of-state,and no add-on options I did not want.
This was the second car purchase we have made, and I was by far the most pleasant one. Overall we paid invoice for a Wagon GLS 5-speed with ESP and Moonsoon.
Damax07
O R D E R _ O N E !
- D.
First the radio. Over the fist six months or so that we had the car, the radio would just cut out. Flat stop working, no power, nothing. I checked the fuse and it was fine, but after I replaced it, the system worked again. After a while it would cut out again. Same thing. After several weeks of this, I took it in for service and they said they were aware of the issue and usually they pulled the power cord to reset it (seems easier to pull the fuse, but whatever). The fix was to replace the system, but VW would only cover it if it was brought in with the system disabled (it happened to be working at the time). So he told us to bring it back in the next time it stopped and they'd switch it out. It never happened again. The car is now two years old and the Monsoon works as well as ever. Weird.
Second, availability of wagons with sticks. When we got ours there were exactly three manual wagons on the eastern seaboard of the US. Three. Two were in NJ and one was in PA. I called on them and the dealers were basically holding them hostage for a big payday (can't blame them really, apparently it's a fairly rare commondity). Wasn't worth it to me to overpay by a couple thousand, so we ordered instead. It took almost four months to get the car in, but I'm glad we did. We got exactly the car we wanted, set up just the way we wanted, delivered with five and a half miles on it and I feel we got a decent deal. As far as resale goes, I'm not concerned. I tend to drive cars until they have little value remaining anyway.
It kind of bothers me, though, that stickshifts are becoming so rare. In my opinion, if you can't drive a stick, you can't drive, but that's just me. The availability of the stick was the final selling point for me. At the time (it might still be true, I haven't looked), if you wanted a mid-size wagon with a manual tranny and a V6 engine and you didn't want to pay over $30K, you had one choice, the Passat. Suburu only did 4 cylinders, Saturn wouldn't couple the V6 and the stick and SAAB, BMW, Mercedes and Audi were all significantly more expensive.
I answered you in the Subaru-VW thread. However, the fact you say 'initial' acceleration makes me wonder. Do you mean when you are starting off, from zero speed? That is about the only time there should not be any lag whatsoever. Perhaps try another car. Maybe the one you were driving had water in the gas, or something else wrong.
There is no question, by all statistics available, that the Subaru is more reliable. The Passat is OK, but not great. It has a good warranty, though, and will rarely hit you with big repair costs. It is usually little things that go early on, like switches and light bulbs. So after the warranty, both can be driven with reasonable repair costs for 150,000 to 200,000 miles, if you desire to do so.
Of course, IMO the Passat drives a hell of a lot better than the Outback, and has a nicer and wider (above the elbows) interior. In the Outback, I don't know where to leave my left arm/elbow, and my shoulder touches the glass every-so-often. Actually, I find the Forester better in this regard.
- D.
The access plate on one of the chrome roof rails just fell off one day while drivng the car. The dealer had to order another whole rail from Germany, while the bolt on the current rail is exposed and starting to show rust,
There is a plastic piece that runs from side to side under the windshield that is completely cracked through and has to be replaced.
I went to remove one of the carpeted mats today to shake it out and the plastic snap just flew off. First time I picked up the mat to discover it's defective.
When I filled the gas tank with $28 of fuel and restarted the car, the gas guage only read half full. It took an hour of driving before it registered almost full.
Relating to a past post, I agree that having to unlatch the rear door only by pressing the remote button or using the inside latch button is an inconvenience! I thought for sure if the doors were unlocked the back door would also open, but not so. Those german engineers really are too smart for their own good.
Only other complaint (so far) is the lack of storage space. The middle armrest compartment is tiny, and the glove box is not much bigger. But I knew that when I purchased the car, so I guess I must live with that.
The vehicle is pretty low to the ground. I bottom out alot if I take curbs too fast or on an angle.
Coolest thing about the car... the little amber lights that glow down on the console at night. Love that! Also, the W8 engine with its quad exhaust pipes. Sounds great, looks great. Also, with the Sport Package, the tires and wheels are great looking. One suggestion if you don't find the sport package... VW offers available 18" wheels/tires for a premium price that are even nicer than the ones with the 17" Sport Package.
Thanks!
I submit that something - major or minor - goes wrong with any machine which a car (or a bus) is, German, Japanese or otherwise.
I am wondering if you have to hold the mirror knob forward while it warms up mirrors or if it is supposed to click or something to indicate it is in the right position to warm mirrors. Thanks
Thanks
cpswood
It's a poor design, IMHO. Either they should have put a timer on the mirror switch on the door or they should have tied it to the timer on the rear window defroster. At the very least, some sort of indicator light that the system was on would have been helpful. It's simply too easy to activate it and forget about it. Plus people's sense of symmetry works against us here...people WANT to leave it in the center position!
BTW, I have a similar wagon to yours. Is yours Tip or 5 speed? What color? Ours is reflex silver with the black leather and with a Tip tranny.
Silver '03 GLS, Wett chip with Tip ("SportsMode-ed"). And cloth (wifey does not like leather)interior.
Basically, people buy the 1.8T for it modifiability (is that even a word?), and the V6 for its smoothness.
My mod budget is small. Okay, it's actually zero. In fact, it's a negative number since I spent the money that I did put aside on something more pressing. So no nice new chips for me. Plus my wife would kill me if I blew the warranty.
Heh, I'll open a new can of worms...so, ah, what oil are you using?
Warranty of chipped engines is a touchy issue - if you have a mod-friendly dealer (like mine), then you are Ok provided you stay with the "safe" mods. I consider the low boost (0.8 ~ 1.0 bar) chips from the likes of APR, GIAC, Neuspeed and Wetteruarer as "safe" as they know what they are doing. But, there is still a riak and you have to be aware of it as in everything in life that you do.
Now for the really controversial issue - OIL! I have only used dino oil once (@5K dealer bulk oil change with Citgo 5W - 30) and have used synthetic since (I'm at 25K now). 2 oil changes with Castrol Synpower 0W - 50 and 2 with Shell Rotella synthetic 5W - 40 (yes the "diesel" oil ...). My next 4 oil changes will be with Havoline Synthetic 5W - 40 as I cleared out the local Big Lots at 1.99 a quart (there is a post in CB5 on this). So far so good and I am not dogmatic about my oil like some are - I had someone on CB5 call the Rotella "slop" ...
If it won't crank, and you have a "traditional" battery (not a no-maintenance one), the first thing I'd do would be to check the water level of the battery. Use distilled water to add to it, if necessary.
On the reprogramming issue...I've only thought about it briefly. Frankly, I'm not that unhappy with the Tip, other than it's slow shifting in Tip mode, and I'm not often in that mode. I'll probably hold off on that until later. See you around the 'net!
I tried searching this forum to find the same problem, and there were two others (laurip was one) who had the same problem. But they were older messages, and it is not possible to e-mail them to find out if they ever found out the reason for the problem.
Thanks for your comments.