I have a 2011 Golf TDI. It's not nearly as cold where I live as it probably is where you are, but on a 30F morning, my temp gauge is at normal after 3 miles of stop and go across town driving. The heated seats put out serious warmth within the first block, and there's some kind of electric heater in the vent system because it will start blowing warm air within a few blocks. So commuting may not be all that awful even in colder weather. That said, the miles I drive have been dropping and I'd probably be better served with a GTI. The diesel torque is nice, but it's a car that shines on long drives more than short trips. For the driving you describe, I'd stick with a gas engine, honestly.
Would you like my laundry list of Honda problems and it seems new Hondas, Toyotas, and Subarus all are sucking compared to their older models while most of the other brands are getting more reliable. So now is the time to get whatever you want cause any of them could shit the bed. And don't forget the extended warranty
At 5'7" we're not taing much space from the rear seats The ST is not bad, will look into leasing options cause we're not buying a new one. I don't know about others, but I don't think the car are made to last 10 years anymore- plus right now there's no new car in NA I'd like to own for 10 years. Yes, the Audi is more upscale, it's on the list as well- but they're harder to get by than the other options. We'll get back with impressions from test driving the C30. Ko
Too bad the Mazda doesn't have the diesel here NOW... And, Hondas are not the cat's meow either... take the one that just got crashed- driver airbag mulfunctioned. It deployed but just partially somehow- was supposed to deploy given location of impact and speed, but it did not. There are several accounts of this issue, but of course every owner is stupid and Honda knows better. Having said that, I am looking at other cars simply because there's no Honda that fits our lifestyle. I had various brands, none of them was perfect. What I'd like to find out is people's experience with those models, or something similar. Ko
with the market the way it is right now, it seems easier to get that included in the price one way or another. I used to laugh at people buying this, but these days I am seriously considering it. Ko
Whoa! No-one told me about this The Polestar is available in limited supply. Actually, you can get the C30R with a Polestar engine option (250BHP - not bad ). I've been noticing a lot more C30R's on my morning commute and I like the look of them .
It's a pretty good deal now, they toss in a loaner car and roadside assistance (well VW at least) and at under 1k if it has 2 small issues it has paid for itself. I got to finance it at 0% interest so it seemed like a no brainer, it's not much more per month than my cell phone extended warranty.
I believe the C30 was discontinued, after '12, in the US. Here's a link. Seems they made them up to Dec '12 and what's out there is it.
While Hondas may not be flawless, they are MUCH more reliable than ANY new VW or Volvo. I've only owned 1 Honda and it was an '01 with the junk automatic but even with that fatal flaw it was 10x more reliable than the more than dozen VWs I've owned (put 30K on that car in a year and half and only lost $1,500 from what I initially paid). My girlfriend's 07 Accord just rolled over 110K and until now it's had zero work done to it other than oil and tires :huh. I just did the coolant and ATF for her. Now if were a VW it would've need $1000s in repairs by now. I've never met anyone that regretted buying a NEW Honda, but I've met many that regretted the day the walked into the VW dealer. Just read some of the Consumer Reports and reviews on Edmunds. If you're comfortable shelling out $30K for a VW that'll need $2,000/yr in maintenance after the short warranty period expires, and when you do have warranty claims the dealer will delay and try to weasel their way out of; then go for the VW. Oh yeah and after 5 or 6 years the car will be hard to sell and be worth at least 30% less than a comparable Honda or Toyota.
Anything near zero and less than 50 miles my temp gauge doesn't get to "normal" 190. My commute this week is 15km (9mi) because the TDI is the only vehicle with gas in it until payday. Heated seats are the only thing that make it remotely doable on the commute. If you sit idling with a TDI you can watch the temp gauge fall in cold weather. The thing is so stingy with fuel at idle. As for another post about customer service, I wouldn't give a Volvo dealer the merest glimpse of mine given attitudes I have experienced. I might as well have been asking an A-Q member where the pork sausage was.
You are stuck in the 90's. I've had three flawless new VWs since 2000 and my workmates have had incredible problems with their civics and accords. You seem very convinced but we have more VWs than Hondas where I work and the only really strange stuff comes from the japanese side. I won't even get into my 2010 and 2011 subaurus that were both piles of garbage. The first one was bought back by subaru and I traded the second in on a VW when SOA continued dicking me around (and the subaru dealers were horrid). Where are you getting $2K a year maintenance? They get oil changes every 10K miles like just about everything else out there these days.
Another vote for the GTI - w/ manual and 4 door. Sister has an '07 w/ 78k miles that's been trouble free (sorry Honda dudes).
Its sorta like telling em Katooms don't really need all that maint. if you're not racing em. The 'truth' is out there, and my cousin's brother's sister had one and it was a hoopty, so therefore... M
My sister(only one in the family still stuck on the VAG junk), owns an Audi TT '01 or '02 the one with the baseball glove interior and in the last year it's needed a new ECU, and a Turbo! Her Boyfriend's 2012 R8 Blew the Engine @ 3,000miles, of course that was warranty claim. Check out the reports on the 2007 VW EOS, one of my coworkers had one that wouldn't stay in alignment after dozens of trips to the dealer, top never sealed and VW WOULDN'T lemon law it, and she couldn't sell it with all the problems! My ex's Mother had a B5 Passat that fortunately had the 100K extended warranty (offered for a short time about 10 years ago) and it was at the Dealer monthly getting stuff fixed, Tranny, Intake, Throttle Body, in <5 years she had a shoebox full of the warranty papers. My last ever was a 98 A3 GTI, NEVER again what a F'ing P.O.S. Even IF VW has recovered from Poor Reliability that plagued the Brand from 1993 through at least 2003, they still have PISS POOR Resale value, and The Dealers are still AWFUL. I think as recently as 2 years ago the Toureg was rated as one of the worst cars. I've lived a lot of places in the last 10 years and I've yet to meet ANYONE that was happy with their VW, other than enthusiasts with highly modified A1 and A2 VWs... While VW might not be the bottom of the heap in 2012, it's far from being in the top 10! http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/2012/10/most-reliable-new-cars http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybu...issue-best-and-worst-cars-for-2012//index.htm CR rated the Impreza as tops in its' category in 2012, can't argue with their independent testing: Despite their winy nit picking staff. <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Y8X6kJX7rT4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I had a 2000 Civic, kept up with maintenance yet it got all sorts of leaks into the trunk, the muffler fell off....twice, and the engine was gulping down oil at 160k. There were a bunch of other issues too, I think I had a Civic death watch thread on here. It kept going, but that's because I had no other option and had to live with all the shit it threw at me. The 1997 Accord before I got it had the front suspension fail while driving :eek1 then with me the brakes failed :eek1:eek1 it's been a head ache. To get it in decent running shape would have been 3,000 dollars and that's for an automatic that's 16 years old with 135k so that tranny could go at any minute for another what 1-2k? Some cars used to really suck like the Sebring in my family which has had 20k+ of work put in under warranty. But the 200 is supposed to be a lot more reliably. Really most auto makers are getting better....while at the same time Toyota and Honda are having more and more issues as they grow. Oh and: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7Q8QqgIyFdQ?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
i have mkv gti and it is a fun car. No problems with it but the mk6 sounds like it is the way to go. The dealers around here are actually quite good. If the golf R had come w/ the dsg i would have traded