A couple of weeks ago, I started noticing the Passat was leaving puddles in the driveway. Damn, I’d had an oil leak fixed last year… hmm, no, wasn’t oil. A day or so later, the “Check Coolant” light on the dashboard started blinking. Sigh. Thankfully, the engine temp wasn’t running hot, so I didn’t fret too much. In a fit of optimism, I simply added some radiator fluid and hoped that would make everything magically better.
One damp driveway and one day later, the dashboard light came on again. So, I made an appointment with the mechanic. And while the car was on the examining table, I asked them to fix a problem with the driver’s side door lock too.
Three days and $1000 later… yeah, that’s four digits. Who knew water pumps were so expensive to replace? Sigh. The shop gave me a little comment card to fill out, and I wrote, “For any repair over $1000, you should really have the customer talk to a sales person. I was weak; I would have caved.”
Guess who called me that same week? Quelle suprise, it was a VW sales person. I smiled, and explained that I had already paid for the repair now, so I wasn’t feeling nearly so weak. But, yeah, I would probably replace the Passat this year, and I would come in to test drive a couple of cars before too long.
Wouldn’t you know it? Another dashboard light came on yesterday. This one for the brakes. Thank goodness it isn’t anything important!
The Passat was a fabulous car for the first five years, but the last two have been unreasonably expensive. I’m very ready for something new (with a warranty).
Now the challenge is simply to find something I can get excited about. The current assortment of cars seem to drawn design inspiration from from jelly beans and athletic shoes.
I’d like to go a little smaller than a family-guy sedan. There are no kids in my future, and I’m not making major cross-country drives in it, so I can afford to go a little smaller. Especially if that also means better mileage and easier parking at the same time.
I’m kinda drawn to the current model Beetles, which have at least a little style. I test drove one this morning and it was… ehh. Pretty good. Definitely not as plush or as powerful as the Passat, but I didn’t rule it out.
I passed on the VW GTI. It just looked a little too much like a AMC Pacer for my tastes.
There’s a Volvo C30 coming in October that I’d like to drive, if I can stand to wait that long.
My research assistant tells me I should investigate the Mazda RX-8, and the Nissan Altima.
I want to like the Prius, but something keeps me from feeling too enthusiastic about it.
Anyone else got a fabulous choice that I really must try?
I think the honda fit is fairly cute. its a little on the boxy side, but 40 mpg!? or so I hear.
my friends in san jose have a subaru wrx. it’s zoooomy.
ooof 1000.00
For the record…not sure if your mechanic is a VW dealer or an independent mechanic but I will tell you this.
My bf works on German cars…for fun
he is a total VW enthusiast and he keeps my passat running great…along with our Audi A4 and our BMW
A friend of ours referred his boss to Tim because he went to a VW dealer for an estimate of things that needed to be repaired.
The total bill was well over 4k at the dealer.
Tim (my bf) looked at it. The parts in total were about 300.00 and Tim did the work for 1k.
Though my bf is not a licensed mechanic, he is very thorough and honest.
Tim has a computer prog that he can hook up his laptop to VW’s and get information about anything that may be wrong.
At any rate, awww, don’t give up on the VW. I love my Passat and I dunno.
Other than that…search the internet for the new VW Scirroco…its SOOO hot, however they have not said if they will release it in the US just yet.
I’ve been using Rey Reece VW on Burnside.
Does Tim work on cars for people who are not his friends? What if I promise to be his friend if he works on my car? 😉
I’d even consider a new Passat, if only they hadn’t gone all chromey in the newer models. Ugh, chrome.
heh well that is why I mentioned Tim…..though I have not met you yet, ya know you are sort of a friend =)
There are only 2 downfalls I can see and those are
We live in Hillsboro….so if you can get the car here…awesome however Tim is cool and will go to look at car wherever it’s current location is
Number 2, he can only do the work on the weekends.
I did tell Tim about your car
What year is it?
I know it is a Passat but what model?
Thing is…it may not be time to get rid of it yet and if you happened to oh I dunno come out to the burbs sometime, Tim could hook your car up to his computer to check things for ya…no charge of course…and also, Tim knows a lot about cars (not just German ones) and if you were still wondering what type of car to get, he would certainly have some unbiased input for ya.
Not sure you have it, but my e-mail address is yoopie7@gmail.com
Feel free to drop me an e mail and maybe we can hang sometime and also look over your current car =)
Also, so you don’t feel too bad..Tim said what you paid is about right (meaning they did not take your wallet for a huge ride) because you have to remove a lot from under the hood just to get to the water pump, thus why the price tag was steepish.
oh also
a teaser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgArKxp1Rgs&mode=related&search=
the 2008 Volkswagen Scirocco =)
I <3 the color among other things
Sweeeeet!
The only question is whether I cab bear to wait for it, or if I’ll cave and buy something sooner.
I have a 2000 Nissan Altima with 75k on it. It has been a good reliable car. I had a warranty issue where the battery literally blew up: a shot gun sound and black smoke. Otherwise, none of the repairs have been out of the ordinary. I’ve gone through tires, belts and a battery.
I’m not sure about the new models, but what I like about mine is that I can put in my own radio easy. I have a mp3 CD player and the iPod jack that was done on my own.
I asked Ja, since he pays more attention to cars (used to work on his own some.)
The NRE with his Saturn has worn off, and he would not recommend the brand– he has had to have several things repaired, most recently the ignition system, and the car is only… 4 years old or so.
He highly recommends anything made by Honda. The new Civics and Accords are much nicer-looking than the older models, and the experience of Ja and his friends and family members is that Honda makes an exceptionally reliable car. (After 11 years in his Civic, including years of commuting through mountains, he gave it up because it needed its first major system repair… and he really wanted a car with air-conditioning after being in the South for a bit.)
My stepdaughters have had good experiences with both Hondas and Hyundais. My step-son-in-law and his father both own augmented Tiburons, which they race as well as use as daily vehicles. They are happy enough with them that S-I-L is on his second Tiburon– I think that’s a good sign rather than a bad one, since other than being a speed demon he’s quite intelligent, and he did put the first model through *quite* a lot. Although you aren’t looking for a road-trip car, it might be relevant to note that the girls’ cars were used for extensive travel, and may have received college-kid-level maintenance for some time.)
Although personally I’d love to be in a VW (fond memories from my parents’ generation), I can’t give you even second-hand information on the actual dependability of the new models.
Someone I work with has a Prius, I believe, but hasn’t had it long enough to give an opinion. Of ocurse, I live further up the time-stream than you do…