Posted on 06/22/2016 10:11:25 AM PDT by Wally_Kalbacken
Dennis Gaudet has had some loyal VW customers.
One of them bought his past four vehicles from Gaudet’s Volkswagen store, part of the AutoServ Dealer Group in Tilton, N.H., and had been back to the VW dealership three times since the diesel scandal erupted in September for guidance on what to do with his diesel vehicle as trade-in time approached. Each time, Gaudet says, his dealership told the customer to hang tight until more was known.
“He didn’t show up a fourth time,” Gaudet said. “I happened to run into him, and he was driving a Honda.”
Read more: http://autoweek.com/article/vw-diesel-scandal/tdi-toxic-vw-customers-are-moving#ixzz4CKLeP4qa
(Excerpt) Read more at autoweek.com ...
I find the whole thing ridiculous. It was a great car and people bought it for amazing mileage. After the scandal... it STILL gets amazing mileage. So big effing deal that it does not meat emissions. It still emits less than a truck, or many other classes of vehicle.
Loyalty shouldn’t be an automatic response. I’ve been “loyal” to a few brands throughout my life. In terms of cars I started with Toyota (Everytime I looked for a new car, the Toyota drivetrain seemed superior), then Hondas (everytime I was looking for a smart car to own, Honda floated to the top of the list) and then Subaru (the poor weather abilities were what I was looking for.. again, whenever I looked at all of the cars I went to Subaru.)
Now I’m onto BMW. because I’m more about build quality than anything these days. So here is what Loyalty looks like to me:
I am shopping for an SUV for my wife next. She doesn’t drive manual (Which knocks out just about any foreign competition.. Other countries still can’t make an automatic transmission if their life depended on it) so I start fresh, no prejudice.
I investigate Jeep, GM, Ford, MB, Toyota, etc. Everytime I consider the options I always return to the 2005-2008 BMW X5. Not because “I’m a BMW guy” but because once again this marque has floated to the top.
My loyalty to the brand isn’t my predisposition. It’s just that whenever I’m looking for what I am looking for, one brand seems to rise above the rest. That’s loyalty through quality.
For most people it’s just a ... “thing”. “My grandfather owned a Ford, my dad owned a Ford. I own Fords.” That’s loyalty to a fault, right there. Ford wouldn’t have to keep up it’s performance for that loyalty. It’s just what that particular consumer considered “This is what I must do”
Most people shop for tattoos that same way, but that’s a conversation for another day.
(Also related: My opinion of Sportbikes over cruisers, Harleys in particular)
I really like my Golf TDI 6 speed manual. It is a hoot to drive and it typically gets 47-48 mpg with an occasional +50 mpg. It will perform with anything short of a muscle car. I will not opt for a detune-so I reckon I will trade for a GTI. It’s pretty much my all time favorite car; that’s why it’s too good to be true. We aren’t allowed to own anything that good.
About that X5 build quality....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOZ_WsxmXdg
If you’re expecting a post-2000 BMW to have good long term build quality, you’re about to be sorely disappointed. And correspondingly impoverished.
Thing is, some of the VWs that cheated on emissions (and mileage! Remember, emissions wasn’t the only thing that was lied about) actually had a DEF system and still did not comply.
In order to bring the cars into compliance, VW will have to reduce their performance and mileage. It’s that simple, there’s no such thing as a free lunch.
It should also be mentioned that Navistar tried the same EGR-based solution that VW was using, couldn’t get it to work within even the much looser compliance required of medium and heavy trucks, ate a huge fine and almost killed the company. In the name of fairness, VW should be required to pay at least the same fines per engine and have to perform the same restitution.
CA is already refusing to renew registrations on unfixed TDIs.
Oh, yes you are absolutely correct there. My mechanic has warned me against these cars.
Honestly, I can’t say I’m impressed with any car anymore. But I have learned that some of these X5s ran out of transmissions, so they are backed by the GM 4l06e transmission with a horrible, faulty computerized valve body. That valve body goes catastrophically. A manual would be best bet.
After owning a BMW I can say that what people report is true : There are about a million little things that can go wrong on these cars and everyone of them will give you a CEL. BMW makes sure that their product sees their mechanic frequently.
So upkeep is a top cost figure on ownership. But I actually bring mine to a qualified BMW mechanic for it’s routine. And it’s routine is pretty frequent. The result though is a 2.5 liter engine that does the work of many V8s I’ve owned, while getting the economy of many 4 bangers I’ve owned. BMWs were built by people who cared, and it shows in every way. The must be balanced, factory fresh and unmolested to run they way that they do.
What I can tell you is that the damned “auto dimming” rear mirror is MAC addressed, binded to the ECU and leaked ammonia all over my console. I wasn’t happy about that. Give me a damned switch from now on. (In all fairness, my Yukon has the same issue, but the repair is less than half because the Yukon doesn’t need to bind it’s new mirror to the ECU for it to operate)
VW had to detune their diesel engine to meet US emissions standards, just like the rest of the US auto industry.
I’m
Fuel efficiency takes a back seat to emissions. Your current vehicle has WORSE fuel economy than a similar vehicle built 25 years ago.
Similar experience. All the problems you experienced plus lousy electrical and self destructing interior trim. Will never own another VW as most unreliable and expensive car we ever owned.
Speaking as someone who’s owned BMWs and looked at new ones at every auto show, I don’t see where you’re getting this “BMWs were built by people who cared, and it shows in every way” because they don’t and haven’t for years.
Whoever is informing you about the X5 is getting it wrong. The X5 wasn’t just bandaided with the 4L60E trans (which was actually a good trans until GM started using Chinese parts in it), BMW’s automatics have been made by GM for decades in a plant in France. The X5’s automatic transmission is a custom unit, sharing few if any parts with any other GM product; many of their automatics are custom BMW designs. Consider that at the time the E53 X5 was introduced, GM didn’t HAVE a 5 speed automatic - there are NO 4 speed E53s so it couldn’t have had the 4 speed 4L60. The manual transmission was removed after 07.
One thing you’ve failed to consider is that even the 3.0 is heavily overworked in that car; there are no 2.5L E53 or E70 X5s. I don’t know how old a V8 you’re comparing it to but the 227hp the 3.0 produced wasn’t terribly impressive considering that contemporary and competing V8s cheerfully churned out 100+ more HP while having comparable fuel economy. Also worth mentioning the E53 had notoriously harsh suspension that was fragile.
That’s not entirely due to emissions. That’s also due to mandated safety devices and construction elements, which massively raise the weight of a car. Many small cars easily top 3000lbs today, whereas many in the 80s were close to 2000. That extra weight reduces fuel economy.
Also worth mentioning: ALL the (few) other people selling diesel cars on the US market had to comply with the regs. Mercedes did just fine, to name one - they complied with emissions and good both good performance and fuel economy out of their diesels. VW didn’t even try and cheated.
Yep, I swear I used to slide it around on/off ramps like a go kart.
My non-diesel gets about 32mpg on the highway, if I lay off the turbo.
Buy it and take it to the closest Malone, Kerma or Rocketchip tuner and you will REALLY enjoy it. Better power and equal or better mileage. Drive it till the wheels fall off.
I do that. The ramp by me is deceiving. It’s marked 30 mph. I like to get on the entrance ramp with a car right behind me at about 50 mph. Light tap of the brake, drop into 3rd and hold light throttle running the ramp at about 60mph until a certain point where I can almost floor it. I’m well onto the freeway before the car behind me completes the turn. Loads of fun.
This was my first VW, and will probably be my last when I either turn it in or it gives up the ghost. Not happy with the way they were caught red-handed or the way they've handled the aftermath...
More like 4000lbs. with federally mandated crash steel.
The point that I’m driving home is that fuel economy takes a back seat to emissions in the US auto market.
I worked in the auto industry. Everybody knew that the deck was stacked against us.
The EPA made in no short terms that WE were not allowed to put small diesel passenger cars on the domestic market.
GM got away with it they are, well, “government motors”.
Ten years ago, I was involved in tests at Chrysler with small diesel engines in their vehicles across their entire line up.
The trials stopped when the EPA said we couldn’t sell them on the domestic market. Those engines were made by the same company that supplied engines to VW.
EPA mandated emissions recalls are not voluntary, and if VW cheated to meet emissions laws, the recall fix will be mandatory.
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