OT: sportwagen

[Dude]

I had to buy a used vw golf alltrack last summer to get a fuel efficient wagon. There were no non-luxury wagons on the market.

[Permanent socks]

I've traded my 2016 sportwagen for a mercedes e400 wagon. I liked the sportwagen but I am in love with the MB.

The twin turbo v6 is incredible!

Careful with the sw turbo, they have a very high fail rate. Mine lasted for 200K km before it started making noises and was $7000 to replace along with a water pump....

Vw is a great car but i wouldn't buy again. Plus, vw considers burning 1L of oil every 1000km normal. ***?

[ChainNoise]

Originally Posted by Permanent socks

I've traded my 2016 sportwagen for a mercedes e400 wagon. I liked the sportwagen but I am in love with the MB.

The twin turbo v6 is incredible!

Careful with the sw turbo, they have a very high fail rate. Mine lasted for 200K km before it started making noises and was $7000 to replace along with a water pump....

Vw is a great car but i wouldn't buy again. Plus, vw considers burning 1L of oil every 1000km normal. ***?

This was more of an early gti/R issue than the is12. You got raped on the price.

Still going strong, 116k miles. 60k or 65k with IS20, jb4 and daily beatings. Still on original clutch. Consumes maybe a half quart every 5k

I recently had some sort of coolant flange on the back of the head fail. Only a few hundred to have done so I let the dealer do it.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by Permanent socks

Careful with the sw turbo, they have a very high fail rate. Mine lasted for 200K km before it started making noises and was $7000 to replace along with a water pump....

Was that at a dealer? VW/Audi is notorious for charging you out the ass for non-warranty work.

What usually happens is the wastegate actuators fail and the dealer will only replace the whole turbo with a new unit, and used low mileage stock turbos are very cheap. Its likely a $1500 bill at an indy shop at worst.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by ChainNoise

Still going strong, 116k miles. 60k or 65k with IS20, jb4 and daily beatings. Still on original clutch. Consumes maybe a half quart every 5k

When my warranty is up next year I'm sending it to the local vw performance shop for the is20 package. Did you do a downpipe at the same time?

[echappist]

Originally Posted by .RJ

I've found modern VW/Audi to be very reliable, FWIW.

Introducing a lot of new tech (safety features, screens, etc) plus supply chain problems the past few years has hit pretty much all the car manufacturers with some issues.

Originally Posted by .RJ

Was that at a dealer? VW/Audi is notorious for charging you out the ass for non-warranty work.

What usually happens is the wastegate actuators fail and the dealer will only replace the whole turbo with a new unit, and used low mileage stock turbos are very cheap. Its likely a $1500 bill at an indy shop at worst.

That’s what i mean by reliable (or lack thereof), the fat-tail events that can cost a lot to repair.

Add to that manufactures making a lot of repairs very difficult for indy shops, owning an ICE Audi is not on the top of my list.

I might consider an electric Audi solely b/c there are a lot fewer wear items and moving parts.

[rothwem]

Originally Posted by Permanent socks

I've traded my 2016 sportwagen for a mercedes e400 wagon. I liked the sportwagen but I am in love with the MB.

The twin turbo v6 is incredible!

Careful with the sw turbo, they have a very high fail rate. Mine lasted for 200K km before it started making noises and was $7000 to replace along with a water pump....

Vw is a great car but i wouldn't buy again. Plus, vw considers burning 1L of oil every 1000km normal. ***?

I go back and forth about trading my 2009 BMW 328i wagon in on a newer Mercedes wagon, I just know it won't be as fun to toss around a turn. Part of me thinks I don't need to be doing that **** anymore, part of me thinks I'd miss not being able to do it even though I probably won't.

[old fat man]

I bought a 2008 Avant (auto) in 2017 that was fun to drive, relatively comfortable, and great for New England with a young family of 4. It had some sort of electronic gremlin that would cause complete power failure, sometimes at highway speed. Independent mechanic tried multiple things to resolve but couldn't. I wasn't willing to spend more to chase it down so I traded it in towards an Alltrack (manual) SE lease in March 2020 (great timing!).

The Alltrack was not as fun to drive, not as comfortable, and didn't handle the snow as well as the 10 yr older Audi. I never had any mechanical issues with the VW but I only kept it for about 20,000 miles before trading in towards an upgrade for my wife.

Fast forward and I just bought a 2019 XC60 T6 R-design. It's definitely more comfortable than the Audi or the VW, the tech is better, and it's a better size for my slightly older family (two tweens). It's fun to drive too. I haven't put it to the test in bad weather, but I do have the snow tires ready to go. I looked at the V60 and V90 but the price difference wasn't worth it.

[AngryScientist]

Originally Posted by old fat man

I bought a 2008 Avan...great for ...a young family of 4.


It had some sort of electronic gremlin that would cause complete power failure, sometimes at highway speed. .

Oh yea. My family likes that kind of excitement too

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by echappist

That’s what i mean by reliable (or lack thereof), the fat-tail events that can cost a lot to repair.

Sure but a lot of these repairs are less than just the sales tax on a new car, and if you're relying on the dealer for out of warranty work - or expect you wont have some of these repairs on any car at 120k miles - then that's a fool's errand. They have a revolving door of techs, dont treat their techs well and in general do a poor job of standing behind their work. $7000 to replace a turbo is borderline criminal.

If the indy cant handle the repairs on a newer car then find another shop - its not like modern Audis are any more complicated than anything else if they have the updated scan tools and good techs.