OT: Given the Wagon (Wagen?) love on this forum . . . (specific car-buying question)

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by exapkib

A small update:

--2012 Toyota Sienna LE, 94k miles, $13,000
--2016 Toyota Sienna LE, 62k miles, $19,000
--2012 Toyota Sienna Limited, 63k miles, $17,000 (Rebuilt title)
--2015 Golf Sportwagen TDI, 94k miles, $14,000

Don't sweat 200K+ on the VW. You'd die of boredom long before that in any of the Siennas anyway...

You can check the extended warranty on the VW on the dieselgate site (don't have the link offhand...). That car should come with a 4 year/48K warranty on the longblock, emissions, turbo, high pressure fuel pump, adblue pump, etc. That means your exposure to expensive repairs is limited.

And if you have a good private mechanic, the VW will be relatively inexpensive to own over the long haul. And you'll have much more fun in it, not to mention getting great fuel economy.

If you do go diesel, ONLY buy top tier diesel (Mobil, Shell, etc.) from a high volume station. Quality and purity (no water in the fuel) make a big difference in HPFP longevity, and adding diesel additive every tank or two, summer and (different) winter) helps a lot too. Not a big deal, but it's a minor extra step in maintaining the car.

After three years in a '10 VW Touareg 3L TDi, we just moved to a '13 Q7 TDi. I expect to get 300K+ miles out of it, at 28-30 mpg on the highway!