Thinking about jumping ship to a used Prius (from a sporty car)

I feel about the same way. I actually stumbled across an older thread I decided to post to, and there, I briefly chronicle my experience of VW ownership. I'm on my 3rd one...well, 2nd one, if you count out air-cooled.

Yeah, I've been told that a few times before, because of the depreciation bubble I'm currently in. Even so, certain aspects of owning this car are still scaring me a bit, given my present financial situation...

First off, the maintenance is expensive. My GTI has the sequential manual (DSG) transmission and requires $300-400 worth of service every 40k miles. This has already been done once. Like any sporty car on large wheels, the tires are expensive (I'm due for my 3rd set already) and a set of new tires for this car is right around $900 after the mount/balance and new TPMS sensors. And even on all-seasons, I can only expect about 25-30k miles out of a set before they're completely bald.

Secondly, while it's been said that German-built VWs (like this GTI) tend to be more reliable than the Mexican-built ones (like my old Golf), I still question the validity in that. The GTI has been to dealer on a few occasions for various annoyances (airbag light FOUR times, blown diverter valve, etc.) but those repairs were all under warranty. Now, the car is 6k miles out of warranty, and judging by what my old VW cost me in repairs over the years, I'm still a bit worried.

According to the maintenance schedule for this car, the timing belt should be checked at 80k miles and replaced at 120k miles. So that's pretty far off from where I'm at now. In my old '97 Golf, I replaced the timing belt at about 95-100k, IIRC. But again, judging from the nightmare I had with the old Golf outside of normal maintenance, keeping the GTI for that long will certainly be a gamble in my eyes.

 

I feel you, man. But an Evo is really in a different class than a GTI, even the R32. About the closest thing I test drove to an Evo when car shopping was a WRX STi. I wasn't particularly interested in spending nearly $40k on a car, but I had to see what it was like. It was by far the fastest (and best handling) car I've ever gotten behind the wheel in, but it was brash and punishing to drive. Not really a daily driver, IMHO. I would suspect the Evo is similar in that regard, given all its muscle.

Yeah, I paid off the GTI in late 2009. And trust me, I totally get what you're saying. It'll probably be a couple of months before I make the final decision whether to keep the GTI or dump it. There's a lot of things I really LOVE about this car, but I lot of things I'm just afraid of from past experiences. Plus, something I haven't even mentioned yet: the fate of my younger brother's 2006 Jetta...

To be as brief as possible, he bought it as a certified pre-owned in 2008 (he traded in a Tacoma 4x4). It had around 39k miles when he got it, with the remainder of the factory warranty (4/50k) still intact, plus an additional 2/25k thereafter. Now, my younger brother drives a lot more than I do (probably 18k or so miles per year).

Earlier this year, he was 2k miles out of warranty and his auto transmission started acting up. When warm, the car would jerk (rather prominently) while shifting between 1st/2nd and 2nd/3rd gears. At this point, he felt that he was screwed.

But then, wouldn't you know, VWoA sent him a warranty extension letter describing a problematic component (in this case, the valve body) in the transmission that was prone to cause EXACTLY what he was experiencing. So, he marched into the dealer with the letter in hand, only to be soul crushed later after they passed the problem off as "non-related" by only inspecting the transmission fluid (which had been previously changed by THEM months ago). I've been to several VW dealers in 3 different cities, and this is generally what you get to deal with: rude service writers and technicians that don't want to help you.

So, we escalated this to VWoA and after a few days of back and forth between them and the dealer, VWoA chose to side with them: "Nothing we can do sir, you're out of warranty." It took some legal action on our part, along with some Internet consumer advocacy drama before the dealer finally agreed to properly diagnose for a possible valve body failure (as in, actually dropping the necessary components to actually INSPECT its condition).

Well, the dealer came back and said that wasn't the problem, but rather, something in the transmission itself that would require a complete teardown and rebuild (which they won't do). The solution? $6,000 in parts and labor to replace the entire transmission - on a car my brother spent $13k on. My brother ended selling the Jetta to a mechanic at a pretty big loss and he'll never buy a VW again.


So, it's pretty mind boggling weighing out my options.

 

Yeah, I was just looking at the Fit. I suppose I'd have to drive one to get a feel for it.

I was reading though that the 2nd-gen model is better in regards to driver seating position (the steering wheel is adjustable, whereas it's not in the 1st-gen). I tend to like the steering wheel positioned lower than most people do - I'm not a very big person.

I was also reading that because of the small engine, the manual is the all around better choice. I actually prefer sticks over autos (my last two VWs were sticks). VW's DSG transmission on the GTI made me a believer in getting an auto because it feels nothing like a typical slush box. I've found that manuals are relatively hard to find on the Fit Sport models (the Sport would be my preference because of the tighter suspension).

I actually got an opportunity to drive a friend's 2nd-gen Prius (2006, I think) the other day. Unsurprisingly, it's no equal to my GTI in handling and steering feel. I've found that you also have to make several adjustments to your driving style to truly maximize the gas mileage (but I came in expecting this). I was told by my friend that when he lead-foots his Prius, it gets around 35 but it'll manage close to 50 when he drives "ideally". I'd be interested to know though how different the Touring model feels. Supposedly, it has stiffer suspension (aside from larger wheels) at the expense of a couple mpg.

 

Thanks man!

Yeah, the GTI and the A3 are practically the same cars under the hood. The Audi is just a bit nicer.

Like you were, I'm just concerned about the future of this car. Not my first VW but probably (and finally) my last. This month, I'm getting new tires put on the GTI and I'm taking it in for maintenance and checkup. But shortly after, I think I'm pretty convinced it will go up for sale.