Former TDI owner struggles to find suitable replacement in NA car market

[14Corolla]

Sounds to me like she got a very very good deal on a Kia. Or one for free.
If I liked a car as much as she claims she liked her VW. I would have gotten 'the fix'.

[trollbait]

Originally Posted by luv2spd

I think that there should be a compromise made so that the cars headed for the crusher can be saved. Maybe ship them to China or India where they are still within the regulation and use all the money generated by selling them for something good in the states like more public electrical chargers.

I would support such a compromise for those cars that couldn't be fixed. Such weren't VW's big sellers though, and it could be deemed not worth the cost to ship them from US dealers to another country.

Originally Posted by 14Corolla

Sounds to me like she got a very very good deal on a Kia. Or one for free.
If I liked a car as much as she claims she liked her VW. I would have gotten 'the fix'.

She could also have simply waited to get the pay out for more options to get to market, but the impression I got was that she wanted nothing more to do with VW after learning about the fraud.

Not sure where you got the impression she got a good deal on her new Niro. She might have, but the VW payout should have covered one at MSRP. The invitation to the press event and press fleet loaner sound generous, but are likely in line to what all auto journalists get from all the car companies. The owner of Priuschat was one of the people Toyota flew out to Japan and put up for a Prime event.

[14Corolla]

Just like the Obama phones, Obama internet access, and Obama computers. All free to poor people. Could just give the cars away to the poor. Call them Obama cars. Then they might go crazy and end up like Obamacare.

[trollbait]

[Airstreamer67]

I considered a TDI VW diesel when looking for a car in the spring of 2015, but decided on a Mazda 3 with the 2.0 gasoline engine and 6-speed auto tranny.

I passed up the TDI diesel because although I've owned a diesel truck since 1996 with excellent economy, I just don't trust the new particulate filter technology and ultra-high-pressure fuel systems that seem so prone to disintegration with the slightest of contaminates.

So far, I'm happy with the performance of the Mazda, with a 4.4 cents-per-mile fuel cost so far and no mechanical problems whatsoever.

[Jatwiford]

I sold back my 2010 Jetta Sportwagen TDI earlier this month. I absolutely loved that car. It was the perfect compromise between power and economy. However, I couldn't pass up the $$ VW was going to pay out and it wasn't looking like a "fix" for the oldest generation of TDI affected was going to happen. I ended up getting a 2016 Golf Sportwagen(they changed the name for the US market to match the rest of the world) with the 1.8t gas engine. I would say the performance is similar to that of my TDI and so far I'm averaging about 35 mpg while driving conservatively(not quite hypermiling).

[Jcp385]

Originally Posted by Jatwiford

I sold back my 2010 Jetta Sportwagen TDI earlier this month. I absolutely loved that car. It was the perfect compromise between power and economy. However, I couldn't pass up the $$ VW was going to pay out and it wasn't looking like a "fix" for the oldest generation of TDI affected was going to happen. I ended up getting a 2016 Golf Sportwagen(they changed the name for the US market to match the rest of the world) with the 1.8t gas engine. I would say the performance is similar to that of my TDI and so far I'm averaging about 35 mpg while driving conservatively(not quite hypermiling).

That kind of mirrors what I've heard about a lot of TDI owners who took the buyback. They were neither here nor there on emissions but felt it would be a great chance to take advantage of the VW money.

There's a lot of cars out there even outside of VW. The Mazda3 comes to mind, and if you shop smart a Ford Focus perhaps as well. Had the new Civic been around a year earlier I have a feeling more than a few TDI folks would have ended up there too.

[Jatwiford]

That's very true. I have nothing against other makes, I just fell for VW(currently on my third). However my wife is on her second Mazda with the 2.0 Skyactive engine, the first being a 2012 Mazda3. She would average high 30s without trying. The downfall foe me was the lack of go when you get on the skinny pedal. She now has a CX-5, so bigger car, same engine and its even more sluggish(not much "Zoom Zoom" going on). It is quick enough to keep up in traffic but you wont be doing much overtaking. If Mazda would quit jerking around and release the SkyActive Diesel in the US, I think they would do very well.

[trollbait]

The SkyActiv diesel was victim of VW's cheating. Mazda didn't want to use SCR, and VW apparently got things to work without it. So they kept trying to meet US emissions while maintaining performance. This lead continuing delays to the diesels introduction when they couldn't do that.

With VW caught perhaps Mazda will except that they need SCR to meet US regs. More likely they'll just forget about bringing the diesel here. Guess it depends on how well GM does with diesel cars.

[Hamster]

I sold my 1.9 TDi and got a new Elantra (2012). Missed the fuel economy, but the Elantra was a really fantastic car. Recently traded that in for a Honda Jazz (fit). I don't really miss having a turbo diesel at all..

...but that might change at a moment's notice