The novilization of our VW TDI ownership:
We bought an '09 TDI DSG Jetta new in early '09, first year of the Common Rails in the US, and allegedly the model with the most common HPFP failures. It was going to be a forever car, stupid girl sideswiped us, and totaled it at 101K miles.
In the ~5 years we owned it, I did all of the oil changes and fuel filters, Mobil1 ESP oil, usually Mann filters. I bought fluid and filter for the DSG from IDParts (used to be TDIParts) and paid the dealer labor for that service. The internet made me worry about HPFP failure, so I started running Stanadyne Performance Formula in ~90% of my fill-ups, for fuel lubricity. During the 101K miles I put a set of tires on it, replaced the battery, and had one CEL for a cylinder pressure sensor, which is integrated into the glow plugs, so I just needed to swap in a new glow plug. The compression braking on those little diesels is amazing, and the car still had the original brake pads and rotors on it when totaled.
When the car was totaled, the side curtain air bags saved me a trip to the hospital, or worse, if not for the side curtain I would have put my head through the driver's side window.
We replaced the totaled '09 Jetta with a '14 TDI DSG Sportwagen with sunroof. I really liked this car, it was my favorite, and I miss it. While the more affordable MkVI Jetta came out in '11 with more plastic, cheaper materials, more road noise, etc. the Sportwagens were still based on the more refined higher quality MkV Jettas. After we totaled the '09 MkV we thought we'd be happy in a new '14 MkVI Jetta, after several test drives, we were very disappointed, VW had taken a step backwards in our opinion. I didn't think SWMBO would be on board with a wagon, but I talked her into a test drive, and she was hooked.
I did almost all of the maintenance on the Sportwagen as well. I found an indy Euro shop that does a lot of VW TDI service, and started using them for the DSG service. I think we put about 70K trouble free miles on the Sportwagen. I put one set of tires on it, otherwise fluids and filters.
The Sportwagen was bought back by VW in '17 during the Dieselgate debacle. When news originally broke, we swore we were keeping the Sportwagen, we liked it too much. Then we got the offer... Hard to say no.
At the time SWMBO and I were carpooling a lot, we had 2 other fairly reliable, if not fuel efficient cars, so we decided we'd just make do. We test drove some stuff, didn't like much of VW's gas offerings, really thought we'd wind up buying a Mazda 3 hatch or maybe a GTI.
About a month after VW bought our Sportwagen back from us, one of the VW salesmen we test drove with, called and told me that VW had been given the green light to sell their leftover 2015 models that had been languishing on their lots for the past 2 years. We arranged a time to go drive some TDI Golf Sportwagens they had. They were all base trim, cloth interior and colors we didn't rally like, we weren't interested. We sat in a Passat, didn't even like it enough to test drive. We were about to leave, and the very last car in their row of 2015 TDIs was a little red Golf.
SWMBO claims she knew we were buying it when I saw it..
Sure enough, 2015, TDI, DSG, SE, Fender Audio, Golf. We test drove it, it was a hoot. I'd done some research earlier, and knew what some folks were buying the leftover '15s for, and VW was really incentivizing dealers to get rid of them. I made a pretty low offer, and they hardly batted an eye, in hind sight I probably should have gone lower.
We've had the '15 Golf for a little over 3 years and 75K miles now. Similar story, I've done most of the maintenance, and put a set of tires on it. The '15 is a slightly different animal, it's no longer using the CDEA/CJAA engine architecture of the original Common Rail TDIs. The '15 uses the EA288 engine and requires DEF to meet emissions. I much prefer working on the older style engines. I'd like to have words with the engineers that decided the oil filter canister placement of the EA288. I've gotten to the point in my life that I really don't want to be covered in oil, or clean up the inevitable mess of removing the oil filter cartridge on the Golf, so I actually had the dealer change the oil when it was in for a repair, with my provide Mobil1 ESP.
I like the Golf, but liked the Sportwagen better, there's only 12" difference in cargo space but I've really missed that 12" on several occasions.
The Golf has been reliable, it's had both stages of the emissions correction done, mandatory if you want the extended warranty. We bought it with only the 1st stage done. Parts for stage 2 weren't available until we'd had it about a year. I noticed zero difference in power, MPGs, drivability, or sound.
There have been some minor annoyances, the DEF injector cracked, and built a stalactite of urea crystals on the side of the engine. Which some how caused a CEL to come on for the DEF heater circuit. I ignored it for a while, because if you kept the DEF tank full the CEL went off, and it took a long time to use/leak enough DEF for the light to come back on. It was repaired, for free, under the emission systems warranty.
I had an annoying, "Service only in Park" notification that would flash on the screen, and warning chime, that seemed random. There was some kind of shift switch recall performed at the same time as the DEF leak was fixed, and I haven't seen that notification since.
My biggest complaint with the '15 Golf, is that the clear coat is peeling off of the front bumper cover. Of course I'm well passed the 36K mile warranty, so there's nothing VW will do. The bumper cover is plastic, so rust isn't an issue, it just looks bad. I've got way older cars, that have had much rougher lives, with way more miles, and they still have their clear coat intact.
In short, I've owned a few, and I'm a fan.
