In reply to petegossett:
Ha, ha, I'm kinda scared to talk about it on here anymore. 
I was quoted $480-ish if I remember correctly, but I got the dealer to do the service with my parts for 1.5 hours of labor. I've done this twice now at two different dealers. I bought my parts from idparts.com, $110 for Febi Bilstein fluid & OEM filter with O-ring and crush washer. 1.5 hours labor at $110/hour, so $165 for labor, $110 parts for a total of $275, YMMV.
In reply to HiTempguy:
I guess I'm the exception to the rule, our VW hasn't always had stupid crap wrong with it? Will have had it for 5 years this April, have over 80K miles on it, 1 CEL (glow plug), and 3 light bulbs, is okay with me. I worked for Nissan as a service advisor for 2 years ('11-'13), and I'd pick our Jetta before anything they have had to offer in the same time frame '09 to now, except maybe a GTR.
Who knows, maybe as soon as it hits 100K miles it'll spontaneously combust?
amg_rx7 wrote:Flight Service wrote: IME, the Mazda seats aren't as comfortable nor as durable as the VAG products. We all like Mazdas, but if we are honest with ourselves, the cars fall apart around the motors. The VAG diesel does the same thing. My 5 ate itself in 8 months on New Orleans roads with no issues before then. My 626 started imploding at the 180K mark. No engine issues, just nickel and dimeing you to death.Mazdas have changed A LOT from your 626 experience! That won't be an issue on the newer Mazdas.
then how do you explain my 5?
With one exception, every new car I've purchased has gone back to the dealer multiple times in the first year of ownership to rectify problems under warranty. Sometimes little things like a bad radio speaker, sometimes bigger issues (main bearings, for example). I consider this a normal shakedown process with any new car.
My 2013 VW TDi has been flawless in the first 10,000 miles. Zero defects.
http://nashville.craigslist.org/ctd/4386399562.html
That's a lot of time to be stuck sitting in a car, might as well enjoy yourself and make the best of it. How about one of these?
Flight Service wrote:amg_rx7 wrote:then how do you explain my 5?Flight Service wrote: IME, the Mazda seats aren't as comfortable nor as durable as the VAG products. We all like Mazdas, but if we are honest with ourselves, the cars fall apart around the motors. The VAG diesel does the same thing. My 5 ate itself in 8 months on New Orleans roads with no issues before then. My 626 started imploding at the 180K mark. No engine issues, just nickel and dimeing you to death.Mazdas have changed A LOT from your 626 experience! That won't be an issue on the newer Mazdas.
Don't know. Maybe it was hungry? What did you feed it?
You don't think a VAG or most German cars will not nickel and dime you? My Audi, VW and BMW sure did. The Mercedes SLK I had for a couple of years did not oddly enough.
There is a difference in nickle and diming a person to death if they can afford to fix it right the first time or not, whether personally or through a shop. I fix everything but there are a few things because I don't have the needed equipment.
My basic requirements are manual and not having to fill the tank up everyday.
I would suggest looking at a Chevy Cruze Eco with the 1.4 liter turbo or 1.8 motor/6 speed manual. Both seem to get very good gas mileage. Id look at a newer Focus as well. They seem to get good gas mileage. I drove one this past weekend and it seemed like a nice driver. Since a Prius C was mentioned, I will recommend a Yaris Hatchback. I used to travel extensively for work and bought a Yaris brand new in 09 and put 43k miles on it over the course of a year and a half. I never went below 35 mpg and averaged a consistent 38-40 mpg on the highway. It was comfortable and throw a rear sway bar on it for fun on on/offramps. I just got rid of a Honda Fit and that was a comfortable long distance car that returned good mileage and wasn't awful to be in for long distances.
I average 60 miles for commuting everyday in a Mazda 5 and have to say that the seats are quite comfortable.
In reply to 92dxman:
Cruze is out for the time being. Maybe a Fiesta. No Toy cars. Most of the small cars fail at providing any distance for the awesome MPG. And after a 12hr shift being on your feet, not having to stop for gas on the way home is a blessing.
My 2009 Mazda3 has just started to collapse like a flan in a cupboard...
Little things have started to fail, but it seems like I find another one every other week. Current issue is a rear suspension clunk that I have suspicion to believe is leaking rear shock absorbers...
It worked GREAT until it hit 85,000, then stuff just started being difficult.
In reply to Maroon92:
Shocks and struts are only made for 50k worth of use....
Flight Service wrote: IME, the Mazda seats aren't as comfortable nor as durable as the VAG products. We all like Mazdas, but if we are honest with ourselves, the cars fall apart around the motors. The VAG diesel does the same thing. My 5 ate itself in 8 months on New Orleans roads with no issues before then. My 626 started imploding at the 180K mark. No engine issues, just nickel and dimeing you to death.
My wife's 2005 Mazda 3 has almost 200k on it now, and short of what I would consider normal maintenance hasn't has a problem other than a bushing in the rear suspension. Sure, the seats are stained and dirty in the back from the kids, but I don't think that's Mazda's fault :) We haven't had a problem with the engine or abnormal wear of anything else.
What I've done it in the past 170k is a battery, headlights, fluids, shocks @ 130k (they were pretty bad at this point!), brakes (twice), rear control arm bushing. The interior is holding up surprisingly well with no real squeaks or rattles to complain about.
My 2007 Rx-8 does have a squeak on the rear package shelf covering, and the drivers side window had come off the tracks (I think that one of the locator pegs fell off since it was repaired after the deer incident). Other than killing batteries while it sits over winter if I forget to unplug them, I haven't had any real issues with it, either.
I'm pretty happy with them, and we'll probably have a 6 as our next town run-about..
amg_rx7 wrote:Flight Service wrote:Don't know. Maybe it was hungry? What did you feed it?amg_rx7 wrote:then how do you explain my 5?Flight Service wrote: IME, the Mazda seats aren't as comfortable nor as durable as the VAG products. We all like Mazdas, but if we are honest with ourselves, the cars fall apart around the motors. The VAG diesel does the same thing. My 5 ate itself in 8 months on New Orleans roads with no issues before then. My 626 started imploding at the 180K mark. No engine issues, just nickel and dimeing you to death.Mazdas have changed A LOT from your 626 experience! That won't be an issue on the newer Mazdas.
I agreed with you. 
I like them, and I wouldn't hesitate to buy either one for me. I wouldn't buy one for the wife though. Just to give a reference. My Mazda's always ran out fine, just stupid things would break. Trim panels, bolts would randomly rust and not in any particular order nor near anything (southern car too, I would suspect the supplier didn't get caught sending some out of spec stuff through or they got an approved deviation. Either way bad idea.) Headlights blew (at $125 a piece ) Suspension started creaking. Just weird stuff.
Oh yeah the mileage, 87K
I do 150+ miles daily 5 days/week.
A TDI is my weapon of choice. The beauty of the diesel over a high mpg gasser is the torque and comfort on the highway. High MPH doesn't phase it. I can go 80+mph with the cruise and A/C on very comfortably all day long knocking out 45+ MPG, where-as in a small 4-banger gasser it'd be getting out of it's efficient range.
Yeah it may not ultimately save lots of dollars, but the car is comfortable in that use, and you're going to be spending LOTS of time sitting there.
Ranger50 wrote: In reply to 92dxman: Cruze is out for the time being. Maybe a Fiesta. No Toy cars. Most of the small cars fail at providing any distance for the awesome MPG. And after a 12hr shift being on your feet, not having to stop for gas on the way home is a blessing.
At 6'2" and 265lb and driving a minimum 335 miles per week (up to 1200 weekly a few months ago) I will say that the 1.4T Cruze should be on everyones short list for a commuter vehicle.
My 2012 was bought as an ex-dealer program rental and I have put 53,000 miles on it since owning it. As it hovers on 60,000 miles I can only complain about a stain on the driver seat, the factory Firestones are almost at 4/32nd and one of the kids muddied up the back of the passenger seat. None of that is the cars fault. If I drive 74mph on the highway I get 35mpg over the 335 miles. I put one tank a week into the car. At 69mph I gain 4mpg. Drafting trucks at 63mph and it will knock down 50, really.
And I have been quoted as saying that GM did their best to recreate a MKIV Jetta when they built the Cruze. It is everything that my GLI was except for the flash.
What about a Cruze Diesel? I bet you can get one cheap because GM dealers probably don't know what to do with them. A friend who has a real Diesel unicorn, a 1996 VW Passat TDI Wagon with a manual, drove one recently. He said it was really, really nice and had lots of torque.
SilverFleet wrote: What about a Cruze Diesel? I bet you can get one cheap because GM dealers probably don't know what to do with them.
If you don't mind they are all automatic then go for it. I would probably get a six speed 1.4t gas Cruze before that though.
crankwalk wrote:SilverFleet wrote: What about a Cruze Diesel? I bet you can get one cheap because GM dealers probably don't know what to do with them.If you don't mind they are all automatic then go for it. I would probably get a six speed 1.4t gas Cruze before that though.
What he said, no manual available. Plus I'm not totally impressed with the Aisin auto yet. The diesel is just suited to soak up many miles....
GM may make a 5 speed available with the Cruze diesel if plenty of people tell the dealers that they won't buy one until they make it available.
Mr_Clutch42 wrote: GM may make a 5 speed available with the Cruze diesel if plenty of people tell the dealers that they won't buy one until they make it available.
IF they build a stick it will use the same 6 speed as the manual turbo Verano.
One more plug for the TDI that most people overlook.
When you're already spending that much time in a car driving your ~180 miles/day, you don't want to spend even more time stopping for fuel.
A TDI tank range at 600+ means you can drive 3 complete round trips and still have some extra in the tank. Fill up on the weekend and you only need to stop once during the commuting week.
Conversely if you have a higher mpg gasser but only a 350 mile range tank, you're stopping for fuel every other day. That extra time having to leave that much earlier, or taking just that much longer to get home, when you have that long of a commute is just further aggravation.
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