NoCaution
SofaKingEuro.com
Soooo... The past week has been a bit of a roller coaster. Fair warning that this may get a bit long-winded, but I need to vent, and this seems like the place to do it.
I bought a new Mk6 GTI in 2010. It was my second GTI after wrecking my 08' Mk5. I LOVE these cars, and my Mk6 has mostly treated me quite well. It's had a few hiccups, but nothing too tragic. I think I took pretty damn good care of it; I changed the oil twice as often as recommended and got all services done through VW. I was even picky about gas to the point where I would only get Shell V-Power. The only thing you might consider a collision was some curb rash on the wheels, and although I did have a stage-1 tune, I was actually pretty gentle with how I drove it. That being said, it's almost at 140k miles and a bit overdue for a new clutch, so I've been looking to move on to the new Mk8.
I moved to the Bay Area last August and was hoping that I'd be able to snag a new car when they came out at the end of the year. Obviously, that's been really tough. I visited a local dealer and was told that it would take 6-8 months to order one special and that they didn't have any more due to arrive for at least 4-6 months. I started stalking cars.com and figured out pretty quickly that the exact model I want is in EXTREMELY short supply. Still, I'm willing to travel, so I thought as soon as one pops up, I'd just buy it remotely. A couple of weeks ago, the exact car I want showed up at a dealer in Colorado. I called, and despite being still "in-transit", it was already sold. A few days later, a good one showed up in SoCal. I called them and it was available! Then they told me that there were nearly 8 grand in "dealer markups", so I told them to kick rocks. I'm willing to pay MSRP, and even willing to pay for added extras, but it will be a cold day in hell before I pay 50k OTD for a GTI.
Then came last Friday...
While driving home, I noticed that my car was feeling a bit rumbly, like it wasn't getting consistent fuel. That feeling lasted about 10 more minutes. All of a sudden I felt a huge drop in power. I quickly pulled onto the shoulder and tried to figure out what was wrong. It wasn't electrical. I've had batteries and alternators die, and this was way different. The battery would crank the engine, but it would just lightly sputter and refuse to start. I figured it was maybe the fuel pump or something along those lines. I called roadside and had it towed to the nearest dealer and went home for the weekend. On Monday, the dealer called me a told me that they would take a look and let me know what they found. An hour later I got this text and it made me want to puke:
The estimate is nearly $13000 to fix it. I'm sure there are other little things that would also need to be fixed along the way, so it's probably $15k or more to get it to a point that's worth way LESS than that. So, yeah. The car's essentially not worth "getting" fixed. The dealer won't work with me on options outside of "donating" to them - LOL. I know just enough about car repair to get me in trouble, so I'm thinking it might be a good deal for someone who could replace the engine and whatnot themselves. I don't know what salvage value is, but I hate to just give it to the dealer so they can repair it at wholesale cost and make a killing. Anyway...
So, now I'm freaking out and looking at whatever used cars are in the area for under $20k, just so I can stop paying for a rental as quickly as possible. I'm about to call and ask about a 13' GTI that I found nearby when I decide to take one last look for the actual car I want. On a lot in Texas is a freshly arrived Moonstone Grey, Autobahn, Manual and it appears to be available. I call and I'm told that it IS available, but that they won't sell it to me if I live in CA! I ask if I could buy it if I use my family's address in Colorado, and they say that will work. I ask for the full quote and there are a few small add-ons, but zero dealer mark-up bullshit! I put down a deposit and the car is officially going to be mine! I need to work out the financing details still, but once I take care of that, I'm flying out to Texas and picking up the EXACT car I wanted in the first place! My boss has already approved the last-second PTO, so things might actually work out for once.
I'm still not sure what's going to come of my old GTI, but if anyone has any suggestions on what to do, I'm all ears!
tl;dr - Wanted Mk8, couldn't find Mk8, decided to baby Mk6 for another year, Mk6 go boom, found Mk8, buying Mk8.
I bought a new Mk6 GTI in 2010. It was my second GTI after wrecking my 08' Mk5. I LOVE these cars, and my Mk6 has mostly treated me quite well. It's had a few hiccups, but nothing too tragic. I think I took pretty damn good care of it; I changed the oil twice as often as recommended and got all services done through VW. I was even picky about gas to the point where I would only get Shell V-Power. The only thing you might consider a collision was some curb rash on the wheels, and although I did have a stage-1 tune, I was actually pretty gentle with how I drove it. That being said, it's almost at 140k miles and a bit overdue for a new clutch, so I've been looking to move on to the new Mk8.
I moved to the Bay Area last August and was hoping that I'd be able to snag a new car when they came out at the end of the year. Obviously, that's been really tough. I visited a local dealer and was told that it would take 6-8 months to order one special and that they didn't have any more due to arrive for at least 4-6 months. I started stalking cars.com and figured out pretty quickly that the exact model I want is in EXTREMELY short supply. Still, I'm willing to travel, so I thought as soon as one pops up, I'd just buy it remotely. A couple of weeks ago, the exact car I want showed up at a dealer in Colorado. I called, and despite being still "in-transit", it was already sold. A few days later, a good one showed up in SoCal. I called them and it was available! Then they told me that there were nearly 8 grand in "dealer markups", so I told them to kick rocks. I'm willing to pay MSRP, and even willing to pay for added extras, but it will be a cold day in hell before I pay 50k OTD for a GTI.
Then came last Friday...
While driving home, I noticed that my car was feeling a bit rumbly, like it wasn't getting consistent fuel. That feeling lasted about 10 more minutes. All of a sudden I felt a huge drop in power. I quickly pulled onto the shoulder and tried to figure out what was wrong. It wasn't electrical. I've had batteries and alternators die, and this was way different. The battery would crank the engine, but it would just lightly sputter and refuse to start. I figured it was maybe the fuel pump or something along those lines. I called roadside and had it towed to the nearest dealer and went home for the weekend. On Monday, the dealer called me a told me that they would take a look and let me know what they found. An hour later I got this text and it made me want to puke:
The estimate is nearly $13000 to fix it. I'm sure there are other little things that would also need to be fixed along the way, so it's probably $15k or more to get it to a point that's worth way LESS than that. So, yeah. The car's essentially not worth "getting" fixed. The dealer won't work with me on options outside of "donating" to them - LOL. I know just enough about car repair to get me in trouble, so I'm thinking it might be a good deal for someone who could replace the engine and whatnot themselves. I don't know what salvage value is, but I hate to just give it to the dealer so they can repair it at wholesale cost and make a killing. Anyway...
So, now I'm freaking out and looking at whatever used cars are in the area for under $20k, just so I can stop paying for a rental as quickly as possible. I'm about to call and ask about a 13' GTI that I found nearby when I decide to take one last look for the actual car I want. On a lot in Texas is a freshly arrived Moonstone Grey, Autobahn, Manual and it appears to be available. I call and I'm told that it IS available, but that they won't sell it to me if I live in CA! I ask if I could buy it if I use my family's address in Colorado, and they say that will work. I ask for the full quote and there are a few small add-ons, but zero dealer mark-up bullshit! I put down a deposit and the car is officially going to be mine! I need to work out the financing details still, but once I take care of that, I'm flying out to Texas and picking up the EXACT car I wanted in the first place! My boss has already approved the last-second PTO, so things might actually work out for once.
I'm still not sure what's going to come of my old GTI, but if anyone has any suggestions on what to do, I'm all ears!
tl;dr - Wanted Mk8, couldn't find Mk8, decided to baby Mk6 for another year, Mk6 go boom, found Mk8, buying Mk8.
