This Sunday will start the tenth year of ownership of this vehicle. I bought it new and it now has about 68,280 miles on it. Most of those are highway miles. It has gone from PA to South Dakota, from PA to St. Augustine, Florida and down to the Delaware shores from PA. I has also done a lot of highway miles inside PA itself. This car has treated me very well. In the nine years of ownership, I have had a clamp replaced on a turbo connection and the transmission pan taken off and reinstalled with new sealant and gasket. The hood was replaced about six years ago after some idiot sat on it while in a hospital parking lot and bent it beyond repair. Other than, just maintenance items. I have kept oil changes to no longer than 5000 miles. pump out about 3 quarts of coolant every year and replace with new, use 91-93 octane Top Tier gas and keep the fluids changed regularly on VWs schedule. The car has the 1.8 liter four cylinder GDI with turbo. There is NO rust on this vehicle. Since I rarely have driven this car on roads with salt and slush in the winter, the underside looks almost new. It gets washed regularly and waxed maybe once a year with Nu Finish.
With my age (78), I no longer do my own maintenance. At this stage in my life, I can afford to pay someone else to do it. Since I like the garage at the VW dealer where I bought the car, they handle it quite well for me. A week or so ago, I asked for ideas for a major nine year service on the car and some of you responded with good ideas. As I just got the car back today after two days in the shop, here is what I had done.
- Brake fluid changed
- DSG transmission fluid and filter changed
- Haldex system fluid replaced and system cleaned. The same fluid was used to service the rear differential
- Front differential serviced
- Spark plugs replaced
- PCV valve replaced (a bit of a pain due to "complexity" and location)
- MAP sensor cleaned
On the 28 mile drive (over a large mountain) home, I averaged 35 mpg on the gauge. It still runs like a r***d ape and handles like a dream.
I would by this car again if it was still available. It is the best and most fun car I have owned in my life. It has radar to control the speed control and gives warnings when an object gets too close anywhere, a back up camera, panoramic moonroof (yes, it is always garaged), parking assist (never used), electric power steering and still has the original brake and rotors which checked out fine during this weeks maintenance. It has a CD player in the glovebox and a decent sound system. The dash screen is small and perfect for GPS maps coming from my phone. Controls are all buttons and knobs on the dash with auxiliary controls on the steering wheel. With the rear seat down, it can haul a very large amount of stuff.
So wish me luck on at least another five years of driving which should put me over 100,000 miles.
With my age (78), I no longer do my own maintenance. At this stage in my life, I can afford to pay someone else to do it. Since I like the garage at the VW dealer where I bought the car, they handle it quite well for me. A week or so ago, I asked for ideas for a major nine year service on the car and some of you responded with good ideas. As I just got the car back today after two days in the shop, here is what I had done.
- Brake fluid changed
- DSG transmission fluid and filter changed
- Haldex system fluid replaced and system cleaned. The same fluid was used to service the rear differential
- Front differential serviced
- Spark plugs replaced
- PCV valve replaced (a bit of a pain due to "complexity" and location)
- MAP sensor cleaned
On the 28 mile drive (over a large mountain) home, I averaged 35 mpg on the gauge. It still runs like a r***d ape and handles like a dream.
I would by this car again if it was still available. It is the best and most fun car I have owned in my life. It has radar to control the speed control and gives warnings when an object gets too close anywhere, a back up camera, panoramic moonroof (yes, it is always garaged), parking assist (never used), electric power steering and still has the original brake and rotors which checked out fine during this weeks maintenance. It has a CD player in the glovebox and a decent sound system. The dash screen is small and perfect for GPS maps coming from my phone. Controls are all buttons and knobs on the dash with auxiliary controls on the steering wheel. With the rear seat down, it can haul a very large amount of stuff.
So wish me luck on at least another five years of driving which should put me over 100,000 miles.
