Here in Utah they do a fantastic job of plowing the roads. The issues is that parking lots are not cleared as quickly. That's where my 4 Wheel Drive Silverado, or my wife's Santa Fe XL AWD comes in. Snow tires (while always optimal) are not used on our vehicles.
Am i the only one really disliking SUVs?
- Thread starter OM605
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I've never heard of any modern vehicle with this design prematurely breaking and ruining the engine. Maintenance schedules on this tend to be close to 100k miles or so, which is more than reasonable IMO.
Your choice. VW has a good track record with their 1.4 TSI timing belt equipped engine. I can only think of a few timing belt equipped engines across all manufacturers that have a “reputation”. Far more timing chain equipped engines have trouble than those with belts.
PT Cruiser.
I simply prefer not to tempt fate! That and I do keep vehicles long enough for stuff to brake.
Plenty of timing chains fail early. We own a car with a chain, and one with a belt. The one with the chain has a good track record though. Think about it this way, would you rather have a car with 100K with a brand new belt, or a car with 100K with a 100K mile old chain?
100k chain, hands down. It's not so much the belt that concerns me as much as the components. The tensioner, tensioner pulley and water pump are all failure points. A chain will make a ton of noise and warn of impending failure, the belt just skips time and bends valves. Timing chain failure is also very rare, broken belts were very common when a lot of engines had them.
Your not the only one
Most folks who don’t buy new cars hate the looks of current CUVs and SUVs
Used car buyers don’t decide what manufacturers make
Most folks who don’t buy new cars hate the looks of current CUVs and SUVs
Used car buyers don’t decide what manufacturers make
I suppose it just depends on the application. Some chains and belts have a "reputation". VW has a good reputation with the belt driven timing system on the 1.4 TSI so I am not worried. Same with our Honda, good reputation on the 8.5 gen Accord timing chain if maintained of course.
The timing chain on our previous VW, a 2014 Jetta equipped with the 1.8 TSI was showing signs of wear at 60K miles. A quick search revealed VW was still having timing chain issues on the early ea888 1.8 TSI. A chain replacement isn't cheap on those, and we were having some other issues to we opted to trade up to a 2020. No regrets so far.
They do decide what kind of used car to buy though. Luckily I never had a car that used a timing belt, always a chain and never had to change it.
I find it difficult to believe your 2014 had timing chain issues. I wouldn't worry about the belt on the 2020 either, I'm sure it will be fine and when you trade it in 2026 with 60k on the clock you can start the process all over again. Did I read that 1.4T has some kind of "wet" belt that is lubricated with engine oil and good for like 150k?
It developed hallmark symptoms of when these 1.8 TSI's have a stretched chain. I did a quick search and it revealed that VW did a silent revision of the timing chain mid 2014 (ours was an early 2013 production date so not included in revision) due to timing chain issues. The early 2014 models have numerous complaints of timing chain stretch, the revision helped but didn't completely fix the problem. We were already quoted over $2000 to have the a/c system repaired due to a failed part, that in combination with timing chain concerned prompted us to trade up.
I haven't ready anywhere that the 1.4 TSI uses a wet belt. The belt itself is supposed to be inspected at 120K, then every 20K thereafter until replacement is deemed necessary. We have no plans of trading in at 60K miles lol. We loved the 2014 but with the low trade in value we decided not to inject another couple thousand dollars in repairs. We had already spend considerable coin on some other repairs after the warranty expired and didn't want to continue that theme.
The dealer gave us above what the car was worth on trade in and came down on the price of the 2020 to what we wanted so it seemed like the right time to trade in.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Our old Expedition was sold, and still operating, with the original chain setup on it. Never had the cover off, and it has well over 200,000 miles on it now. My parent's Expedition is the same, and these are modulars with huge chains. None of our HEMI's at work have ever had the timing cover off and they are all around that mileage now too.
The suggestion that somehow a belt is superior to a chain is crazy talk.
I'd prefer the 100K mile timing chain.
Yeah, I'd prefer the chain. Chains don't really snap, they just stretch. So far I've only had cars with chains and I never had to replace them.
OVERKILL
$100 Site Donor 2021
Yup, and with VCT, elongation can be accounted for the in software, so there isn't the performance hit.
the software can't account for rattling
