BIG mid-sized SUV knowledge

Yes, after 2012 tensioner is fixed.
I didn’t tell OP to get VW. But this narrative how Euro cars have some ridiculous issues is typical of “how I am going to feel my self better.” I probably had 20 VW’s as personal or business vehicle and all were more reliable that Toyota’s I had, Mazda and Honda. Actually of al vehicles, Toyota and Mazda were the only one that didn’t want to start one morning just like that. Honda Pilot almost left me on the road. When that oil pressure switch dies in the mountains and goes into safe mode, you are struggling. No VW etc. ever dis that.
So, VW has weird issues, but I guess that abysmal issue that Toyota had on 8 speed is what? It happens?
nd those Tiguans you mentioned? Owners neglect!
My Mazdas been a good car.

My 03 k24 accord was great, put 250k plus on it. Only repair was a timing chain at ~150ish, which pissed me off because I considered a chain a never replace item, but it happens.

I kind of trust that VW is better now, but I have a neighbor 1 door down who had hers bought back because they couldn’t fix it and at least 2 people we knew well enough to ask my advice on a very costly repair right out of warranty. I don’t remember what the repairs were (maybe some sort of air pump?) but they put such a bad taste in their mouths that they turned around and sold them. Then (I know people are quicker to complain than to praise) but the VW atlas group I found on Facebook, people are constantly saying the dealer can’t duplicate or fix their problems (stalling, noises, hard shifting, no starts but will randomly start and be fine for days, etc).

I find it hard to want to buy a car that I’ll need to buy a few tools for and can’t even replace my own battery (coding?). Maybe I’m too far from the real world, haven’t been in a dealership since 2013, but that seems wild.

I’m not knocking VW, I went as far as letting my wife consider them and drive them, I just don’t think I can get over those prejudices or assumptions I have of them.
 
My Mazdas been a good car.

My 03 k24 accord was great, put 250k plus on it. Only repair was a timing chain at ~150ish, which ****** me off because I considered a chain a never replace item, but it happens.

I kind of trust that VW is better now, but I have a neighbor 1 door down who had hers bought back because they couldn’t fix it and at least 2 people we knew well enough to ask my advice on a very costly repair right out of warranty. I don’t remember what the repairs were (maybe some sort of air pump?) but they put such a bad taste in their mouths that they turned around and sold them. Then (I know people are quicker to complain than to praise) but the VW atlas group I found on Facebook, people are constantly saying the dealer can’t duplicate or fix their problems (stalling, noises, hard shifting, no starts but will randomly start and be fine for days, etc).

I find it hard to want to buy a car that I’ll need to buy a few tools for and can’t even replace my own battery (coding?). Maybe I’m too far from the real world, haven’t been in a dealership since 2013, but that seems wild.

I’m not knocking VW, I went as far as letting my wife consider them and drive them, I just don’t think I can get over those prejudices or assumptions I have of them.
I didn’t sway you toward VW, but kind of tired this: weird stuff.
My neighbor has Sienna that is literally falling apart (I can hear her coming home from 100 yards away: suspension) and she claims to be best car she ever owned and never had any issues.
Battery coding? Yes, people were afraid of that on BMW (VERY simple, and Battery plus will do it for you), but average battery on BMW lasts 7-9yrs bcs. IBS (intelligent battery system). Coding is done so that your battery can actually last for a long time. You actually don’t need to code it!

Every brand has issued. On European cars simple maintenance goes long way. Simple mistakes can actually make big issues (fluids).
As @Trav said, most issues comes from some hack jobs.

Let me give you example. In December I was doing donuts with my daughter in snow. Didn’t see small curb, hit wheel. Toe arm is shot, turns out subframe too. I get used subframe, and give to a guy I know to do it while I was on a road trip + not in the mood to do it in the winter. Well, he had to disconnect brake lines and than he used vacuum to bleed brakes instead of activating DSC through OBD (and his OBD can do it on BMW). Air gets in, and then took me some 10 attempts to properly bleed it with BMW software, which is by the way, FREE!

You buy whatever you feel comfortable with. Most of us gave you some insights and options, but ultimately, your money and your toy to drive.
 
Ehhh.

I have a neighbor that only has GMs and keeps them immaculate. I’ve been wanting to stop by and pick his brain about their feelings on their Traverse (I know they’ve been in loaners for it at least a couple times), but I don’t think they keep them long enough to even have to buy tires for them once either…so although their opinion would be valuable, it only goes so far too.

I’d just have trouble ever considering it a 150-200k mile family hauler. Maybe it’d be fine, idk.
If it makes you feel better I have 150K miles on my 2016 Tahoe. I did have to do the transmission and a/c Condenser early on but it was covered under my Extended Warranty. This was during the height of Covid. They even covered my rental Charger as it took a week to do as it had to go through the approval process. Besides that it has been plain old regular maintenance.

Before I bought my Tahoe [bought it brand new] I rented several Suburbans and Tahoe's in 2015-2016 to see if I actually wanted to own one as I go back and forth to NYC at least twice a year from Miami. For long distance they are awesome. No back pain and extremely comfortable. Also handles excellent in nasty weather. With the 26 gallon gas tank do not have to stop that often for fuel. I generally get around 23-24 MPG if It is all highway. I only use 87 octane fuel on my 5.3 V8. AFM is still enabled.

The Tahoe/Suburban also feel a lot safer then most when you are surrounded by Tractor Trailers in the monsoon rain out on the highway. I would buy another one in a heart beat. I have zero plans on selling it anytime soon.

My second choice would have been the Traverse.

Maybe you can find a good used 2019-2020 Suburban. Just a suggestion. For a family the Tahoe would not work as there is not much room to put luggage back there.

A friend bought a Expedition back in 2016. I drove it and just could not get comfortable in it as I did with the Suburban and Tahoe.

Best of luck on your search!
 
The need to replace timing chain as often or more often than a timing belt on a Honda. Isn't the purpose of a timing chain to be more robust and not have to be replaced as often? I know 3 people whos VW chains developed the death rattle before 100k miles, one was at 60k miles.
Then there are endless electrical gremlins. I had people swear up and down that all electrical VW issues died with the MKIV platform. Yet here we are and even Atlas still suffers: windows go up/down on their own due to bad wiring harness, batteries die prematurely (on early Atlas, 2018/2019) due to some kind of parasitic draw somewhere, and so on... I can't list everything as there is a lot, and no one is paying me to list all this stuff... Then there is the wonderful phenomena of needing VW-specific tools for any little task, needing advanced OBD scanners, etc. ...anyways.
VW products are great, as long as there is a very generous warranty with it. Keeping it past the warranty period is a financial suicide for anyone without a 6-figure income. Yet Toyota/Honda do just fine in similar circumstances, waaay past the warranty period. Yes, they still have issues, but pretty DIY friendly and not as costly to repair. Except for those rare cases similar to the user error that broke the expensive (was it $3k? can't remember exact number now) hatch mechanism on your Sienna.

VW scene is pretty big in Charlotte area, but for every success story there are two or more financial disaster stories... I want to love VAG, I really do. I have yet to find a FWD car that handles mountains as well as a GTI. But can't play that gamble yet. Every VW is a Russian Roulette. I'm glad yours were trouble-free, but for most of the people I know (including myself) VW are troublesome.

I have a vaunted 2nd gen Toyota Tacoma with 160k miles. Purchased new and meticulously maintained.

basically twice a year since it hit 120k I’ve had significant repairs (Steering rack, alternator, a/c clutch, blower motor, clock spring, rear springs, wheel bearings, carrier bearing, cv axle, etc.) and lots of little things as well.

Its quite the juxtaposition to have my VW Atlas be the dead nuts reliable vehicle.

Higher mileage vehicles in general are troublesome. I strongly disagree with your premise that a Toyota/Honda is going to be a magic bullet past the warranty period. The expansion of my local Toyota dealers service center doesn't Suggest weak demand for service.

I recommend everyone purchase an extended warranty a year past their finance period regardless of make). Use the extra year to put what would have been your monthly payment into a vehicle emergency maintenance fund, and then determine whether you want to keep the vehicle long term at the conclusion of the warranty period.
 
I was meaning on that manual shift. That like keyboard set up. I use manual shift all the time.
They could put shift pedals on all trims (not sure if any comes with it).
Finally played with this yesterday - the “L” button will be a plus this summer when we start taking it to the beach.
This is the first we had with only a single speed transfer case …
Have to see how the overall gearing works - 10 speed helps …
 
Finally played with this yesterday - the “L” button will be a plus this summer when we start taking it to the beach.
This is the first we had with only a single speed transfer case …
Have to see how the overall gearing works - 10 speed helps …
But, manual shifting? Do you have pedals or?
 
But, manual shifting? Do you have pedals or?
No - I don’t have much need for that … And center column shifters just kill space for storage, subwoofer, chargers, etc
I don’t think that many people shift 10 speed automatics …
 
I have owned and worked on quite a few MKIV and can tell you with certainty most of the issues were either owner neglect of hack workmanship. As far as advanced scan tools go VW is one of the easiest cars made to get a full comprehensive scan tool for.

The problems on that existed on MKIV's almost never happened to me because... I had to modify the car to prevent it from happening. Coolant migration into the ECU? A simple 1 minute fix on the coolant overflow bottle prevented the problem. Intake manifold clogging? VAG-COM modification on the EGR.

But did have the sunroof leak into the headliner because the drain traps were clogged. The hatch squeak? A rear stress bar solved that.

Glowplug harness? I had it replaced when I got new glow plugs, but it was more complicated than it should have been because VW redesigned the harness some time which required more dissection to get to the harness connection point near the ECU.

The sunroof drains still continue to be a problem today on VW's, ranging from lack of cleaning to bad end drain trap design (VW's fault and there's a TSB out there that tells you to remove them) to line connector leaks (VW's fault).

Interior peeling of the overmolded plastics? That was a MKIV flaw (and B5/B.5 Passats)... The B6 Passat got less overmolded plastics, but I still got peeling by the ignition slot.

The rear suspension design on the B6 Passat ate tires, (constant feathering, which normally indicated worn suspension, but still happened on a new suspension). Let's not forget the huge design flaw of the EA113 engine's cam follower.

LSPI took out my Tiguan's engine at 100k miles, despite using the correct 502.00 oil, but VW thought LSPI was a tin-foiled hat conspiracy theory, and got rid of the Tiguan when engine #2 was starting to excessively burn oil again.

Ross-tech used to be the easiest way of getting a superior scan tool, until they made theirs VIN-limited for the consumer dongle, so no more sharing of the cable, like the older cables. Requests for VCDS scan became extinct unless someone had an older car with an older cable.

2 out of 3 VW's were fairly reliable for me. But for my family, Toyota's track record has been 100% reliable over a lot more cars.

My cousin had 2 Mercedes, both spent more time at the MB dealership than them driving it, while their Camry was their reliable commuter car. So, they went back to Acuras and Infiniti.
 
Last edited:
Mazda will be small. Don’t expect too much room there.
GHL is not technically first year. It is basically stretched HL.
Pilot’s drivetrain is in use for couple of year. I would say Pilot will be more complete package compared to GHL. Better AWD for sure. Didn’t drive new Pilot, but it is hard to believe it will have worse seats than Toyota.
As for Sienna, all my VW were more reliable than my 2015 Sienna. So much about that.
The Pilot's engine is new. More more VTEC. Now it's just cam phasing on the intake and exhaust valves.
 
I was never a VW fan until we bought our Atlas.

The ours has the 2.0T and it is huge, comfy, and quiet. 20k miles so far.

My whole hearted recommendation.
what kind of mileage do you get with that combo? I only see the V6 Atlases around here.
 
Higher mileage vehicles in general are troublesome. I strongly disagree with your premise that a Toyota/Honda is going to be a magic bullet past the warranty period. The expansion of my local Toyota dealers service center doesn't Suggest weak demand for service.
It's when things are already having issues before 100K that I steer clear personally. I dumped my Hyundai Sonata at 95K because I didn't want to be one of those people with a spun rod bearing on the side of the road.

As for SUVs I bought an old one a few years back and plan time off to wrench on it! lol...
 
We moved to the exurbs recently, there is no "short tripping" lol. 22-26 would be great. 18 would not motivate me to get rid of my Navi, although if the transmission goes my hand may be forced. A drain and fill with Lubeguard Platinum seems to have helped considerably with the downshift clunking, but it still won't lock up the torque converter.

Maybe I'll see if I can find an Atlas on Turo and try it out. I was suprised to see so many people saying how big it was on the inside. Although at 6'7", I'll be the judge of that ;)
 
My Mazdas been a good car.

My 03 k24 accord was great, put 250k plus on it. Only repair was a timing chain at ~150ish, which ****** me off because I considered a chain a never replace item, but it happens.

I kind of trust that VW is better now, but I have a neighbor 1 door down who had hers bought back because they couldn’t fix it and at least 2 people we knew well enough to ask my advice on a very costly repair right out of warranty. I don’t remember what the repairs were (maybe some sort of air pump?) but they put such a bad taste in their mouths that they turned around and sold them. Then (I know people are quicker to complain than to praise) but the VW atlas group I found on Facebook, people are constantly saying the dealer can’t duplicate or fix their problems (stalling, noises, hard shifting, no starts but will randomly start and be fine for days, etc).

I find it hard to want to buy a car that I’ll need to buy a few tools for and can’t even replace my own battery (coding?). Maybe I’m too far from the real world, haven’t been in a dealership since 2013, but that seems wild.

I’m not knocking VW, I went as far as letting my wife consider them and drive them, I just don’t think I can get over those prejudices or assumptions I have of them.

OBD11 takes care of coding for cheap. What extra tools beyond that? Triple square sockets and some torx?

I think a 10/13mm socket, 5/6mm hex, and 3-4 torx and triple square can get you 90% of the way.

Oil changes, intake work, plugs, brakes, etc all look very straightforward.
 
We moved to the exurbs recently, there is no "short tripping" lol. 22-26 would be great. 18 would not motivate me to get rid of my Navi, although if the transmission goes my hand may be forced. A drain and fill with Lubeguard Platinum seems to have helped considerably with the downshift clunking, but it still won't lock up the torque converter.

Maybe I'll see if I can find an Atlas on Turo and try it out. I was suprised to see so many people saying how big it was on the inside. Although at 6'7", I'll be the judge of that ;)
the 2.0T is rated 20-24. I think it’s safe to say it will be within that during most driving and will probably surprise you on longer trips. Even when hilly the 2.0T is so torquey down low you can still retain good mileage.
 
So the CX90 is on lots. @edyvw youll be patting yourself on the back, it’s too small. The cargo area is longer, but not tall…so you gain one way and lose another way. What really turned us off is just some of the little things…cup holders were tiny and put way up where even a normal travel coffee mug wouldn’t fit in it…underhood looked like a mess…we didn’t even drive it (although they didn’t even want us looking in it, either, I think there’s something about not letting any customers in it till Monday?). Regardless, we were disappointed.

Drove a non-grand Highlander with the 2.4 turbo and it seemed to get going well enough…way more impressive than the atlas 4 cylinder turbo (to me). It still sounds like a 4 banger of course, but power rolls in so smooth and there was plenty down low. Of course a grand highlander is going to be bigger and heavier, but it makes us interested in it still. Unfortunately, packages still are not finalized nor is pricing, so it’s impossible to judge.

Drove a base LT traverse. It was ok, didn’t scream quality in any way to us though. Feel like it’d be a step down from the Hyundai, and not even sure we’d gain all the cargo room that Chevy is listing it at. I think some of that room is this underfloor storage cubby (nice) but not very useful for vacation cargo, more so for wet/muddy stuff maybe? A base LT wouldn’t have been what we’d shop for in a traverse but it was close enough, as we’d probably be looking at a leather LT with tow package to simply get a hitch and better cooling systems.

Drove a Tahoe (way out of our league with the premier package), but makes us interested in an LS or LT Tahoe now. The only thing my wife really wants that an LS doesn’t have is a power hatch. Otherwise, it’d be nice to have leather and heated seats (LT), but not a necessity. I’ve read someone’s every thorough review of a new Tahoe (or suburban) rental, and it sounded like they achieved better than rated fuel mileage.

Does anyone have real world experience with putting around town in these (soccer mom style). It just goes to school (3 miles) grocery, practices, dance studio. Nothing more than 10 miles at a time in reality, except Sunday game days. Our palisade gives us between 15-18 mpg on a tank regardless of use. It can stay closer to 18 if we’re on the highway more, but many times it’s less. Vacation will net us 22-24 with a roof box and loaded, but the tank average drops right back to reality once we get to where we’re going and burn that last 1/4 tank or so in town even though we just averaged over 20 for hundreds of miles.

Are these new generation of Tahoes solid? I know they changed to independent rear ended, which we probably need to stick in that generation because that netted more leg room for 3rd row when in use, and likely more cargo room too.

The fuel management / cylinder shut down in combination with Chevys factory warranty doesn’t scream confidence either. Something I need to look into.

The more we are looking into pilots the more problems they have arising too. Many water leaks. Many parts shortages for accessories we’d absolutely need to make the pilot work for us.
 
We moved to the exurbs recently, there is no "short tripping" lol. 22-26 would be great. 18 would not motivate me to get rid of my Navi, although if the transmission goes my hand may be forced. A drain and fill with Lubeguard Platinum seems to have helped considerably with the downshift clunking, but it still won't lock up the torque converter.

Maybe I'll see if I can find an Atlas on Turo and try it out. I was suprised to see so many people saying how big it was on the inside. Although at 6'7", I'll be the judge of that ;)
I’m 6’4” and actually needed to slide the atlas seats up from the full back position. Not much, but still not fully back. I never do that in any car.

Someone said to you that the 2.0T had plenty of power down low. In my opinion (not trying to cause problems, just my opinion) it did not have plenty down low, but that’s just my opinion. The v6 had plenty. And I don’t just hate 4cylinder…I’ actually in favor in order to make maintaining it cheaper and easier…we just drove a 2.4T Highlander today and it seemed fine. The atlas just felt more gutless to us.
 
So the CX90 is on lots. @edyvw youll be patting yourself on the back, it’s too small. The cargo area is longer, but not tall…so you gain one way and lose another way. What really turned us off is just some of the little things…cup holders were tiny and put way up where even a normal travel coffee mug wouldn’t fit in it…underhood looked like a mess…we didn’t even drive it (although they didn’t even want us looking in it, either, I think there’s something about not letting any customers in it till Monday?). Regardless, we were disappointed.

Drove a non-grand Highlander with the 2.4 turbo and it seemed to get going well enough…way more impressive than the atlas 4 cylinder turbo (to me). It still sounds like a 4 banger of course, but power rolls in so smooth and there was plenty down low. Of course a grand highlander is going to be bigger and heavier, but it makes us interested in it still. Unfortunately, packages still are not finalized nor is pricing, so it’s impossible to judge.

Drove a base LT traverse. It was ok, didn’t scream quality in any way to us though. Feel like it’d be a step down from the Hyundai, and not even sure we’d gain all the cargo room that Chevy is listing it at. I think some of that room is this underfloor storage cubby (nice) but not very useful for vacation cargo, more so for wet/muddy stuff maybe? A base LT wouldn’t have been what we’d shop for in a traverse but it was close enough, as we’d probably be looking at a leather LT with tow package to simply get a hitch and better cooling systems.

Drove a Tahoe (way out of our league with the premier package), but makes us interested in an LS or LT Tahoe now. The only thing my wife really wants that an LS doesn’t have is a power hatch. Otherwise, it’d be nice to have leather and heated seats (LT), but not a necessity. I’ve read someone’s every thorough review of a new Tahoe (or suburban) rental, and it sounded like they achieved better than rated fuel mileage.

Does anyone have real world experience with putting around town in these (soccer mom style). It just goes to school (3 miles) grocery, practices, dance studio. Nothing more than 10 miles at a time in reality, except Sunday game days. Our palisade gives us between 15-18 mpg on a tank regardless of use. It can stay closer to 18 if we’re on the highway more, but many times it’s less. Vacation will net us 22-24 with a roof box and loaded, but the tank average drops right back to reality once we get to where we’re going and burn that last 1/4 tank or so in town even though we just averaged over 20 for hundreds of miles.

Are these new generation of Tahoes solid? I know they changed to independent rear ended, which we probably need to stick in that generation because that netted more leg room for 3rd row when in use, and likely more cargo room too.

The fuel management / cylinder shut down in combination with Chevys factory warranty doesn’t scream confidence either. Something I need to look into.

The more we are looking into pilots the more problems they have arising too. Many water leaks. Many parts shortages for accessories we’d absolutely need to make the pilot work for us.
If you can find a Traverse RS or Premier, they are quite a step up from a base LT.
 
Back
Top