Commuter car..

[sky06]

hey guys and gals.

lately i been looking to purchase a commuter car and try not to put the miles on the AMG and f-sport.

Im looking at an older gti.. something around the 2010-2013 years range.

my question is, how's the gti motors? i seen alot of 2.0 burns oil.. some of them even consumed 1+ quarts in 1k miles...
my commuter round trip is about 50 miles.. and is mostly highway with mix of city traffic.

should i stay with the vw family or look for something else? my budget is around $7k..

thanks.

 

[skyactiv]

I don't know where you got your information from.

 

[BrocLuno]

Yeah, I've had a couple of SOHC VW's and they ran to over 200,000 with very few issues. If it's just a beater commuter, get an older Jetta and cruise on. The trunk comes in handy when you have to work related stuff ...

 

[skyactiv]

My GTI which I bought new has 133K on it. I change the oil every 5K miles and I need to add 1/2 a quart around 4K miles. Big deal.
Reliability? It is not the car to have if you live paycheck to paycheck or cant wrench on it yourself.
But after renting Corollas and other lame cars, my GTI is worth it to me.

 

[RooflessVW]

Not putting miles on a Lexus seems rather silly to me - it's not as though they depreciate drastically based on mileage. It'll be worth the same wether it has 50k or 100k.

The MK6 GTI is a nice car - a MK5 with improvements. The water pumps leak frequently (or used to) but there was a recall and most should have been dealt with by now.

 

[slacktide_bitog]

VW doesn't male the best cars. Lexus/Toyota can handle hundreds of thousands of miles with no problems

Also, that VW 2.0 uses a weird oil filter with this stupid hex key thing, which makes filters for it cost twice as much. A Fram Ultra costs over $30! (part number XG10600)

If you do buy that car, get the Mobil 1-404A filter. It is included with the oil change bundles that AAP and Autozone run, so it is by far the best deal. And since the Mobil 1 filters are good for 20k, you can run it 2-3 OCI's. Usually I don't recommend this, but with ridiculously expensive filters, it's ok.

 

[fdcg27]

How long is your commute?
It's also not as though the Lexus is collectible or rare.
I'd drive that car myself and use it up.
After all, you bought it to drive, not to preserve.
CA cars seem to last about forever anyway, since they don't see the severe winters we get here.
I'm always amazed to see daily driver old cars and trucks on our visits to Cali, vehicles which would have been long scrapped here due to rust.

 

[Trav]

The GTI is a good car many problems with VW are not the car but mostly the bone heads that work on them, they break clips all over the place, use the wrong oils and fluids so of course the car will have issues.
Look for a dealer maintained one that is unmolested. If all the locking tabs are on the connectors and no boy racer bits are hanging in there its a good sign.

 

[LotI]

Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog

Also, that VW 2.0 uses a weird oil filter with this stupid hex key thing, which makes filters for it cost twice as much. A Fram Ultra costs over $30! (part number XG10600)

If you do buy that car, get the Mobil 1-404A filter. It is included with the oil change bundles that AAP and Autozone run, so it is by far the best deal. And since the Mobil 1 filters are good for 20k, you can run it 2-3 OCI's. Usually I don't recommend this, but with ridiculously expensive filters, it's ok.

Hogwash. I buy OE filters on Amazon for $7 each, in VWAG packaging made my Mann. Drain plugs are less than $5 and I get 2 oil changes with no leaks.

Stupid hex key thing? It’s called a nut and you can buy sockets to fit them. You don’t need a socket thingy to remove the drain plug, either.

OP. $7k probably won’t get you a good GTI, especially in a Mk6, but I think a Mazda3 or Civic would be doable. You may find a Jetta or Golf with a ton of miles and a [censored] 5-cylinder engine.

 

[maxdustington]

Originally Posted By: LotI
Originally Posted By: slacktide_bitog

Also, that VW 2.0 uses a weird oil filter with this stupid hex key thing, which makes filters for it cost twice as much. A Fram Ultra costs over $30! (part number XG10600)

If you do buy that car, get the Mobil 1-404A filter. It is included with the oil change bundles that AAP and Autozone run, so it is by far the best deal. And since the Mobil 1 filters are good for 20k, you can run it 2-3 OCI's. Usually I don't recommend this, but with ridiculously expensive filters, it's ok.

Hogwash. I buy OE filters on Amazon for $7 each, in VWAG packaging made my Mann. Drain plugs are less than $5 and I get 2 oil changes with no leaks.

Stupid hex key thing? It’s called a nut and you can buy sockets to fit them. You don’t need a socket thingy to remove the drain plug, either.

OP. $7k probably won’t get you a good GTI, especially in a Mk6, but I think a Mazda3 or Civic would be doable. You may find a Jetta or Golf with a ton of miles and a [censored] 5-cylinder engine.
BITOG groupthink, never owned one, never will because Toyota and Honda's best days are behind them are superior.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Not putting miles on a Lexus seems rather silly to me


^^This

Drive your cars and enjoy them. We can't take them with us,and why keep a car mint for the next owner?

 

[SatinSilver]

Put the 7k aside for maintenance, tires, brakes, detailing, insurance premiums, etc...

As mentioned in so many words the car is meant to serve you, not the other way around. The Lexus is essentially a luxury commuter and not a museum piece.

 

[rtrdad]

My commuter is a 14 Jetta 2.0 8v . It has 70k on it and doesn’t burn a drop of oil. I average 37 mpg with a five speed but man is it sloooow. VW had 5k off sticker in October 14 and it only set me back $12700.00. Good luck.

 

[Dave Hess]

Buy a used Camry or Accord.

 

[Nick1994]

Drive the Lexus, saving miles on 2 cars is pretty dumb IMO, you bought the car to use, you've got 2 nice ones. Enjoy them. Drive them.

Spending $7k on a car plus maintenance, repairs, insurance, etc. uh, just put the $7k aside, pile the miles on the Lexus and put that towards the next one.

 

[miden851]

get yourself a Mazda6 older version; fuel efficient, reliable, lots of space, easy to work on, and moreover fun to drive