My new car sucks.

[samster]

I bought a VW GTI in April.

Long story short, I brought it into the shop today for the sixth time (different problems, so lemon law doesn't apply here in MN) and I'm pissed.

I'm debating getting rid of it and getting something nicer. I went and looked today at the G35x (which would be nice in the winter). I then saw that it costs about 35k (give or take).

Basically, the GTI was 25k and looking back on it, I could have gotten a 2003 BMW or something else around 25k that would have been way nicer.

At any rate, I have two questions:

1) I financed most of the the GTI and I can't pay off the balance (15k) right now. The financing is from VW themselves. If I were to take a loss on the vehicle and trade it in someplace, how does this work?

2) If I want to spend 25-35k on a nice car that will last me a few years and through the Minnesota winters... what should I get? I feel like I should be getting something better than a G35 for 35k... but I could be wrong.

Thanks,

[rocketlaunch]

First, make absolutely sure there's no way to use the lemon law. I've never looked into them much (never had to, knock on wood), but it seems to me there's gotta be some protection if simply everything goes wrong rather than the same thing over and over again. But hey who knows...

Assuming you really can't get restitution somehow, your best bet is probably to sit back and hope things settle down with the car. What sort of things have been going wrong? All big things? That makes a difference.

To answer your specific questions:

1) If you bought the car for 25K and still owe 15K, you can probably get more than 15K in the trade-in. So what happens is the dealership you buy your next car from agrees to pay you some amount, say 18K for your car, then 15K goes towards paying off what you owe, and the remaining 3K goes towards your new car. If you get less than 15K, then you owe the difference. Either way, you'll be taking a huge hit.

2) I'd look into Japanese FWD or AWD cars. For the amount you want to spend, you can get a damn nice slightly-used car that should last you a long time. An Acura TL is a nice, classy (FWD) sedan that should last forever, for example. The G35 has an AWD option, and would be nice, although probably less reliable than the TL. There's an AWD Lexus IS250. You can also get an AWD 3-series. But BMW is less reliable than any of the other brands; Lexus is generally the most reliable.

Of course, if you want to spend a little less, try looking at a Camry or Accord. Yeah they're a bit blah in the name department, but for the same cost as some of the above cars, you can get a fully loaded one that should last forever.

[RobBizzle]

Samster what problems did you have with it? I habe an 06 GTI and I love it. I have only had it since the middle of august so i hope no problems come anytime soon.

[RED_RAIN]

I'm in MN too, I love my 2003 BMW 325 XI, easily in your range of probably 19-23k now.

[GGrey]

VW? Were most of your problems electrical?

[pig4bill]

VW's are well known to be near the bottom of the reliability list. Look at a Subaru. Reliable and good in snow.

[samster]

[ QUOTE ]
Samster what problems did you have with it? I habe an 06 GTI and I love it. I have only had it since the middle of august so i hope no problems come anytime soon.

[/ QUOTE ]

1) They sold it to me with a defect in the fuel line, where when the turbo kicked in, it rattled like crazy. I didn't test drive this particular car because I had driven the GTI a few times before and had decided this is what I wanted. The dealer shop people were on strike, so I had to wait two weeks for them to get it to a different shop to be fixed
2) Days after I get my car back, the airbag fault comes on. They fix it.
3) The airbag fault comes on again 3k miles later. I bring it in, wait for two hours and they say that they can't figure out whats wrong with it. I have to leave my car there while I'm in Vegas. This is from Wednesday night to Monday night. I return on Monday to get my car and the guy says that there is a part they have to replace but it won't be in until Wednesday. He claims someone will call me. They don't. I call them the following Monday and the service advisor says that the part just came in. I bring my car in again (for the third time for this specific incident) and they fix it.
4) A handful of times, the car won't start. The part they replaced last time I was in was the passenger seat belt harness, which has apparently changed. The check engine light has come on repeatedly. I bring it in again to get all these things looked at (Friday morning). I call at 3pm asking what the deal is and they say that the car is disassembled and they replaced something... but that they can't get it back together until Saturday. I can't pick it up Saturday, so I'd have to pick it up Monday and drive around this passat all weekend. I bitch and moan. Lo and behold, they call 45 minutes later saying that it's all ready for me to pick up.


Essentially, this was the sixth time that I've had to bring it to the shop and I'm getting sick of it.

What's my play?

[FoxVR6]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Samster what problems did you have with it? I habe an 06 GTI and I love it. I have only had it since the middle of august so i hope no problems come anytime soon.

[/ QUOTE ]

1) They sold it to me with a defect in the fuel line, where when the turbo kicked in, it rattled like crazy. I didn't test drive this particular car because I had driven the GTI a few times before and had decided this is what I wanted. The dealer shop people were on strike, so I had to wait two weeks for them to get it to a different shop to be fixed
2) Days after I get my car back, the airbag fault comes on. They fix it.
3) The airbag fault comes on again 3k miles later. I bring it in, wait for two hours and they say that they can't figure out whats wrong with it. I have to leave my car there while I'm in Vegas. This is from Wednesday night to Monday night. I return on Monday to get my car and the guy says that there is a part they have to replace but it won't be in until Wednesday. He claims someone will call me. They don't. I call them the following Monday and the service advisor says that the part just came in. I bring my car in again (for the third time for this specific incident) and they fix it.
4) A handful of times, the car won't start. The part they replaced last time I was in was the passenger seat belt harness, which has apparently changed. The check engine light has come on repeatedly. I bring it in again to get all these things looked at (Friday morning). I call at 3pm asking what the deal is and they say that the car is disassembled and they replaced something... but that they can't get it back together until Saturday. I can't pick it up Saturday, so I'd have to pick it up Monday and drive around this passat all weekend. I bitch and moan. Lo and behold, they call 45 minutes later saying that it's all ready for me to pick up.


Essentially, this was the sixth time that I've had to bring it to the shop and I'm getting sick of it.

What's my play?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd hire a lawyer to look into a lemon law buyback.

[aal113086]

those dam germans

[IWEARGOGGLES]

What, this doesn't apply?


www.carlemon.com/lemons.html