2011 CPO Genesis or 2012 VW Passat TDI

[Dari]

What about Camry Hybrid?

 

[hans007]

Vws come with free maintenance for 3 years I think. Probably want to factor that into your choice

 

[Fenixgoon]

Vws come with free maintenance for 3 years I think. Probably want to factor that into your choice

"maintenance free" = "cost of expected maintenance is factored into the price of the car by VW"

besides, the only real maintenance you should need in the first 3 years is maybe tires (depending on how much you drive), brakes, oil/filter, and air/cabin filter.

 

[hans007]

"maintenance free" = "cost of expected maintenance is factored into the price of the car by VW"

besides, the only real maintenance you should need in the first 3 years is maybe tires (depending on how much you drive), brakes, oil/filter, and air/cabin filter.

Yeah but that's still part of the price. He might not have known it came with that. Still probably worth a few hundred dollars

 

[master7045]

I had read about the free maintenance for 3 year program a while ago and honestly, the first 3 years, nothing "should" go wrong. scheduled maintenance programs consist of "visual" inspections, tire rotations, engine oil/filter replacement, air filter replacement and sometimes greasing of joints of they need it. All of which I can do on my own and have done on my current cars.
On the other side of the coin, Hyundai carries over the 100K warranty, which seems to be a better deal in the long run. I must admit, I'm leaning toward the Genesis. Next I need to decide what car to get rid of...

 

[woodie1]

^^^
Agree.

Hyundai Genesis with the CPO warranty seems to be the better deal to me.

 

[sontakke]

Yeah, at around 25k the Camry Hybrid is an interesting option. That battery pack mated to the 2.5L is actually reasonably peppy. 43/40 MPG. Long term maintenance will certainly be cheaper in the Toyota than the VW. Altima would likely be even less.

Are the prices correct for new vehicles? Can you provide some reference to the above assertion?

 

[vi edit]

Are the prices correct for new vehicles? Can you provide some reference to the above assertion?

Trueprice for the Camry Hybrid (LE) is going for around $25,300. The Passat Diesel has less markup between invoice and MSRP and is negotiating less. The average paid is over $26,000.

As far as costs go, diesel is wildly more variable than gasoline. It could be $.10 a gallon more that gas, it could be a $1.00 more a gallon. It's very hard to judge future savings with that uncertainty.

With regards to actual costs, almost every basic maitenance cost is going to be higher on the passat than the Camry. Changing the oil is $75-$100 at the dealer vs $55 for the Camry (dealer cost) both are at 10,000 mile intervals.

The Passat has the high pressure fuel pump that has a very sketchy reliability history and can cost well into the $1200 range to replace.

DSG maintenance at 40,000 miles is $200-$400 depending on dealer. You have urea addititives every 10,000-15,000 miles. You've got a turbo that could potentially (and have) failed in under 100,000 miles of use. Plus you just have the VW electronic gremlin history there overshadowing the brand.

It's a nice car, it gets incredible milage and crusing range. It's certainly a much nicer driver than a Camry or an Altima, but you can't tell me that it's not more of a question mark in long term costs.

Where things get fuzzy with the Hybrid is long term (as in 10+ years) and the battery packs. I think the warranty is 8 years, 100k miles for battery pack replacement. There are many, many accounts of the packs lasting much much longer than that and having very minor loss in economy (1 or 2 MPG). Should the pack completely fail while you still owned the car it's a $5,000-$8,000 repair (dealer cost). I'm not aware of any major issues concerning premature failure or even long term reliability concerns with Toyota's hybrid designs. They've literally sold millions of these things and many of the issues have been hammered out at this point.

The Altima is the most conventional of the bunch with only the CVT being somewhat "uncommon" although Nissan has been working with them for close to 10 years. I'm not aware of any significant reliability issues or major costs with the prior gens. They were pretty decent cars. I would assume the new model would continue that tradition.

 

[CombatChuk]

I love VW, I really do. I've owned two of them in the past and totally enjoyed them. And I absolutely love the concept of the TDI...but spend some time reading the tdiclub forums. There are some scary things that can go bad with them. And not cheap scary things. I'm just very fearful in the lifelong cost of them. These aren't commercial diesel products built for longevity. They are very high tech designs with a lot of shit than can break on them.

There are horror stories with about any brand of car. But there seems to be a lot more for the tdi than others.

Don't let me be a negative nancy though...do your own dilligence.

I hear you on that, last year my 2006 TDI Jetta blew a turbo (in catastrophic fashion) at 75k miles. Spent about 1100 dollars on a brand new turbo (The turbine shaft snapped and found the other end at the Cat) and a gasket set and spent a weekend replacing it (After a lot of cursing and bloodied knuckles).

But it's been fine since then (put another 12k since) and I average 45mpg in mixed driving. Granted this is with the older 1.9L engine

 

[LTC8K6]

With all the comments about the Passat, I would have to say that it's unlikely to save you any money at all. I had not heard of the reliability and maintenance issues.

I guess that leaves him one choice out of his original two.

 

[master7045]

I'm starting to see my proposed savings disappear into maintenance costs with the VW. I have my eye on a 2011 CPO genesis w/ 27K miles and asking price of 24.9K. Seems like a good price right from the get go, clean car fax too, although I am a bit concerned about the high mileage.

 

[nerp]

27k miles in one year? Yeah, I'd be concerned too. Was it a rental and someone drove cross country? Fifteen times?

 

[saratoga172]

I just recently traded in a 2011 Mazda 3 hatchback with 34k miles.

Look at when the car was actually purchased. I got mine in December of 2010. Then last summer I did a lot of driving for my internship in Dallas. Drove to Austin, San Antonio and Houston last summer. Lots of back and forth from Dallas to OKC as well from November to May.

I'd venture to say there are a lot of highway miles on it. Just make sure the oil changes weren't neglected. Car is probably in very good condition. Especially being a CPO.

 

[Doppel]

27,000 miles means it was likely highway, so I'd rather a car that had 27k in one year than 27k in two, frankly.

 

[master7045]

The way I see it, if it's a CPO, then it must be in good cosmetic & mechanical shape to begin with. The 27K miles have to be highway and don't surprise me that much since I drive from STL to Chicago at least once a month (200ish miles each way). Honestly, I kind of like that it's a high mileage CPO, so I can use that as a negotiating power to drop the price a bit more. The same dealership has a 2010 CPO (V8) w/ 17K miles for 2K more as well.