Looking for some advice for my niece (Volkswagen Tiguan)

I am not one to tell someone to commit insurance fraud but I am not apposed to parking in a really bad neighborhood for a while.

 

You are not the first one to say that lol.

 

Does she have Gap insurance?

 

I have a 2010 A4 that blew the piston rings a while back, Common issue. I swapped the internals for EA888 gen 3 internals and put a bigger K04 turbo on it.

 

Need to check.

 

I doubt it. I mean there is just no easy way out of this for her unfortunately. The golden rule on financing a vehicle. It needs to at least have a powertrain warranty if you are making payments on it.

 

LOL, yeah, I certainly would hesitate going with that guy, I was just saying that his estimate sounds about right.

 

Sometimes you just have to cut your losses. VW’s are not the most reliable cars on the road and very expensive to repair. The cost of fixing it could put her in a Toyota econo box and she would have a reliable vehicle.

 

You may be right about cutting your losses but we are not quite there yet. As far as buying a reliable car, I was trying to help her find a used Honda or Toyota several years ago but she couldn't wait and bought this thing. I seem to have the same discussion every now and then about German cars, specifically Mercedes and BMWs. That is, they look great, they drive great, interiors are great, but they are not reliable. There are three types of buyers of German cars. First are people who can afford it and typically buy new but sell it near warranty end or shortly thereafter. Then there are people who buy these cars used and can afford to maintain them, either themselves, or using a trust worthy mechanic. Lastly, there are people who can't afford them. My niece is in the latter camp.

 

This is throwing 55% more money after bad money. No go. Dump the car and get something else simpler/more reliable for $7500. Not a 4Runner, as the $7500 4Runners typically need a lot of work...

 

We will most likely end up selling her car as is unless, my brother (her father), has her make another bad financial decision. I still want to know what is actually wrong with it for me to rest easy. I would never advise the 4Runner, I agree with you 100% and they burn way to much gas for folks who drive them a lot. Trust me I know, I practically live at the gas station.

 

... ^^^ ... Much wisdom here Grasshopper.





Time to cut your losses and D/C the VW ..

 

Hey, you say that you're a car guy, but in your first message you didn't say how many miles are on the car. That will help in a decision. Does it need tires or brakes too? Is it dented, or in overall good condition. So, if you brought the shop an engine to install, and find out it is a bad engine, why would you expect the shop to do a 2nd engine for free? It didn't fall out from a bad install. Most salvage yards offer a warranty for part only. Sometimes they will sell a labor warranty with the used engine. Used will save you money, but it can bite you in the butt too. Is that vehicle worth a remanufactured engine? Jasper has 3 year/ 100k warranty parts and labor. Not sure if they do V.W. good luck

 

There are three things that will be paid out in this situation.
1. Money
2. Time
3. Heartache / Stress / Worry - what ever you want to call it.

Sounds like the Money part is out of your / her control. Expensive either way.
But the time and stress you invest into this issue bear no fruit and you will never get back.

Take the easy path that costs you less time and less Heartache / Stress / Worry - what ever you want to call it.
If it was me, I'd let the kidney foundation take it as a donation and write off a personal loss on taxes to offset the cost of a new (different / used) vehicle. A 10yo European Car is going to be harder and harder to service as parts become more expensive (tariffs).

Don't get me wrong - there are a lot of great 10yo cars with 150k miles on them out there. But there are also a lot of 6yo cars with 80k on them that are rolling totals and their KBB value shifts depending on how much gas is in the tank. At that age on a used car lot you don't know what the history of the drive train is. Sounds like you have already found one expensive thing out. I'd not be here for the next expensive thing. Cut that muther loose and get your Zen back as soon as you can.

 

Maybe 70k miles and in very good shape. I did open the post by saying it was a bit vague and without every detail. I didn't mention cosmetics or brakes as I was asking specifically about engine replacement not about resale. The discussion evolved into that topic after the fact. I don't have any experience with used engines which is why I asked about if the warranty typically covers engine replacement labor if bad.

 

I would not recommend a Jasper engine. They are notorious for blowing up and also for fighting the shop that installed it on covering the labor to replace said boat anchor. I have toured the plant in Indiana and they are not what they once were. Any "car guy" would know that Jasper engines are complete shit.

 

My 78 Dasher was garbage. Engine went. Hand me down. Replaced engine. Got about another year out of it. About 100k mi.
I-5 Quantum was garbage. Hand me down. At about 100k mi. traded it in plus $$$ and bought a used 93 Toyota pickup with 30k miles was my first self purchase. A tree limb fell on it and insurance totalled it at 214k miles. I drove it away from the tree limb incident.
Bought a used 90k mile 01 V6 X Cab 5 speed manual SR5 TRD 4x4 for about 12k. Put another 60k hard miles on it before having to sell ($14.5k) for a larger family truck cash 5 miles on it 15 DCLB so I could fit car seat.

My wife had an 02 Jetta new first owner. Another POS. The bane of my existence. Everything broke all the time. The dumbest shit. Burned oil, consumed coolant, trunk latch broke, interior wore out, and it sucked to work on. I was delighted when the freeze plug in the block started badly leaking and I could drive it off a cliff and go buy her a new Subaru.

Your girl needs to learn, big time. Do not under any circumstances enable her to replace that engine in that VW.

 

I have two VWs. 1 being a Tiguan with the 2.0l turbo engine. So I am a bit interested in this…

I would say if it was my niece I would see what the “junk” price of the car is and then take that amount as a measure of how much more is it worth to keep the car going? Assuming since you’re somewhere involved this girl is younger and perhaps earns $30k a year she probably can’t afford a $400/month payment. So consider alternative means like getting an independent shop that specializes in VW to look at it, they might have a $2000 fix that will get the car in shape for another 50,000 miles. That’s a worthwhile investment. IMHO.

 

@zguy1 maybe the F&I guy slipped in an extended service contract into the paperwork when she bought the VW? Just a thought.

 

No, we checked. Nothing was in there.

Btw, my brother and her brought it to another shop. They also said it needs a new engine. I advised them to not invest the money into another used 2.0T engine especially since she has the opportunity to drive an older Honda CRV that runs well in the meantime. Not sure if they are going to heed my advice.