Looking to Buy my Coffin (Another Commuter car thread)

Pimpin aint easy

 

I'll look into these, thanks. Even though the ones around here seem to be a couple of years old, they still command some money (Toyota Tax). The dealer down the street has one used on the lot for $16k which is in the ball park.

 

Yea it wasn’t bad for the week. I live in a decently hilly area and it did fine. And it’s got some pep in it too.

 

Diesel VW.

I got a 2015 Golf with 30k miles for around 15k last summer. Prices are down now as more are fixed and on lots.


11 year warranty and 162k mile warranty on the 2015s (warranty is different based on year, 2015s have the longest) that covers anything emissions related plus other stuff like the turbo.

I have a 110 mile round trip commute and its the perfect car for it.

 

Specifically, you're talking about the Golf TDI? What all did they add in order to make them EPA Compliant? Has it taken away from the car at all?

Is the DCT transmission pretty good? (Coming from a manual guy). MPG?

Prices look pretty damn solid for the value, Thanks for the suggestion @pittim

EDIT: Found some useful information here.
https://www.vwdiesellookup.com/pdf/VWCourtSettlement_Emissions_Disclosure_Gen3_Final.pdf

 

I got a golf with the dsg. The 2015s have extra emissions stuff and need DEF every 10k miles or so ($12 jug of Peak BlueDEF) some people think it's a huge drawback, but personally I don't think it is.

I didn't get it until after the emissions stuff so I can't compare how they are now to how they were. Supposedly if you keep the transmission in sport mode it isn't a noticable difference. Its a commuter car for me and it's way better than every other inexpensive commuter car. DSG isn't a manual, but many say it's the next best option. I live in SWPA which is fairly hilly and having 240ftlb of torque in a pretty flat powerband is awesome.

On summer gas with all seasons I would get pretty close to 50mpg on my commute. Typically spend most of it between 55 and 75.

Diesel is more expensive than gas, and the break even point is close to 40mpg. Meaning cars that are over 40mpg are cheaper to run than mine. But, most cars that get over 40mpg are extremely boring

 

@OneWheelPeel I was also looking at Chevy Volts before I got my golf.

Newer Volts go up to 50 miles in range, and you can choose whether you're using the electric or gas motor.

If your commute is pretty mixed, you can use the gas motor on the highway (which is more energy efficient than an electric motor at high speed) and then once you start hitting traffic switch over to the electric.

 

I had a '07 VW GTI and as much as I hated it for reliability problems (that have since been fixed), it was a comfortable commuter car. I would go for something 2010 and newer. It is peppy and has great fuel economy, plus a ton of headroom for us somewhat taller folks.

 

Volt you say? My ears were burning

I got a 2013 Volt 18 months ago for my 40 mile round trip commute. I have a 1st Gen with the smaller battery & can max out at 42 miles if I stay off open highways & don't use climate control (heater uses a few thousand watts). I can & do charge at work for free (replenish 20 miles per charge session). My house has solar & my bill barely budged a couple bucks per month charging mostly off peak. Newer Volts have more range, an interior design that's 5x better & Adaptive Cruise Control. My next vehicle WILL have ACC for SoCal commuting.

That being said: a 100 mile commute may not work out mathematically for a plug in hybrid. Once my Volt switches to burning dino-carcass-juice it "only" gets 40-42mpg highway. There are imports getting that, some better, without having to worry about hybrid resale value (generally poor), battery lifespan, charging logistics, etc.

I will never speak poorly about my Volt, but it's not for every scenario. I ran the figures last week & it's saved me ~$5k in fuel costs in 18 months/28k miles. That's AFTER deducting my fuel & charging costs. @OneWheelPeel I'm not sure where sedans end & SUVs begin for you but the Kia Niro is pretty impressive. Motor Trend commuted in a 2017 for a year around LA & observed 59.6/44.5/51.7 mpg city/highway/combined. That's a non-hybrid, non fuel cell, non anything engine. Used they're selling for <18k.

 

Interesting stuff, thanks again for the suggesiton. I looked online for some Certified Golfs from dealers and the results were very small in the greater LA area (I searched for 2015 only & 100 mile radius). I only came up with 1-2 dealerships mostly selling S model Golfs. Were the 2014 and earlier cars better equipped? I'd prefer leather and keyless Go. I understand the price point and am still interested in the car if it didn't have these options.

You really cant scoff at 160K of warranty!

I like the volt, I just dont want to install a fast charger and likely the Tacoma will get the garage = no charging at Home.

What sort of MPG were you getting with the GTI? I love those cars and had a Fiesta ST so im no stranger to hot hatches. Likely, Im trying to go on the comofrt end of the spectrum vs sporty.

Thanks for posting up @dumontrider great stuff, I appreciate it.

Thats great to hear the Volt will work for your situation, it sounds exactly as if it was designed for you. I'd bet you use next to no fuel for your commute. Also, I've only heard terrific things about the cars and I wouldn't be opposed to them however my inability to reliably charge at work (Huge garage and small number of chargers) and unlikely to charge at home really puts a nail in the Volt coffin.

Nero is a good suggestion, thanks I'll look into them. I really dont want an SUV but the mileage is impressive for what it is. To be fair, I really never gave them a look so thank you again for the suggestion.

The Honda Insight has been catching my attention though it is a little bit over my budget.

 

FWIW Volts can charge on 110v outlets just fine (about 4 mi/hour, 220v is 10 mi/hr).

Hondas were on my short list as well but their insane resale value chased me off. Toyotas are close, but not as bad.

I've been in a few DSG Audi's and they were...clunky... In gridlock traffic. Nothing to complain about on gears 2-6, but the automated clutch to get rolling can be a bit rough. If you go VW then I recommend doing some simulated gridlock stop/go during the test drive.

 

@dumontrider Thanks again for the info! There's alot of options in this space from nearly every manufacturer and I think the best thing to do will be to drive all of them first.

I'll definitely be testing it in some stop and go traffic.

 

Ford Fusion

 

QFT. I had a horrible condition 93 Geo Prizm (same as a Corolla pretty much) that I bought for $1200 with 120k miles on it, drove it for 50k miles over 4.5 years at about 30mpg, the thing WOULD. NOT. DIE.

If I honestly wanted to, I could have probably maintained it and kept it going for another 100k miles or more, but it was in such horrible cosmetic shape. Towards the end, I WANTED it to die to give me an excuse to buy my Taco. Eventually I traded it in for $800 towards the 2019 DCSB. $400 for 4.5 years of driving aint bad I'd say. Save yourself thousands to put towards the Taco instead of a commuter!

The only issue might be that it is a little bit small for a 6'3" person, but I'm about 6' and never had an issue. Maybe a low mileage 4-cyl Camry might be a better fit in this case? (if they make such a thing?)

TL;DR: If you can't find a Corolla, look for a low mileage Geo Prizm, they are all Corollas too.

 

Its amazing how the quality in the 90's and early 00's was with the Japanese cars relative to their resale value. Did you have any major repairs on the Prizm? The 00-05 Corollas have really come down in price as well but they seem to have oil burning issues which makes them a little bit less desirable (for good or for bad).

Honestly, I'm looking at hybrids now as the amount of stop and go I, unfortunately, deal with will really make them advantageous from an economy standard.

Off the table. Have you seen the interior? They go for low prices though and im sure they drive ok - Thanks for the suggestion though, I'm not a ford hater just don't care for the car.

 

Rusted out gas tank (from sitting due to previous owner neglect), and a bad clutch cylinder. Otherwise, just oil and tire changes the entire time I owned it. (I guess my $400 quote from earlier would be a bit more if you count the maintenance cost I put into it). I drove it 3-4 days per week 120 miles round trip commute up and down a canyon and it never failed me (well, the tires failed me in some crazy snow, but that was my own fault for not changing them earlier).

Never once had a large engine/transmission problem with it. I told myself if I ever had to put more than $400 into the car for a repair, I'd dump it. Fortunately for me I never had to, gas tank was only around $200 installed, and slave cylinder was a bit less than that I think. If I didn't buy the Tacoma, my plan would've been to drive it into the ground.

We have friends who have a couple Priuses and love them too though, couldn't go wrong with one of those I don't think, I just get nervous with the battery/electrical costs adding up on an older/used one.

 

Other than the 40 mpg the answer is a newer Camry. We own a 19 Camry LE. We consistently get 38-39 mpg in mixed driving. That is hand calculated mileage, not relying on the computer read out of mpg. Paid less than 25k otd cash money brand new with a bunch of extras. Comfortable, quiet, nice sedan.

 

Mazda 3 gets 39 highway according to EPA, can’t speak to reliability but they’re dirt cheap even new.