My BMW's have been the most reliable cars I've ever owned, all over 200k miles. It's all relative.

But if I were looking for a car with the lowest total cost of ownership, no other factors involved, it'd probably be a '90s Corolla or Camry. Hell, my dad's '08 Honda Odyssey had 250k on its FACTORY brakes (we just changed them this weekend), that puts Honda way ahead in my book. and I'm used to doing brake jobs every ~50k on my BMW's.

After seeing this, I went back and re-checked the price I found for the Volkswagen TDI.  The OTD price I mentioned above ($35k) was the first listing I came across on the internet ($32k) plus tax and license (WAG at +10%).  

I spent some time last night looking at local dealership prices for Jetta TDI's.  They seem to have them on the lot in the $28-$29k range.  The CA DMV fees plus a 9% sales tax raises the OTD price to $32k.  So, $32k versus $35k, meh, close enough for now.  

The real issue is this - in the discussion above I had only planned on $20k for the purchase of a new car, not $35, not $32k, not $30k.  The issues of limited availability of diesel and the higher unit price for diesel remain.

What I found is they sell the Golf TDI at $24k, the Beetle TDI at $26.5k.  The Passat TDI sells at $32k.  The Toureg TDI sell for ~$55k.  You have to add 10% to these sale prices for tax and license.


I also discussed this car with my wife.  She has a friend that owns one.  Her friend hated hers.  She drove it for a while, then it was parked and sat,... for a year or more.  We're not sure if she still has it because she has moved away from our area.


So, one path through all that noise is to buy a low miles recent model, used TDI from someone who doesn't like theirs.  



Does a multi-year, used car drive train warranty make any sense?  The Credit Union sells these at a decent price.

Used will be cheaper TCO, every time.

The sticker on my base TDI with DCT  transmission was about 25k, July 2013.  I also didn't factor in 9% sales tax.  Ouch.  

Have you looked at truecar?
https://www.truecar.com/prices-new/volkswagen/jetta-sedan-pricing/2014/D9AFBFE5/

Wife bought a NEW 2010 Focus leftover in spring 2011, for $11K OTD!
32-35 mpg, now  at 90K and NOTHING but oil changes and 1 set of tires.

It's "Stripped" but has AC, CD crap, etc

So you CAN buy new for used money.

What was the sticker price for that car?