Philly's car thread | Time for new tires - Post #128

[///M-Spec]

So this summer I have the opportunity to get a new car for myself. Good idea? Bad idea?

As it stands, I "own" the majority of the GTI at the moment. And the agreement is that I pretty much have the car whenever I'm home, but it stays in Seattle. And then when I graduate from college, the money I have in the GTI will be put toward a "new" car for me.

I'm considering taking that money out now and putting it toward a car. I really want to, but it's a big financial decision and I have no clue how stupid it would be.

Here are my thoughts on the issue:

• I really want a manual car. +
• I really enjoy driving, and not having a car with me in Michigan really sucks, so I'd like to have something to take out there. +
• I'd like a car that I can modify and work on myself +
• It's a lot of money being thrown around -
• I'd be paying for maintenance, but I don't have much money to work with after the purchase. -

Thoughts? I have a few cars in mind already, but I don't think I'd get too far into research until I decide whether or not to actually go through with this.

There's only really one question you need to answer: Do I need a car while I'm in Michigan?

Keeping the money locked up in the GTI doesn't make any sense because as a depreciating asset, it's constantly losing value whether you are there to use it or not. If you want to preserve the equity you've built up in the GTI, then the smartest thing to do is to sell it and put the cash in a short term CD or similar financial product.

But don't cash out on the GTI simply to put it in another car, you're just transferring cash from one asset that depreciates to another --unless you decide that you NEED a car in Michigan.

The only thing I'd advise against doing is to decide you are willing to walk in Michigan and keep paying on the GTI in Seattle which slows hemorrhages money while you aren't there. Bad idea.


Re: 540i. I looked at getting one of these when my plan was to buy a cheap daily driver and keep the M Roady. It's a good all around car and a really good value right now if you can find a clean example. Unfortunately, there are a lot of tired ones out there.

A clean, low milage late model V8 E39 commands 12 to 16k. The very nice '03 540i Sports (with the M5 style aero kit) are running from 14 to 18ish. E39 540s are not subject to the Nikasil problem as they are all 4.4 liter M62, with Alusil blocks.

At 10k, you're generally looking at a pre-facelift car with 100k miles or more. The powertrain is fundamentally long lived and the chassis is strong, but unless you are willing to turn around and invest some $$$ to refresh the suspension, possibly replace the clutch and fix numerous small problems --it's a German car, you know the drill-- you may not be too thrilled with what you get.

I was looking at some older 528s in the 7-9k range. Seems there are a few of them out there with 5MTs and low milage, probably owned by older folks. They're glacially slow, but handle well and are very comfy.

If you decide you're willing to throw some money and refresh a higher milage BMW, you may as well do what Azure did and get an E36 M3. The aftermarket support is WAY stronger for it.


M

 

[Philly]

There's only really one question you need to answer: Do I need a car while I'm in Michigan?

Need? No. It would make life easier there, that's for sure. I've gotten by this long without a car, and I figure I could manage until I graduate. But, I have (unfortunately) picked cars and driving as my favorite "hobby" so not having a car there that I can drive is very frustrating for me. Especially when my friends hate driving, but they are always the ones driving. It's definitely a 9 out of 10 on the want scale, but maybe a 3 out of 10 on the need scale.

Keeping the money locked up in the GTI doesn't make any sense because as a depreciating asset, it's constantly losing value whether you are there to use it or not. If you want to preserve the equity you've built up in the GTI, then the smartest thing to do is to sell it and put the cash in a short term CD or similar financial product.

The thing with the GTI though is that the money I have in it isn't depreciating. I have $10k into the car (as a graduation gift, I think from high school), and the deal when we got the GTI was that when I graduated, I could either just take the GTI or get the 10 grand back out, plus interest for something else. So I'm not really too worried about depreciation at this point.

But don't cash out on the GTI simply to put it in another car, you're just transferring cash from one asset that depreciates to another --unless you decide that you NEED a car in Michigan.

The only thing I'd advise against doing is to decide you are willing to walk in Michigan and keep paying on the GTI in Seattle which slows hemorrhages money while you aren't there. Bad idea.

That was another hold up for me. The thought that my money is stable now, but will start depreciating once I put it into my own car is another catch, definitely. But ideally, I'd be getting a car now that I would own until I'm pretty well on my feet financially, which is another reason why reliability would be such an issue for me, because I'd need the car to last several years. Probably like 4 or five years.

Re: 540i. I looked at getting one of these when my plan was to buy a cheap daily driver and keep the M Roady. It's a good all around car and a really good value right now if you can find a clean example. Unfortunately, there are a lot of tired ones out there.

A clean, low milage late model V8 E39 commands 12 to 16k. The very nice '03 540i Sports (with the M5 style aero kit) are running from 14 to 18ish. E39 540s are not subject to the Nikasil problem as they are all 4.4 liter M62, with Alusil blocks.

At 10k, you're generally looking at a pre-facelift car with 100k miles or more. The powertrain is fundamentally long lived and the chassis is strong, but unless you are willing to turn around and invest some $$$ to refresh the suspension, possibly replace the clutch and fix numerous small problems --it's a German car, you know the drill-- you may not be too thrilled with what you get.

I was looking at some older 528s in the 7-9k range. Seems there are a few of them out there with 5MTs and low milage, probably owned by older folks. They're glacially slow, but handle well and are very comfy.

If you decide you're willing to throw some money and refresh a higher milage BMW, you may as well do what Azure did and get an E36 M3. The aftermarket support is WAY stronger for it.


M

Ah, thanks. It's great to have somebody with a great BMW background shed some light on those cars. And with you and Azuremen recommending the M3, I think that puts it out to a good sized lead at this point. Plus the thought of owning one of my three dream cars helps a lot too.

EDIT: There is now a thread for "what car" discussions up here.

 

[Quattro20v]

The want scale is the only one that matters. Go for the M3! 👍

 

[homeforsummer]

Or he could get an M3, which is also easy to do work on, and quite a bit faster. About 2 seconds faster to 60 mph. The 944 Turbo is as fast as a US Spec E36 M3 in a straight line, and I'd probably say comparable handling wise. Not to mention the 10 year age difference.

Variety is the spice of life Not everybody wants an M3, believe it or not...

 

[JCE]

Yea some of us want an M3 CSL instead. 👍

 

[McLaren]

Yea some of us want an M3 CSL instead. 👍

Too bad our only option is to move to Europe or anywhere else the CSL was sold.

 

[///M-Spec]

The thing with the GTI though is that the money I have in it isn't depreciating. I have $10k into the car (as a graduation gift, I think from high school), and the deal when we got the GTI was that when I graduated, I could either just take the GTI or get the 10 grand back out, plus interest for something else. So I'm not really too worried about depreciation at this point.

What if the car is worth less than 10 grand at that point?


M

 

[Philly]

In that case I'd just get full ownership of the car transferred to me, but I've pretty much ruled that out because I don't really want to inherit all the problems that car has.

 

[Philly]

Well, every time I come home from college, I learn a little bit more about my parents' infinite wisdom when it come to cars. I had the check engine light come on while I was driving, and dad quickly said "it's been doing that. It's the gas cap." So I semi believe him, he fixes the gas cap, and the light goes away. Alright, I assume they have this figured out.

I took the car in to Autozone to get the codes pulled, because the light's been on again, and I'm noticing it's feeling slow. Turns out the turbo is damaged, one of the sensors is shorted or something, and something's messed up with the intake.

So yeah. I'm not the happiest camper right now, considering that these repairs will probably take a good while. I'll probably look at it and see if it could be something like the MAF sensor or something. Maybe I'll be able to get an aftermarket intake for the thing.

 

[Keef]

If the stock parts break that often then yeah, you might as well go aftermarket. They'll either break just as much or be better.

 

[YSSMAN]

That's really strange, honestly. Do they beat on it pretty hard when you're gone? It seems like, generally speaking, the 2.0T has been moderately "trouble-free" for a VW turbo.

Good luck! I hope you still have the warranty on it.

 

[Philly]

If the stock parts break that often then yeah, you might as well go aftermarket. They'll either break just as much or be better.

Well the argument against going aftermarket on the intake is that the aftermarket one will be more expensive ($300 for a K&N vs. warranty) and it'll still put more stress on the engine because of the extra power. And the thing seems pretty fragile as it is now, so it might be a bit of a risk.

That's really strange, honestly. Do they beat on it pretty hard when you're gone? It seems like, generally speaking, the 2.0T has been moderately "trouble-free" for a VW turbo.

Good luck! I hope you still have the warranty on it.

I honestly have no clue what happens to the car when I'm gone. My mom drives it the most, and I guess my sister gets her hands on it from time to time, which really frightens me.

But yeah. It's completely gutless on the freeway, so I've had to change my driving a fair bit. But I was upset to see my dad darting between cars when he was driving it today. I don't even know why we're driving the thing like this either. And we still have ~40,000 miles left of warranty so it should be a free fix, aside from the time we'll have one car between four drivers.

 

[Eric.]

I wouldn't be too concerned about an intake overstressing the engine...If its getting cooler air it can only help really. Just know that a CAI has the chance of hydrolock, and you live in Washington...

You should also research that aftermarket intakes for the GTI are made correctly for the MAF to work. Pretty much all of them for the Si do not have the vanes that the stock one does to direct air over the MAF, so A/F ratios are all over the place...thus I'm not putting one on my car.

 

[Philly]

I wouldn't be too concerned about an intake overstressing the engine...If its getting cooler air it can only help really. Just know that a CAI has the chance of hydrolock, and you live in Washington...

The only thing I'd be worried about is the extra power it gives. It'll be fun when accelerating, but since the car already is pretty fragile, I'd be scared of it tipping it over the edge. And the CAIs for the GTI have the filter at the top of the engine bay, so I don't think hydrolocking would be the biggest issue.

You should also research that aftermarket intakes for the GTI are made correctly for the MAF to work. Pretty much all of them for the Si do not have the vanes that the stock one does to direct air over the MAF, so A/F ratios are all over the place...thus I'm not putting one on my car.

That's a good thought. It seems to be a pretty popular mod on the GTI, but yeah. Definitely worth making sure of.

 

[eiriksmil]

The only thing I'd be worried about is the extra power it gives. It'll be fun when accelerating, but since the car already is pretty fragile, I'd be scared of it tipping it over the edge.

What? Fragile? Over the edge? Extra power..? Dude, I want some of the drugs you're on

 

[homeforsummer]

Philly's GTI was assembled in Mexico rather than Germany like the European ones and as such the company has a bit of a rep for iffy reliability over there... so fragile is probably a fair claim to make.

 

[Eric.]

The only thing I'd be worried about is the extra power it gives. It'll be fun when accelerating, but since the car already is pretty fragile, I'd be scared of it tipping it over the edge. And the CAIs for the GTI have the filter at the top of the engine bay, so I don't think hydrolocking would be the biggest issue.

Not quite a real CAI then...more of a "cool" air intake like the Si comes with. True CAIs stick the filter somewhere near the bottom of the car.

That's a good thought. It seems to be a pretty popular mod on the GTI, but yeah. Definitely worth making sure of.

Yeah, pretty popular on the Civic too, despite the problem. You would think everyone would see that its not very safe when they are dynoing.

 

[YSSMAN]

Philly's GTI was assembled in Mexico rather than Germany like the European ones...

I believe all of the GTIs sold around the world are screwed together at the Wolfsburg plant, but you are correct with the rest of the Golfs and Jettas for North America - those are built in Mexico. Honestly, its not as big of a penalty as it used to be. The main thing is to avoid the early models.

 

[McLaren]

Not quite a real CAI then...more of a "cool" air intake like the Si comes with. True CAIs stick the filter somewhere near the bottom of the car.

The one he's talking about sounds like a short ram intake, which are alright, but definitely not the kind he wants for a car like the GTI, unless it's Carbonio.

 

[eiriksmil]

I believe all of the GTIs sold around the world are screwed together at the Wolfsburg plant, but you are correct with the rest of the Golfs and Jettas for North America - those are built in Mexico. Honestly, its not as big of a penalty as it used to be. The main thing is to avoid the early models.

Point is, your car won't fall apart from 5 hp more, and most probably he won't even notice any difference at all.. Apart from a CEL maybe

 

[Azuremen]

Point is, your car won't fall apart from 5 hp more, and most probably he won't even notice any difference at all.. Apart from a CEL maybe

Except his car falls apart stock. Like every VW built, ever.

 

[Hugo Boss]

I took the car in to Autozone to get the codes pulled, because the light's been on again, and I'm noticing it's feeling slow. Turns out the turbo is damaged, one of the sensors is shorted or something, and something's messed up with the intake.

Isn't it the EGR valve? 'Common' problem on modern cars. Engine light will go on and you lose turbo pressure = power.
Haven't heard of any MAF problems on the V GTI, that seems to be under control now.

Except his car falls apart stock. Like every VW built, ever.

This is your last warning. Keep it friendly and don't post statements that you can't back up with objective information. If we all start bashing on brands/persons/things we don't like, the friendly atmosphere on the forum will soon disappear. Please stick to the AUP or you can leave.

 

[nobuffalo]

It is rather pathetic for a car that new to be considered "fragile" by it's owner, how many miles are on the car?

 

[Azuremen]

This is your last warning. Keep it friendly and don't post statements that you can't back up with objective information. If we all start bashing on brands/persons/things we don't like, the friendly atmosphere on the forum will soon disappear. You're already on 20 points, so please stick to the AUP or you can leave.

Well, the first half is true. His car has had repeated issues since purchase, and continue to has them despite repeated warranty work.

The second half is clearly sarcasm, every VW ever built clearly has not fallen apart as we can see them driving around on the road. Though I could probably dig up pages and pages of recalls, reliability issues, and so on. One of those ironic half truths. I guess I'll just put the word "most" or "many" or some other subjective term in there.

 

[Eric.]

Isn't it the EGR valve? 'Common' problem on modern cars. Engine light will go on and you lose turbo pressure = power.
Haven't heard of any MAF problems on the V GTI, that seems to be under control now.



This is your last warning. Keep it friendly and don't post statements that you can't back up with objective information. If we all start bashing on brands/persons/things we don't like, the friendly atmosphere on the forum will soon disappear. You're already on 20 points, so please stick to the AUP or you can leave.

Oh come on...even Philly is joking about it breaking down and is the entire reason that he wants to get rid of the thing. I hardly see you posting around here, so maybe you haven't noticed that that's some friendly harassment about VWs and a few other brands that go back and forth.

 

[Philly]

Except his car falls apart stock. Like every VW built, ever.

^^^ What he said. I'm just thinking that the problems with the GTI will only get worse with more power, and therefore more stress.

And the car has gone so long since it's last issue too...

Isn't it the EGR valve? 'Common' problem on modern cars. Engine light will go on and you lose turbo pressure = power.
Haven't heard of any MAF problems on the V GTI, that seems to be under control now.

It may be. I'm taking the car in tomorrow morning, so that may be my farewell to the car for a while.

This is your last warning. Keep it friendly and don't post statements that you can't back up with objective information. If we all start bashing on brands/persons/things we don't like, the friendly atmosphere on the forum will soon disappear. You're already on 20 points, so please stick to the AUP or you can leave.

Look back at his post, look back through the thread. You can see that my car does have a lot of problems. I have no problem with other people joking about that. Even I joke about it sometimes. I guess the alternative could be me coming into this thread ranting and screaming about how the car always breaks and reporting any post that isn't a direct suggestion to the situation. I would imagine that the friendly atmosphere here would disappear if we disallowed jokes and such too.

The second part? Friendly jest that VWs generally have poorer reliability. That's pretty common knowledge. He shouldn't have to back that up with evidence.

It is rather pathetic for a car that new to be considered "fragile" by it's owner, how many miles are on the car?

We're going to be rolling over 60,000 miles in a bit. Never been a VW owner, I take it?

 

[nobuffalo]

We're going to be rolling over 60,000 miles in a bit. Never been a VW owner, I take it?

No, my bother has two vans and they've been broken down since I can remember but that's just due to his laziness. And I shouldn't really say it's pathetic, that's a little harsh. It just kinda bad.

 

[YSSMAN]

It really depends on the VW, and how its been treated. My previous Jetta blew out due to some insane transmission problem that was apparently common on a lot of the MKIII cars. Despite my problems (mostly with electrical system), the car ran well most of the time. I got a good deal on the car, it retained its resale value, but the VW curse ended up getting me. Still, making it 175K isn't half bad. Especially for a VW. We've had four separate VWs in our family: 1993 Fox, 1996 Jetta Wolfsburg, 1999 New Beetle, and a 2002 Cabrio (which we still have). The problems were of the typical sort, electric issues in the wet, power window issues with the newer models, etc. The Jetta and the Cabrio stand out as the most-reliable based on my own memory, the New Beetle suffering from a lot of the early build quality issues.

It always seems to depend on the model, where it was built, who drove it, how the stars were lined up, and what my alphabet soup looked like the day before. VW people know what they're getting into, and they're willing to accept the problems as they come (usually at a significant price). If it weren't for my health problems, and the prospect of my job ending (which it did), I likely would have bought a third VW instead of my Celica. So far, the Toyota has been trouble-free (despite one massive repair)... But its not the same as my Volkswagens. Maybe when my finances get back on their feet, I'll dabble in the VWs again.

But, mark my words: I'll never own an Audi.

RE: Hugo on Azure's VW Comments

Honestly, its not a big deal. The VW people here have come to expect it not only from Cody, but from others as well. We already know and understand that VWs are generally unreliable, cost a bajillion dollars to maintain properly, and end up being buying options that can be a partial diagnosis for insanity - because we've already experienced it. Not everyone buys into the idea of a VW, as a (former?) Toyota guy, I wouldn't expect Cody to. But, for those of us that do, we're happy to talk to people about it and make casual recommendations when possible.

Perhaps we need to create a thread called VW Owners Anonymous?

 

[Casio]

Conversely, my 90% VW never failed once, ever. In 85,000km that I had it. And I never performed any maintenance on it. Ever.

Then I was sick of reliability and got a Saab...

 

[McLaren]

Point is, your car won't fall apart from 5 hp more, and most probably he won't even notice any difference at all.. Apart from a CEL maybe

Why on earth would a new intake throw a CEL unless someone purposely put it on wrong?