[Vwdiesel] [VW-TDI] OT: advice @ buying diesel for friend

[Tad]

- is this a dumb idea (buying the car, I mean)?
is she really better off renting and letting the rental company deal with
the hassle of owning it?

Is there such thing as a long-term lease available?  What about something
like Zipcar (carshare)?
It's an interesting idea, but letting the car sit unused and unmaintained
for half the year isn't a good thing.

- is a diesel a good choice for her? (auto tranny limits choices)
Probably not.  Diesel doesn't take kindly to sitting around for months.

- do VW automatic tranny's suck? (I seem to recall something about this)
Yes.

- is a mid-2000s Golf/Jetta TDi automatic a good candidate?
Doubtful - for her budget she's probably have a candidate requiring lots of
maintenance.  Also IMO the automatic kills half the benefit of the diesel.

- any other marque I'd want to consider?
Toyota, Honda, Nissan.

- should I give up on the diesel idea and just find her a nice reliable
girly Honda?
Yes.
maybe hybrid?
Not in that price range.

How about this idea - come to the US, buy car.  Drive car all summer.
 Before departure, sell car.
Wash, rinse, repeat.

If she's lucky she would avoid all the major maintenance expenses.  She
might even be able to work in some kind of warranty to cover the maintenance
risks.


On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 4:29 PM, Rolf Pechukas <rbp at 4u2bu.org> wrote:

> hey gang
> I have a friend from Taiwan who comes to the US every summer
> she is looking to buy a car and keep here so she can use it when she's in
> the country, rather than spending $1000 every year to rent
>
> she will only drive an automatic (!)
>
> her budget is $9k tops
>
> questions:
>
> - is this a dumb idea (buying the car, I mean)?
> is she really better off renting and letting the rental company deal with
> the hassle of owning it?
>
> - is a diesel a good choice for her? (auto tranny limits choices)
>
> - do VW automatic tranny's suck? (I seem to recall something about this)
>
> - is a mid-2000s Golf/Jetta TDi automatic a good candidate?
>
> - any other marque I'd want to consider?
>
> - aren't M-B auto tranny's good? any model in that price range I'd want to
> look at?
>
> - should I give up on the diesel idea and just find her a nice reliable
> girly Honda?
> maybe hybrid?
>
> thanks for any suggestions,
>
> Rolf in MA
>
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