[Vwdiesel] Golf Trip-Or On Batteries, the EPA, and New VWs

[peter blake]

Dave,
  Thanks for sharing your story of visiting your grandma. Brings
back memories for me. Mine is long gone and I still miss her.
And thanks for the interstate link, I'll check it out.  Here in
Los Angeles I use a place that rebuilds batteries and sells them
for about $35. I have bought three there and have only had a 
little problem w one. Brought it back and they exchanged it right
away.  
Peter

--- On Fri, 12/7/12, Dave Cook <davevw at yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Dave Cook <davevw at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Vwdiesel] Golf Trip-Or On Batteries, the EPA, and New VWs
> To: "VW-TDI at yahoogroups.com" <VW-TDI at yahoogroups.com>, "VW Diesel Group" <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>
> Date: Friday, December 7, 2012, 6:48 PM
> Oh, hell.  I meant to include the
> website of the Interstate Batteries Distributor locator.
> 
> If you need a battery, I highly recommend checking this as
> an option.  Much less expensive than retail and I have not
> had one problem.  The one in my Bus has been there 10 years
> and discharged lots of times, and still fires it up.  Plus
> the people there actually seem to know something about
> batteries, rather than the lackey behind a counter
> somewhere.
> 
> http://corporate.interstatebatteries.com/www/distributors/us_distributors.asp
> 
>  
> Dave Cook
> 
> 
> ________________________________
>  From: Dave Cook <davevw at yahoo.com>
> To: VW Diesel Group <vwdiesel at vwfans.com>;
> tdi <VW-TDI at yahoogroups.com>
> 
> Sent: Friday, December 7, 2012 8:43 PM
> Subject: [VW-TDI] Golf Trip-Or On Batteries, the EPA, and
> New VWs
>  
> 
>   
> Took the Golf over to Topeka from Manhattan, because I
> needed a battery, and needed to visit my Grandma.  
> 
> I went over there to get the battery from the Interstate
> Batteries distributor.  As I told Shalyn off list, I have
> purchased "blem" batteries from them for a long time for
> significantly less than retail.  Today's price was $44
> (prices have gone up a bit).  The battery in the Golf was
> pretty small and I felt like it was just a little slower on
> colder mornings, so I wanted to beef that up a bit.  And my
> 4Runner needed a new battery-turns out that when the battery
> rubs on the power steering pump, so the too-small Golf
> battery went in there.
> 
> I commented about the higher price to the guy and he said
> that it had to do with the ever-increasing price of lead,
> and the EPA.  He said that several dollars of the last
> price increase was to account for new regulations on how
> they have to palletize the batteries which was an EPA
> regulation. He also said he has heard musings that the EPA
> is moving toward outlawing lead batteries in favor of AGM
> type, which are much, much more expensive.  Thanks, EPA...
> 
> After getting the battery, I stopped by the Topeka VW
> dealer.  I wanted to ask what they would have as an asking
> price on a car like my Golf, if they had one on the lot to
> sell.  (On the advice of the Kansas Insurance
> Department.)  The guy didn't have  alot of advice with
> that because they wouldn't try to sell a 10 year old car,
> but we got to talking about some of the new VW models.  
> 
> VW will be releasing a Jetta Hybrid in a short time.  He
> said that they didn't use a TDI motor because they didn't
> feel that it would like being stopped and started like is
> required in hybrid vehicles.  He said that VW felt that the
> stop/start/instant on features (such as instant start when
> you step on the accelerator pedal) simply wouldn't work with
> the need for glow time and warm up required with a diesel. 
> It has a lithium ion battery that only weighs 80 lbs.  The
> Jetta hybrid will only be sold with a couple of higher trim
> levels.  Should get about 45 MPGs.  
> 
> He told me he went to a dealer event and they were told to
> drive the car for mileage, and everyone got over 50.  Then
> they were told to drive it as hard as they could, and nobody
> could get under 40 MPG.  He said the torque was pretty
> sweet.  He also said that that Jetta would have independent
> rear suspension, instead of the torsion bar the less
> expensive ones had.  
> 
> We talked about the less expensive interior of the Jetta and
> he agreed it wasn't as nice as the Golf and other models
> now, but said he felt that they tried to keep the car
> "premium" in other ways.  He joked that since that interior
> was released, he has found himself testing whether the dash
> in cars is hard plastic, or soft.  (Jetta is hard plastic,
> other VWs are "squishy".)
> 
> He also said that the Beetle convertible would soon be
> available with a TDI in the US!  They had the first couple
> Beetle convertibles on the lot, but they were gasser
> engines.  he also said that VW is making a new Golf-based
> convertible and the Eos will be going away.  Wasn't sure if
> the Golf vert would make it here though.  He wishes VW
> would allow him to sell Polos here.
> 
> I didn't get to visit Grandma very long because she wasn't
> feeling too well.  I guess the flu is going around the
> nursing home.  But since I had driven all the way there and
> havent' seen her in awhile, I decided to take my chances but
> keep the visit short.  All the old people enjoyed seeing
> Caesar, my Great Dane.
> 
> Dave Cook
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> 
> 
> __._,_.___
> Reply via web post  Reply to
> sender   Reply to
> group   Start a New Topic  Messages in
> this topic (1)  
> Recent Activity:     * New Members
> 1   
> Visit Your Group 
>  
> Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms
> of Use • Send us Feedback 
> . 
> 
> __,_._,___ 
> _______________________________________________
> Vwdiesel mailing list
> Vwdiesel at vwfans.com
> http://www.audifans.com/mailman/listinfo/vwdiesel
>