I bought from a car maker that I swore I never would

"gabdere" (gabdere) 03/10/2014 at 16:22 • Filed to: None

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And it's kind of a big thing actually. Last month I looked through my car bills and made some calculations. It turned out I spent m !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! . I literally shit my pants. My 2007 GTI was not reliable due to many many factors..

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So I started looking around to see if I could trade in my GTI (my goal was to have 12k) and lease something that would cost around 100$ a month with the trade-in. Of course, I started by going to Volkswagen to see if I could afford a MK7 GTI. Thing is, the 3-door is expecting to be delivered as late as august and I didn't want a 5-door. I also want to trade-in my car before summer when it still has some value. Then, I looked at the GLI Edition 30 which is unbeliavably beautiful but the buy-back was something like 14k and on a 32k car it shows on the monthly payments. So I stopped on a 2014 Jetta TSI Highline 5-spd manual. This is the equivalent of the SEL trim in the US and the TSI is the new 1.8T. I could have this car on a 24 months lease for 70$ a month, big deal ! I was about to sign but I wanted to show the offer to my uncle who works as a salesman.

Have a look at the GLI's magnificent lights :

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So I went to see him expecting to have good advice on how to lower my payments even more. On the other hand, he was expecting to sell me one of his freaking Hondas and it worked.

I signed a 24 months lease on a new 2014 Honda Civic SI sedan. But why not the Jetta? It lacks a few things to my taste. It has steering wheel controls on only one side and I think that looks stupid, it doesn't have the GLI LED from and rear lights, it doesn't look sporty and most importantly, the SI is such a good deal that I'll have 2k in my pockets at the end of the lease. That is being paid to lease a brand new top-of-the-line car, sort of. I told myself a bit of change wouldn't hurt too.

So what's your problem you fool ?

The problem is Honda. I get the whole « their cars are reliable and sell well », but that's only it. Their cars are not attractive (I'm looking at you CR-V), they don't change anything on the automotive landscape and they lack features and refinement. And you cannot disagree with that unless you own a Honda, you owned a Honda or you own something Japanese and feel the need to protect other Japanese brands.. I always thought their cars were driven by the kind of person that couldn't care less about driving and just wanted to go from A to B without being noticed.

And I don't get why the SI fans are not pissed at Honda. They realesed a new car in 2012, they changed it in 2013 and again in 2014. A 2012 Civic that is now 2 years old is dated, isn't worth as much money as it should and looks like a 2008. This is the kind of decision that make them look like fools. But they don't bother because they'll keep selling Civics to 60 years old women.

Hey by the way, the 14 Civic now has a CVT. Just to add more fun to the car, you know.

But then, why did you buy a Honda you moron ?

I couldn't pass the deal. I'm a student, I work part-time and I have not the time nor the money to spend on a 7 years old car. But I still want something sporty and fun. The 2014 finally has what it needed to have since 2010. I'm talking about a proper touch screen, keyless entry and start, exhaust and suspension tweaks, some more horsepower, a nicer interior and other things.

I'll never like Hondas as much as I like Volkswagens. I know I'll like my new car but not as much as my GTI. I'll miss the VW community, the spirit and all that. I'll miss my xenon lights, my leather and the colour of my car.

Now, I don't know which colour I should get. I really like the grey on this picture but I think I'll miss a bright colour.

That was my 2 cents, I'm going out now to take my GTI for a drive.

Team6.1 > gabdere 03/10/2014 at 16:26

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Honda has a community as well. V-TEC YO

jkm7680 > gabdere 03/10/2014 at 16:34

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It's reliable. It'll last for a while.

Oh and you get to say this

Textured Soy Protein > gabdere 03/10/2014 at 16:35

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People who bought 2008 WRXes were pissed when Subaru added a bunch of power, better suspension, and cleaned up the looks for 2009. I'd assume that people with 2012-2013 Civic Si's are less annoyed at the 2014 because the changes are mostly on the surface, not really performance oriented.

Because really, who cares about keyless start? My 135is has it (as did the Mazdaspeed 6 it replaced), I can open the doors with touching the door handle while the key fob's in my pocket and have push button start. But my old winter beater Grand Cherokee has a regular key, and a remote to open the doors. The old school key works just as well. Never have I said "you know what this Jeep really needs is push button start." Regular keys work fine.

gabdere > Textured Soy Protein 03/10/2014 at 16:58

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I care! It's a game changer for me, I would not have bought a 13 for that.

And the sedan was changed from 12 to 13, the coupe is changed for 14. Its has 5 more HP, better suspension for body roll, tweaked exhaust.

They do a refresh each year. Your car become dated after one year

gabdere > Team6.1 03/10/2014 at 16:58

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Your hurt my feelings

gabdere > jkm7680 03/10/2014 at 16:59

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at 6000 rpm LOLLLL

deekster_caddy > gabdere 03/10/2014 at 17:19

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We are still very pleased with our '08 Passat Wagon. 2.0T, the only things we've had to pay for was a torn CV boot (only $250 at the dealership! I was expecting more), rear pads at 55K (I read most need them at 35K so we are doing something right) and regular oil changes (which I DIY). It's got 90K on it and the clutch is still decent. Put tires on it at 45K and 85K. Snow tires this winter for the first time, made a very nice difference.

From this I've learned two important lessons (I was just reading your post about maintenance bills).

1) I'm glad we bought it new and maintain it properly (and appreciated the compliments on the car's condition from the dealer's service tech).

2) I'm glad I DIY stuff after seeing your price list. Wow.

Good luck with your Civic!

avens > gabdere 03/10/2014 at 17:31

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You'll grow bored of it in exactly 2 months. It's just a gimmick, same with start buttons and high tech-ish gauges.

Actually I'd go as far as saying those manual minor things had quite a bit of sense of ownership (plus men like to insert things).

Textured Soy Protein > gabdere 03/10/2014 at 17:57

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How is it a game changer for you? Just because you can leave your key in your pocket? Regular keyless entry I just won't do?

You still have to take the key out from time to time, like for example if you're going somewhere with someone else, it's cold out, and they walk up to the car before you. Either they wait until you get there to get in the car, or you take the fob out to unlock the doors while you're still walking.

Also, let's say you park your car outside and you live somewhere that is so cold in winter the car needs more time to crank when you start it in the morning. Most of these push button start cars run the starter for a fixed amount of time no matter how long you hold down the button, while with a key you can keep cranking until it turns over.

The worst push button start offender is when you have a rental car with it, and they stick that bigass key chain tag on there, so you can't drive around with the key in your pocket anyway unless you want that tag to stab you in the leg the whole time you're driving. I once had a rental Altima where Enterprise had both friggin fobs plus that stupid gigantic key chain all stuck together, that was a giant wad of plastic to keep in my pocket.

I can see how people find it nifty. To me, keyless entry remotes are great, adding keyless start and touch entry without the remote are more gimmicks. They're fine, but the lack of these would hardly dissuade me from buying a car.

Textured Soy Protein > gabdere 03/10/2014 at 18:04

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As for the Si, those changes to me are pretty minor. It's been mechanically the same for 2 model years. 5 hp is negligible, and I doubt the exhaust is all that better sounding. The suspension tweaks are also probably very subtle.

Compare that to the changes to the '09 WRX: The '08 had been a totally new car, but after only one model year Subaru added 40 hp , made the suspension noticeably stiffer, and added some appearance bits to help make it less frumpy looking. Who that bought an all new '08 WRX could have guessed that Subaru would add 40 hp the very next model year? That's how you piss off your customers.

gabdere > Textured Soy Protein 03/10/2014 at 18:16

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how bout this?

That would piss me off!!

gabdere > deekster_caddy 03/10/2014 at 18:21

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Will be back with VW as soon as i can! Love that generation Passat, we had the previous. Nice to see that some models are reliable.

gabdere > avens 03/10/2014 at 18:23

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We have this since 2007 on our Audi and 2009 on our BMW and we still think it's useful. I love to get out of the running car with my keys to unlock gates, go lock my door etc... And not hearing my damn keys against the dash.

gabdere > Textured Soy Protein 03/10/2014 at 18:25

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Dude, i'm not buying the car bc it has a start button lol. It's fun to have that and i think it's useful. This among the other new feature is a game changer

Textured Soy Protein > gabdere 03/10/2014 at 18:27

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That's true, for non-Si sedans, the 2013 is a big improvement over the 2012. Actually my gf drives a '13 LX so I'm very familiar with how it's nicer.

But the 2012 Si already looked better than the regular version and didn't get improved as much (imho) for 2013.

2012:

2013:

Textured Soy Protein > gabdere 03/10/2014 at 18:31

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Ahh ok see I thought you meant only the push button start was a game changer.

gabdere > Textured Soy Protein 03/10/2014 at 18:31

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True! Except for the rear end... And 2014 has new 18" wheels, nobody knows if it's the same as the coupe tho.

gabdere > Textured Soy Protein 03/10/2014 at 18:32

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Yeah that's what i wrote but not what i meant sorry!

N/A POWAAAHH > gabdere 03/10/2014 at 20:28

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I thought this was going to be a story about hating VW. I am disappoint.

Rico > gabdere 03/11/2014 at 21:54

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FurySamurai72 > gabdere 03/14/2014 at 13:35

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I drive a 2013 Mazda 3. It has keyless entry and start. I'm not entirely sure I will ever buy a car that requires a key in the ignition again. Its a convenience thing. You don't really NEED a TV remote control, you could get up and change the channel ever time, but once you got a TV with a remote, would you ever go back to one without? Would you ever enjoy a car that didn't have keyless entry without wishing you had it? It changes the way you interact with your car, It doesn't necessarily have any outright advantages over having a keyed system. Its just different, and better.

gabdere > FurySamurai72 03/14/2014 at 15:06

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Agreed, i think there is advantages tho! I always wished to have this feature