Well, it seems like the SportWagen is probably not worth fixing...

2014 VW SportWagen TDI. 120,000 miles. Dealer maintained. My mechanic is telling me the transmission needs replacement. My mechanic is working out options, but hasn't given me a price yet.

 

I have a 2013 Hyundai Elantra, which is approaching 100K with no repairs ever needed. If I need a new transmission at 120K to 150K, I'd get the work done by my mechanic of 26 years & keep driving.

 

Jay
I checked a 2014 Golf TDI DSG w/120k - silver with no scratches/dents/etc to get a ballpark buy on it and it came back around 6200.
The DSG transaxle swap is around 4000 if you believe what people are reporting online.
If the car is in otherwise great shape and the pricey timing belt replacement isn't coming up soon - which pushes the cost of keeping it a few more years - it's not a bad idea to consider the transaxle swap.

Cars aren't all that cheap these days and you don't want to sell what you know and buy what you don't know. You could end up with a car that has wiring chewed up by mice, bad wheel bearings from slamming over curbs and potholes, and poor maintenance timebombs waiting to explode.

What are the symptoms leading the mechanic to condemn the transaxle? They usually need a mechatronic service at around 100k but that doesn't constitute a rebuild. The VW DSG is fairly reliable if maintained and parts are available.
You can't say the same for the Borg Warner units sold by Ford as the "PowerShift" where they eat clutch actuators and the TCM they need is no longer in production. And the TCM is not rebuildable (except for a few brave souls who tackle the job), and not available for sale. One of our company cars is a 2014 Focus that has had four clutch actuator replacements and it is currently running a junkyard TCM that works reasonably well but still has occasional brain farts that scare the hell out of the driver. They're still running the car as it is, because replacing it is far more expensive than shooting the parts cannon at it when it starts acting funky.
Ditto the Dodge minivans the techs run, with the 62TE transaxle going about 100k before it dies. The low clutch in the compounder fails and you lose forward gears. It's all but guaranteed to happen, so they budget for it. They pay $3500 to replace the transaxle because a new van is $40k+. Swap the gearbox and run it another 100k miles.

 

Well, my mechanic is quoting me $9,000 to replace with a new transmission. He says its not worth fixing because there's metal shavings in the fluid. The timing belt service is due in a couple months.

There's a dealer near me that has a low mileage 2010 Ford Escape Hybrid 4wd for $8,500. I think that's the route I'll go. My FEH was rock solid reliable and didn't surprise me with big bills. Its also cheap, so I can get back to no car payments quickly.

 

Some VW Sportswagen transmissions went bad well before 120,000 miles. Hyundai Elantra transmissions have had metal shavings (not mine) & got fixed economically. My mechanic could save you thousands of dollars. He has even changed CVT transmissions for $3000(again, not mine). Some mechanics in Northern Virginia are Zaf Auto, Gabe’s, Minnieville Rd, Woodbridge, K&B Auto, Alexandria, others….

 

I checked KBB last night, and a 14 Sportwagen in the lowest condition rating should gather $3,500 in trade, so I'm leaning towards getting completely out of this car and getting the 10 Escape Hybrid that the dealer in Fairfax has.

 

I don't want to discuss VW reliability or longevity because I am uninformed (never owned one).

But I'm wondering about the performance/efficiency of a TDI that has been "fixed" to be emissions legal.

I was VERY disappointed with VW and Dieselgate. The cars performed well (Truth in 48 Hours) but how
well after the "fix"?

 

I truly enjoyed driving it, especially in the city. It would jump off the line at traffic lights. Setting the cruise at 55 I could easily do 45 to 50 MPG.

That said, the whole ownership experience was awful. The car came with a 2 year unlimited mileage warranty, plus the 10 year dieselgate warranty. I paid about $2,000 to extend the bumper to bumper warranty to 5 years because I didn't want to pay to fix it while I was still making payments. After the 2 year mark, nothing that broke was covered under the extended warranty. I was very upset because I extended the loan another year to make up for the cost of the extended warranty.

So, nothing that broke was under warranty, AND any time I brought it in for the dieselgate warranty "Sir, we have to charge you for a $200 diagnostic to determine if the warranty applies. If it does, the warranty covers the diagnostic" When I had the 08 Escape with the Ford CPO warranty, I'd bring it in with a warranty request and it was always "Pay the $50 deductible, and we will take care of it". On one occasion they charged me $50 and called me crazy, but I never had to pay $200.

Ignoring the repair costs, the scheduled maintenance is brutally expensive. Just an oil change and tire rotation with a coupon was $150 at the dealer. For the Escape the same service was $50, and if I mystery shopped a Ford dealer it ended up being free, plus an additional $20 for doing the mystery shop paperwork. Every time I took the VW in cost me at least 100, and was often closer to 500 or more. At this point my ownership and service experience was so poor I seriously doubt I'll ever buy another VW. I'm currently back in an Escape Hybrid. I found a 10 FEH Limited 4wd locally with 26,000 miles and zero rust for $7,300. Granted I did pay a bit to get the airbag fault fixed, and catching up on all the fluid services, but I feel I'm far ahead from where I would be if I had went ahead and paid to fix the VW. It would have cost more to fix it than I had originally paid for it. I was so happy Carmax gave me $4,000 for it.

 

Thanks, Jay. I think your 10 FEH should last a long, long time.