VW to bring a Pickup Truck to the US

sky_free wrote:

BurbMan wrote:


Friend bought a Tourag...very nicely appointed, drives great....but the dealer gets $200 for an oil change and "routine service", making me wonder if the design and engineering principles are the same even if the vehicle is better....designed to assemble cheaply, not repair cheaply.

I'll never own another one that's for sure.

I have a 2012 Touareg TDI with 80,000 miles on it. Oil changes are running about $129. It takes 9-quarts of synthetic, so it's going to be a little more than a small engine that takes regular oil. Fuel filters at 40,000 mile intervals run about $100. I find it pretty inexpensive to maintain. The interesting thing is that other than those 2 things there isn't much to service. We are still on the original brakes and it does not require transmission service. I had the brake fluid and coolant flushed at 80K and that's it.

If you want expensive service to complain about, buy an Audi :)

You need to check your owners manual for service recommendations. Fuel filters are done on 2012 TDI Touaregs at 20k mile intervals.

And I would absolutely change all your transmission fluid, with a flush of 12 liters, every 40k miles with that Aisin 8 speed automatic transmission. Especially if towing. VW's idea of lifetime fluids is the lifetime is up when all the parts going round and round and round inside your transmission stop going round and round. They hope it makes it out of warranty before doing so. You can use Aisin limited slip package ATF in that, same as in a Lexus or a Toyota.

Also, change out your front and rear differential fluids and your transfer case fluid with the proper spec oils.

I've owned VW diesels since 1981, had a 1996 passat tdi, a 1998 jetta tdi, a 2002 jetta TDI GLS, a 2012 passat TDI SE 6 manual, and currently own a 2012 Touareg TDI, a 2013 Touareg TDI and a 2014 Passat SE TDI with the 6 auto manual DSG gear box, and I service them all.

German cars need a lot of service maintenance, there is no other way around it... you can pay a little now, and do it by the book, as it should be done, or you will pay a lot, later down the road, when you neglected the service intervals.

Do your Transmission ATF, transfer case and diff fluids now, and do your fuel filters every 20k miles on the Touareg TDI diesels, before you wreck a very expensive Bosch HPFP due to neglect.

And one thing you should know about ALL VW common rail diesels, is that they take a very specific VW507.00 motor oil that has to be LL03 Specification, as in 30,000 km rated motor oil, that is very, very, very hard to find, outside of dealerships and ordering it on line. You can not and should not just run "any diesel" rated motor oil in them, certainly not the stuff folks run in american diesel trucks by ford, chevy, gmc or Cummins/ dodge.