McTwin2Kman

I'm in the same boat, bought a 2001 VW Turbo Diesel. I'm in the oil business, so I saw the gas situation we have todaystarting back in '01 and wanted a high milage diesel. Back then they discounted the diesel, now it's a premium. Well, the air mass sensor or a bad ground or something kept robbing the car of power. 0 to 60 went to 34 seconds instead of 12.5. Gave VW 5 tries to fix it, they never did and gave me a 2002. I know I'm on borrowed time and will off that car before the 4 yr warrenty is up. Oddly enough I went to thinking my 98 chevy pickup was junk to now thinking it is an easy truck to maintain. The Chevy is still junk but any second rate mechanic in his sleep can fix it. You can't fix a VW. You can't even find room to work on it. It's in the shop now with a burnt out altenator after 32,000 miles of gentle care. This truck does not work, it does not plow, it's just a toy for going to Home Depot and back. In reality I want another diesel but everyting seems to be breaking. I may try a Mercedes Diesel and Drive trane in a Jeep Liberty, but the Jeep side of the equation has me nervous. The other choice is the Honda Accord coming out with its first Diesel. I hate first year cars, but Honda's down side usually is limited to being too low to the ground, eating mufflers and being tinny. Other than those three, they usually run for years. Oh, I forgot Honda uses yerterdays technology. That makes them not to desirable for driving, but reliable. It's amazing , but 15 years ago there were many reliable cars in both economy and hight end. Now the high end cars will bury you at the dealer service center and the reliable cars are just a few of the simple economy models like Toyota Camery, Honda and Suburu. Not very exciting choices for a car you can stick your wife in, have her go 300 miles in to visit reatives and get back without an incident.