re: Are VW's expensive to maintain?

Had a Touareg for 10 years and the maintenance was objectively terrible and expensive. Nothing ever routine.

Have one that is 20 years old as a grocery getter for the wife. Paid 1200 for it and in 2017 and very easy to maintain and have not had really anything go wrong. Parts are not expensive. (I do live in Germany so there is an abundance of parts). I am not sure about where you are

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German and I've always heard their expensive to maintain and not all that reliable.

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That is usually not the case ,but I am not sure about the newer models. The one we have has never left us stranded yet.

I have a 2019 6speed manual GLI. Let me tell you, I love this car. So much fun to drive. Got it for $20k brand new and even after 2 years every time I get out of it I’m smiling.

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Hyundai advertising a lot recently. Are they reliable? I have heard mixed reviews.

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Had two of the Santa Fe SUVs, lots of electronic issues, backup cameras died, Nav/audio unit died, the replacement had issues with the screen going blank, one had a strange noise coming from the drivetrain at highway speeds, dealership couldn’t fix it. Have had two Lexus RX 350s since then with zero issues.

They are just more ghey to own

I had a 2016 GTI. Probably the best vehicle I’ve owned as far as total package. Fun to drive, cheap (at the time), great standard equipment (even on the base model), plenty of cargo space. Regular maintenance wasn’t any more expensive than any domestic vehicle I owned. I’m partial to Liqui Moly, but you can use any oil so long as it meets VW specs. Oil changes were a snap.
I did have the dual clutch transmission, so I had to get a scheduled service for that at 40,000 miles. That was around $500 at the dealership, but you can do it yourself for much cheaper.
I think what people don’t necessarily understand about German cars is that they’re designed with regular maintenance as a given. I get the impression that the Germans are a stickler for regimen and order (who would have guessed, right?) You don’t want to stretch out an oil change interval or forgo any scheduled maintenance. Treat the car right and it should act like you expect.

As far as reliability goes, people will crap on VW’s, but the truth is that any car can have issues. The only issue I had was a rear main seal that started to leak at 73,000 miles. Extended warranty paid for that, but it would have been $700 out of pocket. Not great, not terrible. Now compare that to a 2008 Honda Civic I had. The Honda Civic, venerated for its reliability. Well, at 80,000 miles the engine block cracked. Casting defect. Turned out there was a TSB for it. Honda took care of a replacement at no cost, even though the car was out of warranty, but my point is that you can have issues with any car. Statistically, yeah, the Toyotas and Hondas are probably more reliable. But you don’t always have to play it safe and settle. Sometimes, it’s worth it to try something different.

Maintenance costs for most any car are easy to quantify.

First, get a copy of the maintenance schedule, takes 30 seconds on the internet. Then inquire with the dealer's service writer what each of the different maintenance intervals cost.

The Taos has three: 10k, 20k, 40k. If you look 10K and 20K and 30k are just oil changes with various inspections. 40k adds cabin filter and spark plugs.

So really just quality synthetic oil and filter that meets VW's weight and certs every 10k then a $20 cabin filter and $20 worth of spark plugs ever 40K. Keep up with brakes and tires and there is not much else to do. There aren't any big services like a Service II on a BMW.


Again maintenance is easy to quantify, repair post warranty is where the fun begins with any car. It is just impossible to quantify for a single car. One Lexus can go 300k with nothing but scheduled maintenance/wear items and the next one off the line could be a nightmare.


For what it is worth Consumer Reports has the Taos listed as a 2 out of 5 predicted reliability and shows 3 recalls for the 2022. However, sometimes the heart wants what the heart wants. Owning a German car it is always good to find the local indy shop that works on the make. I have owned mostly German cars for 30 years and outside of warranty issues or "free" maintenance none of them have ever been back to the stealership.

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And fudge their emission numbers, resulting in massive lawsuits and decrease in value.

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I'm probably the only person ever to make money on a personal vehicle pre-2020 because of it. I put almost 150k miles on a 2014 diesel jetta and sold it back to vw for more than I paid for it brand new.

Really wish I still had that car. It was awesome. Got 50 mpg, had a fair bit of pep to it, really comfortable to drive long distances. It was a damn nice car, and it was cheap. Its really fricked the way all that went down. Disposing of that car probably produced more emissions than 5 million miles of driving it would have.

Golfer with a buddy today, he has an Atlas. It is big and seemed to start and drive so that is good. That's all I've got.