Dieselgate

Last Wednesday, on a windy and rainy afternoon, we left our forlorn little Jetta Sportwagen TDI in the parking lot of our local VW dealership.

We signed some papers, handed over the keys, and off we drove in a sedan borrowed from my parents, which actually formerly belonged to my grandparents. We'll have the loaner until we purchase a new vehicle. We definitely are getting a mini-van, probably the hybrid Chrysler Pacifica when it becomes available. 

I really enjoyed our little Sportwagen. We were forced into buying a new car when our beloved Toyota Tacoma was totaled. I didn't like the other vehicles we looked at, which included a few Mazda and Subaru models. The Sportwagen was extremely versatile and fun to drive. I definitely miss it already. But it would have been foolish not to take VW's buyback offer and take the opportunity to get into a larger vehicle, since about 5 months ago we unexpectedly ended up with twice the number of babies we were trying for. Their twin stroller alone took up most of the trunk space in the Sportwagen, and their rear-facing car seats caused us to have to move the front seats more forward than was comfortable in order to accommodate them. Since we have a lot of far-flung family and friends, we definitely want to be able to travel comfortably with all our gear.

The Sportwagen had some misadventures. It was backed into before even leaving the dealership by a careless fellow customer. And just last month, the sunroof exploded on our way back from a visit with family in Sacramento.

The explosion was likely due to a defect in the glass, as there were no overpasses on our route from which something could have been thrown, no damage to the mesh sunscreen underneath the glass, no signs of an object, and it's awfully suspicious that the glass broke up & out and basically in the very center.

Steve duct-taping the sunroof back together enough to get us home:

But the warranty on the car's glass was only a year, so we lost that battle. We ended up with no out-of-pocket cost since insurance covered it and our deductible ended up being covered by VW's "oops we totally lied about your vehicle meeting emissions standards and thus being legal to drive" dealer service credit of $500. How generous. 

The buyback was actually fair, though, so once the check clears, we're in a good position to get our new family-hauling vehicle. Hopefully we'll at least get that car off of the dealer's lot before someone runs into it.