2WD v 4WD in snow

[dcbc 14484]

Well, I just found a deal on this, which, eventually, will be my kid's 2010 Outback.  3" lift and some nice wheels and a/t tires.  Addressing a couple of sensor issues this week, but I really want to take it out and try to stick it in the mud.  Oh, and it's a 6 speed manual.

Edited August 7, 2021 by dcbc

[Upgrayedd 5812]

15 minutes ago, dcbc said:

Well, I just found a deal on this, which, eventually, will be my kid's 2010 Outback.  3" lift and some nice wheels and a/t tires.  Addressing a couple of sensor issues this week, but I really want to take it out and try to stick it in the mud.  Oh, and it's a 6 speed manual.

Pretty cool.  What size engine?

[dcbc 14484]

28 minutes ago, Upgrayedd said:

Pretty cool.  What size engine?

2.5L.  Only size with a manual gearbox at that point.  Kind of a unicorn with that shifter.  Stiff clutch, too.  Baja Busaru

Edited August 8, 2021 by dcbc

[ChickenSandwich 9836]

58 minutes ago, dcbc said:

Well, I just found a deal on this, which, eventually, will be my kid's 2010 Outback.  3" lift and some nice wheels and a/t tires.  Addressing a couple of sensor issues this week, but I really want to take it out and try to stick it in the mud.  Oh, and it's a 6 speed manual.

Love the standard Whiskey-Dents. Get those out of the way. 
 

Hope the boy Mad Max’s the shit out of it. 

[dcbc 14484]

56 minutes ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Love the standard Whiskey-Dents. Get those out of the way. 
 

Hope the boy Mad Max’s the shit out of it. 

Baja Busaru!  Yeah, scratched to shit a bit, too.

[wood 11225]

On 10/9/2019 at 1:02 PM, horn4life said:

When I was doing research on Ford Truck engines I saw that the smaller twin turbo V-6 did a lot better at altitude than the normal V-8.  I can't imagine not having 4 wheel drive in Colorado.  

Yeah if I lived near and/or went to the mountains often, I'd definitely have some form of 4WD/AWD. You don't always need it, of course, but when you do need it, it's a lot cooler to have it than not. Hell, I'm addicted to AWD (2013 Impreza STi Wagon) as it is now, and I've lived in Texas for 45 years. Probably moving on to an Audi quattro soon. /csb

Edited August 12, 2021 by wood

[dcbc 14484]

On 8/11/2021 at 10:38 PM, wood said:

Probably moving on to an Audi quattro soon. /csb

Get the extended warranty.  VW/Audi is great, but not the most reliable brand I've ever driven.  The aftermarket service plan I used (the only one I've ever purchased after the issues I had under the original powertrain warranty) on my VW wouldn't even cover Audi.  On the upside, VW/Audi honors its warranties pretty faithfully.

Edited August 18, 2021 by dcbc

[wood 11225]

5 hours ago, dcbc said:

Get the extended warranty.  VW/Audi is great, but not the most reliable brand I've ever driven.  The aftermarket service plan I used (the only one I've ever purchased after the issues I had under the original powertrain warranty) on my VW wouldn't even cover Audi.  On the upside, VW/Audi honors its warranties pretty faithfully.

Yeah that's been a concern that's nagged me a bit about the Audis. And repairs on anything on an Audi are gonna be ridiculously expensive. Would definitely go for extended warranty if I do it. Or maybe I'll just go Japanese or Korean....

[Chewbacca 7779]

7 minutes ago, wood said:

Yeah that's been a concern that's nagged me a bit about the Audis. And repairs on anything on an Audi are gonna be ridiculously expensive. Would definitely go for extended warranty if I do it. Or maybe I'll just go Japanese or Korean....

Get a CPO or extended warranty and you're good.  Just don't tune your Audi if you want to keep the warranty.  They're pretty ruthless about finding tunes and voiding warranties when they do.

[dcbc 14484]

1 hour ago, Chewbacca said:

Get a CPO or extended warranty and you're good.  Just don't tune your Audi if you want to keep the warranty.  They're pretty ruthless about finding tunes and voiding warranties when they do.

Maybe Audi dealers are different, but my VW is tuned and I never had an issue with any warranty work.  I'd be less inclined to tune an Audi, I guess, because they seem to have ample horsepower without it.  Technically, the dealer has to prove the tune caused the issue.  I've never had one bat an eye.  And when I was in for extended warranty work (outside of powertrain period), I'd specifically tell them "the car is tuned, do not update my ECM.  Dealers aside, when they plug in their diagnostic equipment, it flags a tuned car "TD1."  But again, never been a problem.  YMMV

Also, the 2.0 TSI/TFSI has its advantages.  The oil filter is on the top.  So oil changes in the garage without getting under the car are an option.  Also, keep a coil pack or two in the trunk.  If you have a misfire, use an app and a bluetooth adapter to figure out which cylinder it is, and swap it out in less than five minutes.  VCDS software is nice too, but pricey. 

[Chewbacca 7779]

Just now, dcbc said:

Maybe Audi dealers are different, but my VW is tuned and I never had an issue with any warranty work.  I'd be less inclined to tune an Audi, I guess, because they seem to have ample horsepower without it.  Technically, the dealer has to prove the tune caused the issue.  I've never had one bat an eye.  And when I was in for extended warranty work (outside of powertrain period), I'd specifically tell them "the car is tuned, do not update my ECM.  Dealers aside, when they plug in their diagnostic equipment, it flags a tuned car "TD1."  But again, never been a problem.  YMMV

Also, the 2.0 TSI/TFSI has its advantages.  The oil filter is on the top.  So oil changes in the garage without getting under the car are an option.  Also, keep a coil pack or two in the trunk.  If you have a misfire, use an app and a bluetooth adapter to figure out which cylinder it is, and swap it out in less than five minutes.  VCDS software is nice too, but pricey. 

Audizine is littered with people who have been flagged TD1.  And once you're flagged, that's game over.  I'm sure there are some dealers more tolerant than others, but if they flag you in the system, you're done.

[dcbc 14484]

2 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

Audizine is littered with people who have been flagged TD1.  And once you're flagged, that's game over.  I'm sure there are some dealers more tolerant than others, but if they flag you in the system, you're done.

TD1 is a problem primarily because it automatically gets reported to VW of America, supposedly taking matters out of the dealer's discretion if VWoA wants to put up a fight.  The VW forums have plenty of stories like this, too.  But I've been tuned for nearly 100,000 miles and have had plenty of warranty work performed without issue.  So that's just my anecdotal bit. of the puzzle. 

[XYZ 2154]

WTF is TD1?

[Chewbacca 7779]

WTF is TD1?

Means your warranty is kaput.

[Bernard 879]

CPO and aftermarket warranties are for poors. Yes, they sometimes end up paying off for the vehicle owner, but overall they are a huge profit center for those who sell them. Better off taking the warranty money to Vegas. If you can't afford the repairs, don't buy the car.

Speaking of Audi, my old man has had a few A8's. He lives at the top of a hill in snow country. Quattro AWD is nice. And yes he had to pay $8,000 once to replace a transmission out of warranty. 🙂

Bernard

[dcbc 14484]

10 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

11 hours ago, XYZ said:

WTF is TD1?

Means your warranty is kaput.

Or, if you have a local tuner, you can get them to flash the tune back to stock (they should have a copy of your stock tune saved).  Early on, I had some major medical due to be performed on my car and, just to be on the safe side, I got the tuner to put it back to stock.  I asked for a copy of the diagnostic scan from VW after the repairs and it was not flagged TD1. 

Later, I didn't bother, told the dealer it was tuned, and never had a problem with several warranty issues.  Seems like VW/Audi is being more aggressive about this in more recent years.  Glad I had my fun when I did.  But if your tuner is local, it's easy to do and, usually, they'll do it for a very nominal fee.

/apologies for the Audi threadjack

Edited August 19, 2021 by dcbc

[dcbc 14484]

6 hours ago, Bernard said:

CPO and aftermarket warranties are for poors. Yes, they sometimes end up paying off for the vehicle owner, but overall they are a huge profit center for those who sell them. Better off taking the warranty money to Vegas. If you can't afford the repairs, don't buy the car.

Speaking of Audi, my old man has had a few A8's. He lives at the top of a hill in snow country. Quattro AWD is nice. And yes he had to pay $8,000 once to replace a transmission out of warranty. 🙂

Bernard

I've only bought one . . . on a German car.  On Japanese and American cars, I agree.  German quality and German reliability are divergent concepts.

Edited August 19, 2021 by dcbc

[Chewbacca 7779]

11 hours ago, Bernard said:

CPO and aftermarket warranties are for poors. Yes, they sometimes end up paying off for the vehicle owner, but overall they are a huge profit center for those who sell them. Better off taking the warranty money to Vegas. If you can't afford the repairs, don't buy the car.

Speaking of Audi, my old man has had a few A8's. He lives at the top of a hill in snow country. Quattro AWD is nice. And yes he had to pay $8,000 once to replace a transmission out of warranty. 🙂

Bernard

I only get them on German cars, but mine have paid off.  Both turbos on my S6 went out at 51k miles (just after original warranty expired).  Would have been an $11k repair.  Can I pay $11k to replace turbos?  Sure I can.  But I don't want to.  Think CPO cost me $2k.

[Updawg 2266]

Never dealt with cpo but after market or third party warranties are scams for sure

[dcbc 14484]

8 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

I only get them on German cars, but mine have paid off.  Both turbos on my S6 went out at 51k miles (just after original warranty expired).  Would have been an $11k repair.  Can I pay $11k to replace turbos?  Sure I can.  But I don't want to.  Think CPO cost me $2k.

Good grief.  Still on my original IHI turbo at 135k miles.  Hope I can find a remanufactured one if it ever goes kabluey.

[dcbc 14484]

2 hours ago, Updawg said:

Never dealt with cpo but after market or third party warranties are scams for sure

My buddy had "Main Street" that he bought when he financed his older BMW through PenFed.  It paid for a lot of issues without any hassle.

But I assume the stuff I hear advertised on the radio, which must be akin to American Home Shield home warranty is total garbage. 

[Chewbacca 7779]

Good grief.  Still on my original IHI turbo at 135k miles.  Hope I can find a remanufactured one if it ever goes kabluey.

It was a design flaw in pre 2018 S6s. Oil screen clogs, starves tubos, turbos fail. I've now got the upgraded parts, so it shouldn't happen again. And more frequent oil changes, too.

[Chewbacca 7779]

Never dealt with cpo but after market or third party warranties are scams for sure

Yeah, i would not buy one from anyone other than the manufacturer.

[dcbc 14484]

10 hours ago, Chewbacca said:

10 hours ago, dcbc said:

Good grief.  Still on my original IHI turbo at 135k miles.  Hope I can find a remanufactured one if it ever goes kabluey.

It was a design flaw in pre 2018 S6s. Oil screen clogs, starves tubos, turbos fail. I've now got the upgraded parts, so it shouldn't happen again. And more frequent oil changes, too.

That sucks.  When I decided to keep my VW long term, I spent about $800 to replace the timing chain tensioner, which was known to fail.  Later, I got notice of a class action.  So I got paid back for that one.