2019 Volkswagen Atlas - Second thoughts

I purchased this vehicle because it has a 6 year bumper to bumper warranty. In your opinion did I do okay, and could you review the warranty and explain the good and the not so good to help me out?

Why torture yourself now? There are no backsies.

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Why would you come here for us to review a legal document covering your warranty? This is CarTalk, not LegalTalk.

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Simple answer, NO
I have better things to do than read through the warranty on someone else’s car.

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The warranty is solid. Has me seriously considering a VW for my next purchase.

Yes, but VW dealers have a well-earned reputation for claiming that many mechanical or electronic problems are not covered by warranty. Since that reputation is so wide-spread, I suspect that this policy comes from “the top”.

Whenever Consumer Reports publishes studies of how satisfied car owners are with their dealership, VW dealers consistently rate at or near the bottom of the heap.

among my coworkers, I had two who had to deal with VW warranty issues, both were quite dissatisfied with experience, but managed to fight their grounds and win that was “promised” by VW.

one received the engine shortblock replaced in his early-2000 Jetta over huge oil consumption he had on 20K miles car

another was able to dump the car back under the lemon law, once again, repetitive VW attempts to fix his engine (almost new) did not yield any result and although at first he wanted a car replaced, he decided to collect money and switch brands, just from experience of 8+ months battling VW over clear case of engine defect

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Dealers control the interface between VW and the auto owner. IMO, a dealer would want to maintain a good relationship with the auto owner so that they are more likely to be a return customer. They would only tell the customer to buzz off if VW said to do so.

We had a 2003 Olds Silhouette, bought new. The transmission needed replacement at 58,000 miles. The dealer rep was apologetic about needing a new transmission, and didn’t like telling my wife it would cost $3000. She replied that we had a 60/60 warranty, he confirmed it and was happy to inform us that GM would pay for the transmission, installation, and two weeks of a rental car.

Hence, my statement that I believe this comes “from the top”.

The late automotive tester, Tom McCahill said that warranties are your legal right to fight.

Just make sure you maintain it by the book, and retain all documents related to maintenance and repairs. You don’t want to give them any excuse to deny you warranty coverage.

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I see the warranty on any car as a perk, not a reason to buy. The hope is you won’t need it because believe me even when it is covered by warranty, going back to the dealer is a PITA.

Hopefully you wan’t have to deal with the warranty. Just maintain it by the book, keep your fingers crossed.

Next time, come here before you buy your car. Then we can really give you some homework to do-you will never buy another car :slight_smile:

+1 on this

I would also stay away from “quick lube” places.

I do not know about “nowadays”, but German brands are known to require euro-spec oils to be used, with known [bad] consequences attached to using “whatever” oil.

I would be curious to know why did you buy this other than 6 year Warranty. I am not a believer of quality just by the length of warranty. When I bought my new 2005 Corolla, it came with 3-year/36K standard warranty. I got some minor glitches fixed in that time. By now, the car with original engine and transmission has clocked about 250K miles. I just came back from a 300 mile road trip through the mountain range with this car. Not a problem. Just an example, may be an exception though.

The point I have against VW is the company’s criminal activities in the past. They just lost the trust. Cheating from the car manufacturer is quite bad. Because there are options all the time.

Many auto companies have been “less than honest” in the past, including some rather abhorrent behaviour, to say the least

Just curious . . . which other manufacturers have you personally scratched off your list?

And for what reasons?

Drive it while under warranty, if near the end of warranty trade it in if you have concerns, you are good for the warranty time, drive on.

OK. It wasn’t clear if you meant from VW or the owner of the dealership. Thanks for clearing it up.

The Atlas seems to get pretty good reviews, at least as far as functionality and convenience. If the functions it has are the functions you need and want, then I expect it’s a good choice. I’ve owned a VW before and the comments we tend to get here about reliability and how well they hold up to time and mileage confirms what I found with mine. They are really good, confortable, and reliable vehicles for the first 3-5 years, average for the next 5, and after the 10th year they don’t tend to hold up quite as well as Toyota/Honda/Mazda. I expect this difference at the 10+ year mark is reflected in the used-car price depreciation data. But for the first 5 years you should be good to go. You can always trade it in for another car, VW or otherwise, at that time, so no worries.

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My older brother was thinking of buying one but two things turned him off at the time. The lack of space behind the third row (no worse than the other midsize 3row SUV’s) and an estimated 6mo wait for the right model at his local dealer.

Ended up buying a new to him 2011 Toyota Seqoia after much debate.

I know what Mrs. Triedaq response would be on your purchase of the VW: “A card laid is s card played”. Mrs. Triedaq is a mean euchre player. Same is true with a household purchase. Sometimes I have wondered if made the right purchase. One purchase was a Chevrolet Uplander minivan. It was a program car from the Chevrolet dealership and had 15,000 miles on the odometer. Consumer Reports didn’t give it a good review and it didn’t have a great repair record. I sold the Uplander to our son. It has over 200,000 miles on the odometer and has never had a major repair. Drive on and enjoy your ride.