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It's taken us five months to rack up the first 10,000 miles on our long-term 2012 VW Passat TDI, which means we're a bit behind schedule (good thing we have a bunch of road trips coming up!). Nevertheless, passing the 10,000 mile mark means we get to try out Volkswagen's complimentary service program.
We've come a long way, baby
First, I must note how cool it is to have a diesel car that goes 10,000 miles between oil changes.
It wasn't long ago that diesels had significantly shorter service intervals than gasoline cars. (My old diesel Suburban requires oil changes every 2,500 miles.) The Passat TDI's 10,000 mile service interval is not only a major convenience, it's also better for the environment.
So, on to service. I had my reservations about visiting the Volkswagen service department; I've heard tales of high bills and hard times from friends who own VWs, and I wondered if my "free" service was really going to be free.
Short version: It was. No extras, no BS; Volkswagen of Van Nuys changed the oil, checked the fluids and tire pressures, and even washed the car, and while the service took a while -- two hours -- not a dime changed hands.
[UPDATE: About nine thousand miles later, we discovered that the dealership had not topped up the AdBlue tank. For more about AdBlue, see the January update.]
A day or two before the Passat was due to go in, a light on the dash alerted us that the coolant was low. I popped the hood to check the coolant reservior and sure enough, the coolant was just below the "forks" of the sensing unit.
There were no obvious puddles under the car, which I took as a bad sign -- what could be causing the coolant to disappear in such small increments? A dodgy head gasket, perhaps? I asked the service writer to check it out; they found nothing obvious, so they refilled the reservoir.
VW idiot-proofs our Passat
When I picked the car up, the rep told me there was a service bulletin that required the installation of a "Diesel information kit". This turned out to be a yellow plastic collar around the fuel cap that says "DIESEL ONLY" and two -- not one, but two -- stickers warning all and sundry to use diesel fuel and not gasoline. (Here's a photo.) It's pretty much impossible to put diesel fuel in a gasoline car -- the larger diesel nozzle won't fit -- but entirely possible to do the opposite, and I'm wondering if there have been incidents involving full-service stations or errant friends and family members who borrowed the car.
I'm not that concerned about having a brain fart and trying to fill our Passat TDI with 87 octane, but I am rather concerned about the coolant loss, what with a couple of road trips on the horizon.
Speaking of which -- as I mentioned on the blog, I took the Passat on its first long-distance drive, an 800 mile round-trip to Phoenix to see the folks. No family, just a man and his dog. I spent the first 90 minutes of the drive with the cruise set at 67 MPH, and averaged an astonishing 56.3 MPG! Hills, headwinds, and 70-75 MPH speed limits dropped my trip average into the mid-40s, but my round trip average was an astonishing 48 MPG. I'll talk more about road-tripping next month, when my wife Robin, the Passat and I head out for New Mexico.
Next: November 2012 update: The big road trip
Previous: September 2012 update: Likes and dislikes
Test index
October 2012 summary:
Starting mileage: 7,856
Ending mileage: 11,244
Mileage this month: 3388.2
Average fuel economy this month: 41.8 MPG
Average fuel economy overall: 40.1 MPG
Repair/service costs this month: $0
Total repair/service costs: $0
Problems observed this month: Low coolant
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