charleston

I have owned many cars (50+). I recently sold my 2001 LS430 with 54,000 miles and purchased a 2014 Passat with 27,000 miles.

The passat is nice (iPod connect, backup camera, heated seats, leather, bluetooth and 42 mpg).

I WANT MY LS back. I have found myself visiting this forum daily, searching auto trader, eBay etc.

Just needed to vent! Don't know what you got until it is gone.

toantran99

Very true, buy a basic model LS with no Nav and replaced the radio with a newer one.

jimbosr1

you are right.my 06 is the only car if it got stolen or totaled i would buy another one .no if's ands or buts.

Bocatrip

I feel for you. When I purchased a new 2001 V6 Passat GLX I kept it for 2 years and sold it as electrical gremlins showed up. I'm sure yours is improved in that dept. The saddest part of your story is that your car had super low miles. It's hard to find that kind of car without paying premium dollars. You might need to settle for normal mileage 100+ and spend some money on it. Good luck. I too feel that if anything happened to my 01 LS430, I would be out the next day looking for a replacement.

yoitskenn

iTrader: (4)

You should have upgraded to the 04-06. It offers back up cam and Bluetooth....everything you mentioned that your Passat has, minus iPod connect (which could be added) and the 42mpg. Is that actual mpg anyways?

Doublebase

Did you get the one with the small 4 cylinder turbo? My wife had one for a rental car for about two months (her Honda had the air bag recall), so I got to drive it quite a bit. I kind of liked it, yet I kind of didn't like it. At times I thought it was peppy and fun...others it wasn't (probably when I really needed more than just pep). I was surprised at how big the car was...not real flashy...interior a bit bland. I managed to get around 38 mpg in the thing, which I thought was pretty awesome considering the car had decent pickup in certain driving conditions.

Good luck with the car.

charleston

Its a turbo diesel. Yes the 42 mpg give or take is real and a nice change.

I will be back in an LS for my next car. 04-06 is the goal!

Doublebase

Ok I didn't drive the diesel, I just had the small 4 with the turbo. I imagine the diesel is a better overall performer.

wander

I'm guessing you're taking the cash and keeping the TDI? I also have a 14 Passat SEL TDI and I will miss the 48-50 hwy mpg and 38-40 mixed driving. Some areas of note , the infotainment system gets bogged down at times so the back up camera can take 30-45 sec to turn on. It will also randomly turn off completely at times . Never could pin point a reason for this. My warning is for the AC compressor. They are a weak point and often fail early. Mine failed about 3 weeks ago. I drive a lot for work so my mileage was well over the warranty. The estimate was $1600 to replace the compressor and dryer. I'm selling mine back to VW in October so I parked it in the garage. Hope you don't have that problem!

charleston

YES! Our A/C compressor also went out 2 days into owning it (luckily under warranty). We have decided to do the buyback after that issue and a window regulator (sad for a car this new). So my shopping for an LS is on hold until we go through this ordeal

wander

thats probably for the best. The offer schedule they submitted to the court seems pretty good. I actually bought my LS to replace the Passat as well. Luckily I could put it together and the payout will cover it so it's just about a two month shift. Such a shame as the TDI is a great engine. I was planning to get another VW but after the AC ordeal and the way that VW handled it, I ruled that out. It worked out for the best as I could not be more happy with my 11 year old LS! ( still can't believe it's that old).

Duck05

Any LS430 is better than no LS430.... We have a 460 too (my wife's daily) and when she "cascaded" her 430 down to me I prefer the 430 over the 460.... Get one as newer and lesser mileage that you can find/afford but whichever year/model you are able to land it will still be one of the best cars ....... (I am biased, of course)....

warminwisc

I did post this earlier but I drove a bunch of cars for Drive for the Cure a 2 day fund raiser for cancer. Drive em 11 miles hop in another and rack up money for cancer. They where lined up 10 rows across 5 deep and just drive em like ya stole em. The LS is still a contender in the new car world. Sure did like the MB E300 though.

Jabberwock

I recently drove a friend's Mercedes S430 - same model year I think as my LS. Nice seats on it beat the LS seats but that was it in terms of it being close in any way to how great the 06 LS430 drives. No way I'd trade my LS for his car. And he pays about $3-4k per year for an extended warranty on it.

tradosauru

The resale value of a mercedes is much lower than a Lexus.

Also some of the parts, like the water pump impeller, are plastic.