Well.... lets see.
First and foremost, appreciate your presence and posting here, hydrogen.
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AMERICA 123 has been spending a fair amount of his very limited driving time behind the wheel of one of those affected.
Bailed out one of the younger ones that was having a less than stellar experience with one.......... he helped her find - and 'own'..... in a practical sense.
( Replaced by a newer
same same just in front of the initial announcement / stop sale. )
So..... effectively I got to over pay in more than one way.... and sigh..... more than one time..... for this 'privilege'.
And..... I got to sort the car out.
And it is costing me some of what little stick time I still can have.
However....
Even ignoring some other highly relevant 3.0 / 2.0 TDI 'aspects' with all this, and focusing exclusively on this one formerly problematic step child of a sort..... AMERICA 123 is nothing but sad about how the whole thing came about and also separately, how it has been handled.
Furthermore, as always, but now more than ever.... all Diesel Product from whoever is
always of some kind of interest..... one way .... or several other.
When .... consideration for the new Cruze Diesel
s ( especially the MT ) comes to mind..... it will not be to replace this particular Passat .... hopefully.
Well actually almost for sure.... because one way or another it appears likely this one is going to find a way to
keep on keepin' on 'til at least
whenever if not for as long as desired.
And that is a good thing .... for the Cruze.
Because in all fairness to both products.... no way do they line up - which is not a knock on either one.
None of that, any of that, has anything to do with some kind of smugness about superior German Engineering and Quality.
Furthermore, in becoming re acquainted with anything and everything 'VW', have not run into what you describe.
Very realistic, very normal, very typical from Dealer Principles on down to Porters etc and then the same with Owners and Lessors etc.
I suppose the closest is that when it comes up, they are liked and appreciated because they are likeable and appreciable....... in their own unique way and they float somebody's boat because of that.
The main abnormality I suppose that has been noticed, is an unusually strong, and often very attractive female presence of all ages.
Which also seems to proportionally be a little bit skewed to the Gassers.
Not a bad thing at all, but then again, not the topic at hand ..... directly.
This is often in spite of something small to large and even perhaps somewhat chronic in nature that cannot be considered a positive.
This is not generically any different than what I have over the Years, run into with everything else.
Or at least past some point in time, now long ago.
Before everything became some half assed variation of everything else...... or
Fifty Shades of whatever without all the fun.....
Most do not fit the stereotypes so many trade on here @ GMI.
Even in the more 'Enthusiastic' groups.
To be sure though, you are touching on something else that is very real and yet .... just is.
VW offered for quite awhile exclusively, and still does by mass alone, almost all the least expensive gateways into full blown ( such as it is these days ) New German /
European Vehicle operation......If one wants to get pissy about all that, then whose fault is it that this is so ?
Ford could have done a lot more with Ford Of Europe over here. GM could have done more with Opel Vauxhall the same way.
They, and literally all others chose not to...... often for sound financial reasons - is that VW's fault ?
Is that on the the VW Customer Base ?
Furthermore, this completely side steps what all could have done even as just a specialized Trimline with US Production.
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VW, thru thick and thin and going ages back, has been the only affordable / small Diesel Purveyor in this market.
So yeah, they have a well earned following of a special sort.
A Core Group.
Again, who let that happen...... even laughed about it quietly - virtually unchallenged ?
How big is it really, and in comparison to the VW owner base @ large ?
Some of this comes across hydrogen, almost as if the end users are wrong to want something different that what the US Brands have been..... and are now...... willing to provide.
Well, to each his or her own.
Seems this reminds one that each of our Sovereign Citizens ultimate Loyalty, Duty and Love if chosen to give...... is for our Country, and its Constitution, and not for a particular President, Federal Government, or a particular Policy including one dealing with Overseas.
Now lets get a little more specific.
The new Cruze Diesel appears to wear a super set of Hi Fuel Economy Rim Protectors for Tires.
That means some trade offs away from what is typically appreciated by a VW owner, but it also can be corrected.
Does GM offer that option ?
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Cruze Diesel also offers that MT.... which is a far rarer bird than most realize.
By default, even for non 4 Cylinder Product.
Or RWD / AWD ( Diesel + MT )
All the last available Diesel plus MT including going way, way back before many were born on this Forum, was via VW, and the last of those was MYR 2015.
The market is completely flummoxed as to what a decent one of those is worth currently, because of the remaining uncertainty and some other related.
There is a certain amount of mothballed 2015 MYR Product that will eventually be released once fixed, or fixed enough pending other.
( And a real interesting set of questions concerning some 2016s that nobody wants to ah, 'talk about' .... but I digress. )
So GM / Chevrolet have a real and yes, actually far, far better opportunity because of all this.
But that's not the only thing Cruze Diesel is launching into, is it.
In fact, if you want to attempt to add up the Headwinds besides the Tailwinds Cruze Diesel is gonna' deal with.....
possible,
extra stiff, VW Diesel owner resistance of the type you describe ..... is not likely to even make the top Five.
Remember also ... if you wish to treat the VW Diesel Owners as some sort of
Borg Hive..... not only is the Passat a serious type of mismatch for Cruze, Cruze also does not offer anything close to the Jetta / later Golf 'Sport / Station Wagons' which is where often,
the strongest of the strong were located - along with Passat.
No match for a Beetle / Beetle Convertible either so realistically, against Golf (4dr /2dr HB ) and Jetta 4dr Sedan is where the best comparisons..... and opportunities lie.