DEAR CAR TALK: I'm taking advantage of the VW buyback, selling my diesel car back to VW. If I decide to give VW the benefit of my loyalty and stay with its product, it has two cars on the lot I am considering. One is a brand-new, 2017 fully loaded Passat for around $26,000. The other is a 2012 certified used Touareg with 52,000 miles -- also fully loaded, for the same price. Which do you think is the better choice?
-- Stefan
DEAR STEFAN: The Passat. It's brand new. It comes with a warranty. And you can get the Passat with at least some of the modern safety features that we strongly recommend to all of our readers.
You should be able to get a "loaded" Passat with blind-spot monitoring and at least low-speed automatic emergency braking. Those features save both lives and sheet metal. We also strongly recommend high-speed automatic emergency braking to anyone buying a new car, but unfortunately that's not available on the Passat yet.
The Touareg, on the other hand, will have none of that stuff. Plus, the Touareg has had very questionable reliability over the years, with lots of complaints about its electronics. In fact, our very first introduction to the Touareg, years ago, started ignominiously: The manufacturer left a test version in our driveway, and when we went out to start it, it wouldn't start. We figured the battery had died, so we got out the jumper cables and popped the hood -- no battery.
Turns out the battery is in the back, in the cargo area. So we went to open the rear hatch to jump the battery, and the lift gate wouldn't open because -- the battery was dead. So VW had to come and drag it on four locked tires out of the driveway, and flatbed it back to the dealership for repair.
And even now, when a Touareg comes into the shop, all my guys run and lock themselves in our one-stall men's room, hoping someone else gets that repair ticket.
We're not against good used cars, Stefan. But I'm not sure a 5-year-old Touareg is a hobby you really want to commit to.
The Passat, on the other hand, is brand new and comes with a 36,000-mile warranty on everything, and 60,000 on the drivetrain. Plus it's a nice car to drive, and you can enjoy it until the warranty runs out, and then hope for another buyback.
DEAR CAR TALK: I have a 2006 Pontiac G6. I have had a continual problem with the computer telling me to check my gas cap. After that message comes up, it will then display the motor symbol. It continues to run fine afterward, but it will not pass inspection. I've replaced the gas cap; I've had it in the shop, too. But so far this problem continues to plague the car. Please help!
-- Bill
DEAR BILL: What it's telling you is that the fuel tank is not able to hold pressure. The fuel tank is supposed to be pressurized so that gasoline vapors can be controlled and captured, rather than released into the atmosphere.
If you're not convinced that we need to control fuel vapors and smog, Bill, take your next vacation in Beijing.
Fortunately for us, since the 1970s, all gasoline cars have come with something called an "evaporative emissions system." That system allows gasoline vapors that develop in the fuel tank to be stored in a charcoal canister, until they can be combusted next time you start the engine.
So my guess is that you have a leak somewhere in your evaporative emissions system, and that's why the tank is not holding pressure.
The gas cap is a common source of a pressure leak. As you can imagine, sometimes people forget to put the cap back on. Or they don't tighten it enough, or they screw it on incorrectly. But if you've tried a new factory gas cap and still get that message, I think it's fair to say that the gas cap itself is not the problem; the pressure is escaping from somewhere else.
So you need to take the car somewhere where a good mechanic can put the scan tool on it and figure out where the pressure leak is. It could be a solenoid that's malfunctioning. It could be the charcoal canister. It could be a rust-perforated filler neck. Or it could be something as simple as a hose that's old and cracked.
But something is keeping your gas tank from holding pressure. That's what's turning on your Check Engine light (the motor symbol on your dashboard) and preventing you from passing inspection, despite the $50 you keep trying to slip the inspector, Bill.
Ray Magliozzi dispenses advice about cars in Car Talk every Saturday. Email him by visiting
cartalk.com
HomeStyle on 11/25/2017