I feel the pain. I'm in complete limbo with no solution in sight. I've been pounding the life out of my '11 vw sportwagen diesel. 6 speed manual. I love it. Nearly 170k miles on. Hauls most games I need to in the back and for bigger games,nib or multiple pin hauls it ties my trailer like a champ. Hauls my big husky and camping gear for us with tons of space.

VW lied and is now going to buy back by car in October. Giving me 15K for it. What to get now? I need a stick. Want a wagon not an SUV or these stupid crossover made up things. They all have less room inside compared to my wagon.

Love the tdi but bmw 3 series wagon is the only real option there. Already tried and will not fit a machine. Maybe an old balky with head off if you try real hard. Plus not a stick.

Almost nothing is available in a stick which is furiating. The new sportwagen you can get a 5 speed stick(not the 6 speed I have in my older wagen!) but only on the stripped down base model. So annoying. I've been a lifelong vw guy and drive all sorts of them but this is my everyday car for the family and they are disappointing me.

Hatch heights are shrinking as well. I'm exhausting a lot of options.

This weekend I'm going to check out the new designed Mini Cooper clubman. 4 door wagon. Comes in s model and JCW for a nice engine in the near future too. All models available in a stick as well. Rear door is actually the 2 door split design and not a top lift hatch. If this has enough inches in heigh in the rear entry it may be my only option. Priced a few 1000 more than the sportwagen with similar options. My tdi was chipped and a pretty fast machine especially for a diesel. This hopefully is comparable.

The next one I'm eyeing is the new Volvo v60 wagen. New design. Not sure on hatch heigh. Awd version comes with up to nearly 300 hp engine I believe. No stick though polestar version available as well for a straight up comfortable and safe racing machine!

Jeep renegades also come in stick. Are a bit shorter for easy loading and very boxey rear hatch that might be tall enough with decent mpg for the jeep family. Not really my cup of tea.

Courts have already approved this. It's just in public hearing now. They are suppose to start buying back cars October 1st. All of my info is in there ready to go with VW. I don't want consumer reports to drag this out for several more months so I can get a couple hundred dollars more. Car needs some major maitenance(Number 4 injector and wiring starting to be flakey. DPF needs replacing). Not dumping that money into the car so VW can crush it. Already spent a ton on timing belt job and a couple other issues just before the scandal. I invest in my cars to make sure they last. Was hoping to keep this for the long haul. Engine was just getting done being broken in!

A bunch but I just turned 33 so not the answer you were really expecting

Spent a day driving around dealers. Here is my disappointing conclusions for the day

Mini

Love the new mini clubman and the new interior. Top notch stuff. Any options you want all available with a manual transmision. Big downside is the rear door opening. 24" tall. Never getting a game in through that height. Roof climbs right after door opening and has plenty of height. Was really hoping the doors would be taller. The Mini Countryman has been discontinued and being brought back in the early spring. It's suppose to be taller(current one matches my vw sportwagen) and longer. Good chance this could fit one but not sure if I can wait that long on hopes. Possibly even the first diesel mini brings to the US.

Subaru.

No luck in the outback. Game fits through the hatch but then has a weird hump halfway in the stops the game. Boooo.

Forester a game will fit. Seats do not fold flat but have a little hard carpet flap that helps make the height jump. Middles seatbelt comes from the roof so is an annoyance when you are sliding the game in. Gets tangled in it when your pushing it in. Comes in a stick with every option possible EXCEPT navigation! Just the idea of them doing that pisses me off plus I wasn't a fan of its looks in general. Want something lower to the ground for our large husky who's now 9 to jump in and out of the backseat.

Double checked BMW 3 series wagen again. No stick and very tight game fit. Older games with head off probably. Wpc would be some work.

Volvo v70 wagon. Too short. 26" tops. Maybe an older game. Interior dash and controls are horrendous and confusing compared to other European manufacturers. Big price tag too. Expect to start around 40k and up. Tons of great safety features over the other companies. if you are big on those. Also all automatics.

Mercedes has a wagon but way over priced for the room and no stick.

After a day if bouncing around dealers I'm disappointed and feeling like there is no hope to get a good fun car that can fit a pin and come in a manual transmision and isn't a suv. I'm even slightly leaning towards a new GTI and throwing s trailer hitch on it. Stinks to always have to use a trailer. Nice if I'm doing single game transports I can just toss it in the back of the wagon with no hassle but giving up that stick is a hard on for me.

Did you use to have one Al? How did you like it? I'm loading games in and out of the sanctum all the time. Really want a fun car than I can haul games all the time. Curious about the new one too.

VW dealer is closed today but I want to check some gti dimensions. The hatch height I think is the same. Wondering if depth is there. Wagon is 12" longer in the boot. I usually have plenty of extra depth. Could be interesting.

Anyone else ever try it in a MK6 or MK7 golf/gti?

So width was an issue? Hatch height was just a tad shorter than my vw sportwagen. Much more sloping. I can almost squeeze a wpc game with head folded with no modifications(have to unbolt head and slide down) The X1 was even worse. How do you like the wagon. The interior seems a bit off to me. Not the usual German styling I'm use to.

I've eyed some antique hurses. Problem is I drive across the country and into Canada and back again camping out of my vehicle with my wife and our husky. I need something more reliable for everyday use right now. Convince of always being able to grab a pin in my daily is nice. Eventually I'll buy a cheap second vehicle to haul games but no space for a 3rd car.

That hatch looks like it starts curving way too soon. Might go in but you're not closing the hatch is my guess.

I can allow them to perform a "fix" that they have not even developed yet and take a 5000$ payout. Problem is my wagon has 170,000 miles and needs two things fixed. A new wiring harness around the injectors and a new DPF(diesel particulate filter on the exhaust). The DPF is a 2k job and most likely clogged due to the over polluting it does. Why take the 5k and dump it all back into a high mileage vehchile that will perform worse and get worse mpg after the fix. Yes I could have it tuned by revo possibly down the line in a year or two once the create one but then the car won't pass emissions in my state (CT)

Have a revo tune now. Car is a beast. Problem is how long before revo can make a new one and then I run into CT emissions problems. Revo might even stay away from this engine after all this mess. So few of them will be left out there why spend the effort making a new tune when they will have so few to sell to.

Also checked out the jeep renegade last night. Little too tall for me. Nice 6 speed manual transmision. Again can't be put on the navigation package. And that's the only way to get anything besides cloth seats. Cloth seats with my muddy husky after hiking does not clean easily. Plus his fur alone sticks in cloth seats so badly.

I've eyed the edge because of its boxy design. Assuming most any game will fit but the MPG on those things kills it for me. I do a ton of driving and would cost me a fortune.

Hence my dilemma. I have just that now and need to replace it!

Finally got sick of searching for the perfect vehicle since there isn't one. Stuck with my loyalty of VW as I love there cars. Wanted a stick. Wanted a car that has great performance and is fun to drive. Good MPG. Manual transmission and can haul a pin. I decided on this and it does all of these as best as one vehicle probably can. IMG_8644 (resized).JPGIMG_8646 (resized).JPG

VW GTi. Autobahn package with performance pack. Fast and fun. Handles corners amazingly. Gets me 38 MPG highway and believe it ornot, It fits a pinIMG_8696 (resized).JPGIMG_8700 (resized).JPGIMG_8698 (resized).JPG

Trailer hitch and roof cargo box coming this week along with a tune to make the car even more fun to drive.

Going with a JB1 piggyback tune until the factory warranty runs out. Unplug a few connectors and it can go in for warranty work with no red flags or signs of a tune. After the next 50k(take me about a year and a half max) I'll sell the jb1 and get my money back mostly and either do APR or Revo. I had revo on my tdi and was very impressed.

Glad to see your finally getting a pin hauler. Don't think you'll care too much but if someone likes cars/driving at all those CVT transmission are so crappy feeling.

I'm sure you'll have no problem fitting games in that.

GTi does it again. Didn't even have to take the head off or slide it down.

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Any system 11/dmd stuff would require head relocation. That's why I have the euro trailer hitch installed. Pulls my sides trailer no problem. Can get 2 modern dmds in the trailer and something like this in the hatch.

I had a tdi JsW just before that. Know all about that. Was such a great car. 185000 miles on at 2011. VW gave me 16k for it and it was in need of some big repairs. Crunched some numbers and knew the GTi could haul Games too and the tdi engine is no more here so I went back to speed over mpg. Not that the GTi is horrible on mpg but I had the tdi chipped and it was about 180hp and near 280 tq and got 45 mpg

Are you coming tomorrow with panthera?

That's what I thought! When you said you loaded up panthera last night it made me double guess.

That's good because we have no room at all right now!

I had an '11 TDi. Best vehicle I've ever had. Was a champ. So many miles and hauled a trailer great. No games with a head on unless you undid thenhead bolt and slid it forward and took top trim piece off hatch opening. Wanted a new model when I had to sell the diesel back to VW but hatch opening only got smaller. Heads will have to come off. Went GTi instead. More fun to drive than smaller gas engine wagon and fits the same games and rows just fine too.

-Jim

VW baffled me with a Japanese transmission in the atlas. Asked the dealer about it and he didn't believe me until he read the window sticker. First vw I've seen like that.

I just wish they would stop teasing 100 different bus concepts and just release one already. I know it's going to be my next vehicle. Or bring the transporter vans here at least. Caddy van would be a perfect long haul pin getter.