Yes, it's really not that big a deal. Go to your dealer once every X months when it's convenient for you, get a case of bottles, and fill it up at your convenience in your own garage. Problem solved.
If your trunk is perpetually full of stuff, it sounds like it will never be convenient, so perhaps the Touareg TDI isn't for you.
If the cost vs. a free service is a concern, perhaps a $50k+ diesel SUV isn't for you.
The cost
isn't the problem, it's the inconvenience of going to the dealership. I thought I made that clear. So in my particular case, the free AdBlue doesn't mean ****. I need to reload/repack my gear in my garage from time to time, and that's when I service it myself. I can do it in ten minutes. Why would I waste a couple hours going to the dealership to save a few bucks? And no, I don't believe for one minute VW will give me an unlimited supply to add at my convenience.
In many ways, the Touareg was the perfect vehicle for me. I'm a road warrior, so the range and long service intervals were key benefits, and the torque handled the weight of my gear as if it wasn't even there. The size is ideal, and I get a luxury level ride without the pretentious badge, which is a disadvantage for me. I don't want a luxury badge -- not because I can't afford it, but because it sends the wrong message to my clients. Otherwise, I'd already have a Range Rover Sport Td6. And not that it's any of your business, but yes ... I can afford a Range Rover.
I'll say it one more time as clear as I can ... I am NOT upset about the dollar amount of the settlement. I'm not even terribly upset about the DEF fluid. That's a relatively minor inconvenience. I'm angry, actually bitter is a better word, because Gen 2 owners got a bad deal all around. We continue to be held hostage to our vehicles. We can't sell or trade until the repair is made. (Well, technically we can, but not without walking away from half the settlement, and not without taking a bath on price.) We still don't know when the repair will be available. And by the time we can finally sell or trade, we'll be competing against VAG dealers looking to unload their unsold inventory, plus the other speculators who have been hoarding TDI's in hopes of a buy-back. And of course we don't know exactly how performance will be impacted, although we absolutely do know with 100% certainty that it won't improve.
We should have been offered a buyback. If the court didn't mandate it, VW should have stepped up and offered it voluntarily. If VW had offered to buy my car, I would almost certainly have remained in the VAG family. I am a very principled person myself, so doing the right thing goes a long way with me.
If you drive 10k miles a year, I can understand why you might not care. You have options. You can ride it out, see how things go, maybe drive your car for another 3, 5 or even 10 years. By the time you sell, demand could seriously outstrip supply. In the meantime, you get a nice fat cash windfall and an extended warranty. I'm at 80k piling on miles at a rate of 25k a year. We all know the Touareg is not a vehicle you want to be selling with high miles. I had hoped to get another Touareg TDI, or something else in the VAG family. But I'll drive a Yugo before I'll buy another VAG brand vehicle. If I knew then what I know now, I would have sold my car immediately following the announcement.
