[Grand Touaring]

I'm in the market for a T3 or T4 TDI and one of the choices I have to make is between a lower mileage vehicle that is known to have been used for towing and a higher mileage vehicle that has not.

All other things being equal, should one discount the value of a vehicle that has been known to have towed a trailer cross-country (perhaps more than once)? Is the added stress on engine / transmission / suspension / body negligible, or large enough to have a material impact the value of the vehicle? There is no way to ascertain the driving patterns of the seller, but let's assume towing was within the prescribed load limits.

Vehicle A: 2014 R-Line
135,000km (85,000mi)
Service at prescribed intervals (15,000km)
Towing use

Vehicle B: 2015
165,000km (105,000mi)
Service at better than prescribed intervals (10,000km)
No towing use

 

[buckwheat]

Towing will be harder on the transmission; that said you don't see a lot of ZF transmission failures in general, so this may not be a big deal.

The biggest factor for me would be the oil change interval. I recently started sending my motor oil in for analysis and immediately moved from a 15,000km interval to a 10,000km interval; oil analysis is starting to look better but I can't say it's good.

Porsche calls for 5,000 mile intervals on the Cayenne, and I feel they made the correct call. The dynamic oil change interval for my F-150 diesel also ends up triggering around 5,000 miles. My personal opinion is that I'd put a lot more value on the car with the shorter oil change interval.

 

[TommiT]

It's an Aisin box, not ZF. But failures are rare.

 

[chewblekka]

Also there are no T4s in North America, T1,2,3 only.
I wouldn’t hesitate at all.

 

[buckwheat]

It's an Aisin box, not ZF. But failures are rare.

Thanks for the correction.

 

[Grand Touaring]

I wouldn’t hesitate at all.

Thank you.

Also there are no T4s in North America, T1,2,3 only.

I was going by this convention from myTreg.com

Original Touareg (T1) 7L (2002 -2007)
Facelift model 7L (T2) (2007-2010)
Second generation model 7P (T3) (2010-2015)
Facelift model 7P (T4) (2015-2017)
Third Generation (T5) (2018 - present)

which I though was also used here, but perhaps is not?

 

[TommiT]

Yes it is, but along came Dieselgate, stop sale and the Atlas in North America.

 

[volkswagens-for-life]

Wouldn't be a factor for me. Review the overall health and condition of the vehicle. Check dealer records. Get a feeling for the original owners overall knowledge of vehicle maintenance. See if it was dealer maintained or by some 3rd party.