Just bought a 2014 Jetta - Anything I should get checked out?

Hey all,
My 06 Subaru Forester went to its final resting place last week, so I had to buy a car in a pinch (not the best way to car shop, I know). I ended up getting this 2014 Jetta Premium Sedan 6-speed. It only had 21k miles on it, and came from Maryland. The Carfax checks out, and it's been passed through dealerships for over a year. It used to be a certified pre-owned, but when i got ahold of it, it was at a Chevy dealership.
Overall, it's a fun car to drive, and it looks brand new. I looked underneath and saw rust on some bolts (thanks, Maryland), so I'll get that checked out. Since it's been sitting for some time, is there anything I should get checked on it besides a new car inspection? I bought a 3-year warranty so most everything should be covered. I want this car to last!

Anyone have recommendations for checking anything beyond a comprehensive vehicle inspection, especially because the car sat on the lot for so long? Any advice is greatly appreciate since I am a first-time VW owner.

Fuel filter interval is 20k miles so if you can't find documentation of it being changed that might be something to look into. I made a DIY tutorial if you're interested in doing it yourself, but if not it wouldn't be that expensive at the dealer. I think the cabin filter is also due at 20k iirc.

Also if the oil hasn't been changed recently that would be a quick and easy peace of mind thing to do. Make sure to buy a VW 507 spec oil though. The fact that it was at a chevy dealership would make me a little suspicious that if they did change the oil that they probably didn't use the correct oil. Possibly.

Low miles and ~five year old tires moves my needle a little bit. A quick check for any dry rot cracks would be a good idea too. My dad recently bought a 2014 Z4 with the original runflats. He was telling me about a weird vibration at low speed and when I checked his tires I found at least one bulge in the sidewall...those tires are getting replaced immediately for sure.

Other than that most of the rest of the scheduled maintenance is yet to come with only 21k miles. I did my air filter at 60k like the manual said and it was really filthy so I will be doing 40k intervals now.

Drive it and have fun!

Thanks so much for your advice. I took it to a tire shop and they're in pretty decent shape, but will need to be replaced later this year. The tires were replaced by the original owner early on. I will definitely get the oil done pronto! Also, I'll check to see if the oil filter has been done, but I don't think so. I'll just do it myself.
The only odd thing I've noticed is that the seatbelt warning went off for about a minute while I was driving yesterday. I'll get that checked out when I take it in for the comprehensive inspection.
Thanks again! This is a great little car.

Was your phone on the seat? It causes interference with the seatbelt warning light.

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It probably was. I usually keep it on my lap when I drive. Never heard of that, but I guess it's pretty common now that I read about it more. Thanks for the info!

Congrats on finding a 6MT TDI. Most of the "fixed" cars from VW dealers got a new battery, tires, coolant flush, brake fluid flush, oil change, filters and some other miscellaneous items.

Thanks for all your advice! I brought the car in a couple weeks ago to get a bumper-to-bumper check. They said some codes showed up, but the technicians weren't sure what they meant.
About a week after I got it checked out, the car displayed the "check keyless" message. The lock/unlock and ignition worked fine, but the lock/unlock feature when I'm in close proximity to the car stopped working. I changed the battery and reset the fob, but nothing changed. Is that maybe one of the codes that came up during the vehicle inspection? I'm taking it to VW tomorrow to get it diagnosed while I have a warranty.
It's not nearly the worst thing that could go wrong, but something I thought I'd mention. I couldn't find a forum that talked about this issue without the whole key fob being out of commission. Also, sorry the image is huge.

I'm betting some of those faults are the result of the battery going dead at some point. I'd have them reset and see if any come back.

I assume this car had the emissions fix done. There will be a sticker on the core support (top of the radiator) indicating the fix and date. You have a warranty to 11 years/162K miles from the car's original in-service date for all emissions hardware, including the turbo, injectors, high pressure fuel pump, catalytic converter, DPF, and a bunch of other stuff. You may want to see about getting the extended warranty refunded, as it duplicates a lot (but not all) of the coverage a fixed car already has.

Change all the filters, oil, flush the brake fluid, make sure brakes aren't dragging...that's probably about it. I'd also replace wiper blades. Your battery may not last long, so keep an eye on that. Otherwise, good find. Enjoy!

w123houston said:

Congrats on finding a 6MT TDI. Most of the "fixed" cars from VW dealers got a new battery, tires, coolant flush, brake fluid flush, oil change, filters and some other miscellaneous items.

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That sure would be nice. For mine they just told me they did all of those things without actually doing them. I think most of the things on that list definitely should be done by the dealer when the car likely sat for a while. Some dealers just do not care about anything but the sale. Dealers like Findlay North VW in Las Vegas, that's the one that promised a lot of that to me but did none of it.

My car had an almost totally black cabin filter(it was not the carbon one) and engine filter and dry rotted tires. I only found out they were bad tires after driving away because a few weeks of driving on them and they cracked all over really bad. It was also just a hair under 20k miles and they told me to just bring it back in at 20k for an oil change and gave me a price lol. I've heard great stories about some VW dealers but as of yet I've never been to a good one I guess. After spending about 18k on a car that was supposed to be "certified pre-owned" I kind of expected them to at least inspect the car for any issues, but nope.

I contacted corporate about the tires and was told that since VW does not manufacture tires they are unable to say if tires are in a safe condition or not. Basically just blew me off. Doesn't leave a great taste in your mouth when you just spent so much on a certified car that still needs repair.

I’ve had horrible VW dealer experiences as a whole. Last purchased from them was a 13’ Tiguan CPO. Carpets were SPRAYPAINTED to appear cleaner. Once home and scanned the 4motion was not functioning(no light), they replaced the control module under warranty, but no way did they not notice beforehand, “100 point inspection”. Several other issues.

Went to buy a CPO 14’ TDI last week and the car was already sold, no interest in discussing anything else with me from sales. Ended up finding a 19k mile SEL 15’ at a private dealer, was treated great.