So in 2012 I did something very antimustachian and bought a new car. It was a 2013 VW GTI and I own it outright. To make a really long story short about why, it does everything I want and I bought it hoping it would be pretty reliable (problem is I should have trusted reliability statistics, but instead decided to gamble). So far it has already needed a new water pump (fixed under warranty) and from reading around it will probably continue to need expensive repairs through it's life. I would really hate to see it go, but at the same time, I understand dumping a bunch of money into keeping it would be an emotional decision rather than a smart decision. It has a about a year/10,000 miles left on it's basic warranty and 3 years/35,000 miles left on the powertrain warranty. So with all that said I'm considering a few options.
1. Buy an extended warranty for the car since I do really like it, keep it through the length of the extended warranty. Alternatively I can keep it for an extended period of time an hope any out of warranty repairs add up to be less than the cost of an extended warranty. I already feel like I spent way too much money on this car and although I really like it, I think financially keeping it would be a bad idea (although is somebody can correct me on this I'd be happy to hear it).
2. Sell/trade it to get something more reliable. I do a lot of long distance driving (my family lives over 250 miles away and I see them somewhat frequently, driving is the most economical/practical way to get there), I also tend to drive for business since I'm reimbursed for mileage and lodging, so I do need something that won't kill my back. These are the cars I'm considering:
a) Honda Fit M/T: I think this car would be good for anything I do short of long trips, I could probably walk away with an extra $5,000 from selling my VW. Unfortunately, most of my miles are long trips since I walk places whenever possible, I have a suspicion that I'd probably land up spending money trying to make this car something it's not. Another downside is this would cost an additional $100/year to insure over my VW.
b) Honda Civic M/T: I think this is a better choice than the Fit due to the type of driving I do. I'd lose some utility and it only gets comparable fuel economy to my VW. I'd probably break even, except that like the Honda Fit it costs an extra $100/year to insure.
c) VW Golf 2.5 M/T: I didn't see this car on the list of cars for smart people. It rates very well in consumer reports for reliability and has a very good reliability rate on truedelta.com. They are priced comparably to the Honda Fit, and are about as efficient as my current car. It would cost me $30/year less to insure than my current car and I think it would fit all of my needs fairly well. The biggest downsides I can see to this car is that it takes 6 liters of synthetic oil for an oil change and it's a little more difficult to do than an oil change in other cars. It gives the versatility of a hatchback, but unfortunately can only be had as a 2-door with the M/T. Like with the Fit, I could come out of the transaction with an extra ~$5,000. Given that it rates well for reliability
So it seems to me my best option is probably to get the Golf 2.5 before my basic warranty is up. I think if I wait for the powertrain warranty to expire I'll be out a lot more money. Does anybody have any advice on what I should do? Are there options I'm missing?