---
title: "What Car Would You Buy With Your Dieselgate Cash?"
description: "Bad news: You had to give up your five-year-old TDI Volkswagen; Good news: VW is giving you a check for $15,000."
date: "2017-04-07"
modified: "2021-09-13"
authors:
  - name: "Mike Spinelli"
    job_title: "VP of Content"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/mike-spinelli"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/video/9087/what-car-would-you-buy-with-your-dieselgate-cash"
categories:
  - "News"
tags:
  - "dieselgate"
  - "TDI"
---

# What Car Would You Buy With Your Dieselgate Cash?

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2017/04/dieselgate_golf.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

It's true that Volkswagen is on the hook for buying back billions of dollars of emissions-noncompliant diesel cars. That means, TDI owners are getting checks, [some for more than 150 percent](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/5753/who-wins-volkswagens-great-dieselgate-sweepstakes-the-owners>) of their cars' pre-scandal bluebook value.

That sounds like a sweet deal. But what if, like many VW TDI owners, you really like your car? What do you do now? Do you put the money down on a new car -- and what kind? Or do you buy something older and pay it off in full? Do you get something with diesel-level mileage? Or do you say screw it and buy a burnout machine? We covered [this question on the site](<https://www.thedrive.com/article/7274/if-you-had-dieselgate-buy-back-money-to-spend-what-car-would-you-get>) recently. Now we address it on AFTER/DRIVE.

This week, the guys from [Classic Car Club Manhattan](<https://www.classiccarclubmanhattan.com>) and I talk through some of the options a dieselgate-cash buyer might have when looking for a TDI replacement. It's a Zac show, so you know the nerd factor is turned up to 11.

## Author
A sucker for Ford-era Jaguar XJs and glitchy, early-90s BMW V12s, Mike was the founding editor of car culture site Jalopnik, and a former editor-in-chief of 0-60. He's also a co-host of the TV show /DRIVE on NBC Sports, which can be seen from time to time on NBCSN, usually after midnight.

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/mikespinelli>)  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/mikespin>)