pjbfish said:
Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but my New Beetle was washed anytime I brought it in for service too.
Nah, you're not bursting anyone's bubble. It's all dependent on your dealership, regardless of brand. However, I'd bet that the percentage of VW dealers offering free washes and, more critically, readily-available free loaners is probably lower than Acura and certainly Lexus. But that's not to say that, for example, your local Ford dealership might not offer easy loaners as well.
It's a nice, warm, fuzzy touch (leaking mirrors aside), to at least offer it.
A bit off-topic, but I had a nice experience when we were contemplating a VW Passat 4Motion station wagon. The salesperson was very low pressure, and he let us take the vehicle, and if had wanted to, we could have had it for a day, returning it the next day. Granted that MDX's are in too short a supply for that kind of treatment, but my local Acura dealership didn't let you do that with their readily-available Integras and CL's, and the 4Motion wagon is a $30k+ vehicle. (I guess some would frown at getting a new car with some miles on it, so there's a flip side to this too. Though they could always let you do the "extended test drive" with a loaner.)
Then again, with an 8-cylinder Passat expected to be luxuriously equipped and selling for well into the 30's, and a VW SUV around the corner that'll probably option out to $40k at the high end, it's not like VW is a low-end brand anymore! They're now trying to be "an affordable" German alternative to BMW and MB.