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VW brand experience - good or bad? - READ ONLY

842 messages,  Last post on Sep 15, 2011 at 8:02 PM

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What is this discussion about? Volkswagen

Messages Page 83 of 85

#813 of 842 Re: Despite their popularity among the young people.... [fintail] by bpeebles

Aug 11, 2008 (7:37 pm)

Replying to: fintail (Aug 11, 2008 7:11 pm)
If a few burned-out lightBulbs is considerd "unreliable" then your standards may be a little high.

#814 of 842 Re: Despite their popularity among the young people.... [bpeebles] by nippononly

Aug 11, 2008 (9:33 pm)

Replying to: bpeebles (Aug 11, 2008 7:37 pm)
Well the bulbs in the newer VWs do seem to burn out much too quickly (as do those in the newer Volvos), but that wasn't my friend's problem. She had problems with switches and wiring that caused lights not to work. If it had been just burned out bulbs, she would have fixed each one much more quickly!

#815 of 842 Re: Despite their popularity among the young people.... [bpeebles] by fintail

Aug 11, 2008 (9:40 pm)

Replying to: bpeebles (Aug 11, 2008 7:37 pm)
I never said unreliable...the car never stranded him. But he did have to make some unscheduled dealer visits and was driven crazy by the lights. I do recall the car had a seat track break and something went wrong with the steering column that put it in the shop for a week....and the VW service was everything one would expect, that being VW service is German revenge for WW2...
 
Funny thing is he had a Beetle turbo before the Jetta...it had headlights that failed all the time, and according to him they are a major PITA to replace. On that car the turbo died and it had alarm faults all the time...but he had to get another VW. His current car isn't a VW.

#816 of 842 Re: Despite their popularity among the young people.... [nippononly] by jeffyscott

Aug 12, 2008 (5:49 am)

Replying to: nippononly (Aug 11, 2008 6:06 pm)
I'm afraid I don't know what a transmission throttle body
 
Oops, meant "valve body" there. It was actually replaced at 10K mi. What we had noticed was the shifting was getting rough, especially 1-2. It seemed minor enough to us that we waited until it went in for an oil change for this. Despite all the horror stories about VW dealers, ours diagnosed this issue right away and did not want us to drive the car until the part came in. They even gave us a Mazda6 to drive, when I told the guy I thought we'd rather take our chances with the Jetta than have his Malibu (classic, I think) for the week. It is kind of funny that the biggest issue we have had was with the Japanese built Aisan transmission.
 
Yes, it is a 2005...or 2005.5, in 2005 they sold both the old and the new Jetta. The "new Jetta" came out in about March/April as a 2005, it was a very short run for that model year, by August they were selling 2006s, IIRC. My wife got hers right off the truck on about the last day of May 2005. So we kind of expected a few glitches...

#817 of 842 Re: Despite their popularity among the young people.... [fezo] by gagrice

Aug 15, 2008 (6:16 am)

Replying to: fezo (Aug 11, 2008 7:15 pm)
I'm one of those that bought a Volkswagen once and won't touch them anymore. It was all the way back in 1979 (an 80 Rabbit) but it was a nightmare of electrical glitches which seems to be a common theme in here.
 
You should be able to sympathize with me buying a POC 1978 Honda Accord. It was trouble from the minute I drove it out of the dealers lot. Funny thing is I wanted a VW Dasher diesel and the wait was at least a year. The Accord's were on the lot and ready to go. So I have had it in for Honda all these years, same as you and VW. I have owned a modern 05 VW Passat Wagon TDI that was a great little car the 13 months I owned it.

#818 of 842 VW bad choice? by BilKop

Dec 02, 2008 (9:35 am)

Hi all
I'm about to buy my first car, and based on user and Edmund's reviews, I had settled on a 2009 VW Jetta. After reading these posts, I'm not so sure... Everywhere else, people make it sound like it's the most fantastic thing ever, you get a ton of car for the money, it's super safe etc.
 
Before I settled on the Jetta (haven't bought it yet though), I was thinking about a new Honda Civic, but we already have one of those and there are many little things that annoy me about it - tiny trunk where absolutely nothing fits, uncomfortable and loud ride, and we have things breaking all the time. The last thing to go was the A/C, which we decided not to replace, because it's just too expensive.
 
Does anyone have any advice for me? Help!

#819 of 842 Re: VW bad choice? [BilKop] by steve_ HOST

Dec 02, 2008 (9:41 am)

Replying to: BilKop (Dec 02, 2008 9:35 am)
The dealer makes a lot of difference. My sister's old '00 New Beetle had a bunch of electrical issues and the dealer was awful. About 4 years in, VW must have hammered them and the service improved markedly (as did my sister's attitude towards her VW). She didn't buy another one though.
 
Ask around locally and check out the ratings sites like Dealer Ratings and Reviews.

#820 of 842 Re: VW bad choice? [steve_] by fezo

Dec 02, 2008 (12:43 pm)

Replying to: steve_ (Dec 02, 2008 9:41 am)
The dealer really does make all the difference. Jettas overall have an average reliability record.
 
The biggest problem with VWs is that if they do need repair they aren't cheap. My guess would be that you'd know what you got into by the time the warranty ran out and could decide accordingly. They do have nice resale value if you changed your mind.
 
VWs are wonderful little things to drive and have the best interiors for the money. There's no denying they are attractive.
 
gagrice and I had te same problems on opposite cars which I always find rather amusing.
 
I ahve a friend who had a flawless Windstar that was exactly the same vehicle that I had an awful experience with, so things do happen.

#821 of 842 Re: VW bad choice? [BilKop] by jeffyscott

Dec 03, 2008 (1:18 pm)

Replying to: BilKop (Dec 02, 2008 9:35 am)
I'm about to buy my first car, and based on user and Edmund's reviews...After reading these posts... Does anyone have any advice for me?
 
Yes, don't let either of those things influence your decision too much.
 
My wife bought this version of the Jetta in it's first (1/2) year, 1995. We have been happy with it. We do not drive a lot, so we have only about 28,000 miles on it.
 
It did have a number of, mostly minor issues, the first year...but that was kind of expected with it being a new model.

#822 of 842 Just be prepared..... by nvbanker

Dec 04, 2008 (9:46 am)

VWs are fun to drive, but they do need maintenance, and if the dealer is uncooperative, it's gonna be hell. There is considerable down time with a VW. You have to be ok with that.

Messages Page 83 of 85

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