That’s the best diesel VW made ALH
Any cars you regret buying? - My '14 CR-V experience
- Thread starter dgunay
- Start date
ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2023
I'm glad you think so. It was by far the worst car I have ever owned. Injectors, glow plugs, glow plug harness, injector harness, carbon build up, 4 neutral park safety switches, one auto transmission, 2 sets of front wheel bearings, various other oddities such as the parking lights coming on in the rain with the switch off. That was all in the first 89,000 miles. We bought that car new. My wife drove it, never abused, properly maintained. Thank goodness for the warranty on that car. One of the few cars I have owned where I had to use the factory warranty. I had late 80's turbo Dodges that gave me less problems. Those problems were just not my car. I remember discussing it at TDI club and lots of people there had similar issues. They still loved the car. We did not love it enough to deal with it. Hate would be a better description. Someone else in this exact thread mentioned the same car.
ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2023
We had the exact same car, my experience is just like yours. We unloaded it at 89,000 miles. See the post above.
Transmission was the last straw, had it fixed, sold it.
Chevy should just bail on cars all together. Trucks and SUVs are all the do well.
My Northstar burned so much oil it was shocking. No amount of hard driving or piston soak would fix it longer than a few weeks. It did run pretty well and only had minor issues until the torque converter started going out at around 175k. Sold it for $1200. Sad, it was still super clean and good looking. The oil burning caused an auto smog fail due to the smoke.
My dad has an 03 Jetta TDI 5 speed 523,000 miles. Only wrench car has had on it was to do timing belt jobs at 100,000 miles, 1 set of shocks. Still has original clutch and dual mass flywheel. None of the electronics have been replaced door actuators etc. all with does roll down, sunroof still works. Still has all original injectors, HPFP, glow plugs. I know of several owners with more mileage than that and right around 500,000 miles. Even the reflex silver metallic paint is still solid and has no oxidation and not missing any clear the car is not washed but maybe once a month. Every VW mechanic you talk to says the ALH is the best. So ya I think you just are doing something wrong.
ls1mike
$50 Site Donor 2023
Another guy on here with the same exact problems and they were horrible. I didn't have it long enough "to do anything wrong" That is a stupid thing to say. It was all done under warranty. How do I ruin 4 neutral park safety switches, cause a short that makes the parking lights come on in the rain. How do I possibly ruin a set of injectors, Glow Plugs and their harness in the first 50,000 miles. Wheel bearings too! The Carbon build up was very common in those years. It clogged the EGR cooler, which in turned chocked down the intake until mpg was down in the low 30s' Your dad got lucky if he has not had to do that maintenance.
Get out of here with I am doing something wrong. You know nothing about me. That is the stupidest thing I have heard on this board.
I just call it like I see it. The carbon in the EGR valve, and the intake plenum being completely plugged with soot and ash is normal. Matter of fact I need to do that to his. It is plugged and he still gets 55 MPG. The oil is changed every 10,000 miles with castrol edge 5w40 since new, fuel filters are replaced every 20,000 miles along with air filter. Technicians see these cars all the time with this mileage. Also research in that era shows that VW first DSG in that time was a compete piece of garbage, and was said by consumer reports to stay away, as well as technicians. From I think 2008 up the DSG is flawless.
Every one that ever had a payment attached to it 
I had a 03 civic ex that burned 1 quart every 600 Miles luckily I got the car for a few hundred dollars I couldn't really complain because other than that everything worked in it than I got a 01 Corolla S 5 speed with 240k for free I put over 10k on it and surprisingly it didn't burn any oil and everything worked in it including the AC. It was going to eventually need the brake lines replaced as there were rusted . My mom's friend had a 2010 Ford fusion that she didn't drive anymore since she bought a Tesla. I ended up buying the fusion for $1400 . It needed a few things like valve cover gasket and tires she had the full maintenance history on it ( she bought it new). I had it for almost 2 year's and it's been good. I sold the civic to a Co worker who totalled his 03 civic with 60k on it and he swapped the engine and trans from his to my old one since the body on mine was dent and rust free other than clear coat peeling. I gave the Corolla to a friend that fell on hard times and he's still driving it only thing he did was fix the brake and fuel lines. He loves that car.
Wife's 2016 Town and Country. All under 105k miles: rides like a tank, noisy, trans ate itself, sliding door is tore up, seats are cracking, gets 16 mpg city and has a mystery stumble at idle. And this is the year they were supposed to have fixed all sorts of stuff. But hey, they'll do burnouts with the Pentastar so nothing else really matters in this MINIVAN KID HAULER does it?
Priorities - not something Chrysler is aware of.
I hope I can talk my wife into driving something 2005 or older next time for the sake of reliability and quality!
But hey, they'll do burnouts with the Pentastar so nothing else really matters in this MINIVAN KID HAULER does it? Priorities - not something Chrysler is aware of.
I hope I can talk my wife into driving something 2005 or older next time for the sake of reliability and quality!
get a toyota
i regret getting a 2011 chevy cruze. the **** thing broke down shortly after we drove it off the lot. had 28 miles on it. the dealership let is exchange the car for another just like it only this one had fog lights. it was also plagued with issues during the few years we had it. transmission problems were regular. in 2015 we finally traded it for a 2016 hyundai elantra and never looked back. we recently traded that elantra for a 2020 model. nothing wrong wtih the 2016, she just wanted the new one.
CleanSump
Site Donor 2022
1999 Mercury Cougar. Diff was clunky, burned oil from day one. Always something. Traded for a used Blazer after 6 months.
Traded my 2008 CR-V for a 2010 Traverse. Went from my most reliable car to the least reliable. That Traverse had so many electrical problems in 4 years that my MG seemed downright reliable. Door speakers failed, window switches failed, power mirror switch failed, odometer display failed so it could only be read at night (turns out I was not alone on that one), random messages about "Service Stabilitrak", wiring harnesses failed, the evap purge solenoid failed, and finally the dreaded CEL for "cam position error" started showing up, telling me the cursed 3.6 timing chains were worn out. Cleared the CEL and it stayed off long enough to trade it in.
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Unfortunately that's not really true. In 1995 the VII's in the oil were prone to hardening in the ring pack. A similar issue exists today, but to a lesser degree.
What’s not really true? OK…then why didn’t my 1995 Nissan hardbody 2.4 bought new, never burn any oil in 19 years of ownership and 200,000 miles using the same Mobil1 5w30? I never had to top off the Nissan between OCI’s. The Northstar engines were well known to have oil consumption problems among many other problems! Cadillac at the time said it was normal. The Oldsmobile Aurora with the Northstar had the same issues. Edit: Take notice of the post just above yours….no text, just a pic of a 1998 Olds Aurora.
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Because, at the time, the Northstar was a very advanced design engine. It was one of the first to use low tension piston rings, and also the first to move the top ring much higher up the piston skirt. There were other things as well, such as swirl combustion to to piston crown design. Unfortunately for GM, lubricants were not up to the task, so yeah, that consumption turned out to be "normal" in one sense of the word.What’s not really true? OK…then why didn’t my 1995 Nissan hardbody 2.4 bought new, never burn any oil in 19 years of ownership and 200,000 miles using the same Mobil1 5w30? I never had to top off the Nissan between OCI’s. The Northstar engines were well known to have oil consumption problems among many other problems! Cadillac at the time said it was normal. The Oldsmobile Aurora with the Northstar had the same issues. Edit: Take notice of the post just above yours….no text, just a pic of a 1998 Olds Aurora.
People also had a bad habit of overfilling the engine with oil. It was one of the first to use 7.5 quart cap. sump, not common then. Even the techs would just put 8 quarts in it, COLD (it was supposed to be checked hot). Anyway, this just added to the consumption issue.
A few small changes to the engine by 1999, the use of Mobil1 Oil, Not overfilling the engine, and the WOT procedure fixed my 1999 STS. It used no oil between changes.
That Northstar, in 1995 was making over 1 hp per cu.in. and didn't use an EGR, yet due to the design, it was classified as a ULEV, (ultra low emission vehicle).
OMG, I wasnt going to post in here then saw this.
Between a Subaru I had MANY years ago that turned into a major disappointment to a 2002 Nissan Altima.
The Suburu was a Lemon, noisy, even the exhaust pipe started corroding. The Altima was a disaster. Head Gasket blew but took a few trips for the dealer to figure that out after repairing the wrong things AND entire rear suspension system had to be replaced due to corrosion. When I say replaced, I mean replaced!!! Like cut off and new one welded on!
