Are VW's that bad!?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Originally Posted By: PulMax
Originally Posted By: Chris Meutsch
I've said it before and I'll say it again:
If you could take the soul


I've got a Volvo 240 and a BMW 535is...I've yet to figure out this 'soul' thing that other Eurocar owners constantly squawk about.

As far as I can tell, 'soul' translates to 'fluids leaking on the driveway' and 'a whole mess of broken Bosch parts'.


"soul" is what people say a car has when it is very unreliable, and they can't think of anything good to say about it. Same for Italian motorcycles too. Funny because these same types say highly reliable cars are boring...I guess spending one's time under the hood often is thought to be "exciting".

"Soul" is dillusion, and all in one's head. It is one's way of idealizing, romantizing, and applying highly subjective thinking and wishful thinking to a car or bike that otherwise has little or no redeeming qualities...and besides, when one suggests that their car or bike has "soul", it's just a mind trick way for one to feel better about being foolish enough to buy a piece of junk, regardless of what ConsumerReports, Edmunds, and thousands of actual owners say...and besides, it's a "conspiracy", right?!? lol
 
Originally Posted By: ARB1977
Originally Posted By: ShiningArcanine
Originally Posted By: ARB1977
My wifes 97 Jetta 2.0L even with the low miles it has been awesome. Had the coolant flange changed other than that its been great. I had the tranny fluid and filter changed for the first time in 10 years with no problems.

I would rather own and 09 TDI than a 09 Honda diesel only because VW's TDI have been around in the US forever.


If I was buying a new car and I had to choose between the 2009 Volkswagen Jetta TDI and the 2009 Honda Accord diesel, I would choose a 2009 Honda Accord diesel. Honda has a much more consistent history of making reliable cars than Volkswagen has had over the past thirty years.

Maybe true but VW has far more experience with their diesels than honda does in the US.


That's irrational thinking because VW has FAR more experience with gasoline engines then diesel, yet it cannot make a very dependable gasoline car. So if they can't do gasoline right, how does one expect it to do better with diesel?

Also, just because the Japanese have far less experience making cars then VW does not mean the Japanese cars are inferior, and you want proof?

VW has been making cars longer then Honda, YET Honda makes MUCH better cars then VW.

To use the number of years experience in the business as a conclusive metric is foolish ;-) There are other better metrics like ConsumerReports, JDPower's, Edmunds and the milllions of actual owners that post their experiences on the net and all this combined cannot be ignored by a reasonable person.
 
Originally Posted By: lovcom
"soul" is what people say a car has when it is very unreliable,

"Soul" is dillusion, and all in one's head.

I thought my old A4 had a soul. There was just something about it that made me want to get into it every morning and not want to get out. Yet, it was very reliable. In fact, I had less problems with it than with my previous car - an Accord. So there... that's my "dillusion".
21.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: lovcom
"soul" is what people say a car has when it is very unreliable,

"Soul" is dillusion, and all in one's head.

I thought my old A4 had a soul. There was just something about it that made me want to get into it every morning and not want to get out. Yet, it was very reliable. In fact, I had less problems with it than with my previous car - an Accord. So there... that's my "dillusion".
21.gif



I have no reason to believe that you suffer from a "dillusion". It could be you got a steller Audi and have a lemon Accord. Hey, it happens.

But I think a far better metric would be how a car holds up across thousands of them, and not just one person's experience, even if that experience is true and sound.

This issue reminds me of my grandfather. He smoked heavily all his 103 years, so does that mean smoking is safe? Now THAT would be a dillusion, to be sure ;-)
 
50+ miles per gallon. Gas is at 3.14 where I live. Anything from VW with the TDI at least deserves a look at this point. I have heard the typical horror stories associated with some VW models, but I have heard the same thing about other companies' models.
 
VW/AUDI: Kings of electrical problems, from what I can read on the web, and hear from owners that I know.
(one of wife's friend's Beetle's engine kept dying at 35k miles, and after the 3rd new engine, she finally got rid of it...)
 
Originally Posted By: lovcom
Now THAT would be a dillusion, to be sure ;-)


The proper word is "delusion" from Latin deludere. Dillusion is not a word, not even a listed unword.
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: lovcom
"soul" is what people say a car has when it is very unreliable,

"Soul" is dillusion, and all in one's head.

I thought my old A4 had a soul. There was just something about it that made me want to get into it every morning and not want to get out.


Some people just don't get that.
 
Originally Posted By: moribundman
Originally Posted By: lovcom
Now THAT would be a dillusion, to be sure ;-)


The proper word is "delusion" from Latin deludere. Dillusion is not a word, not even a listed unword.


I thot he mispilled "dilution".
grin2.gif
 
Everybody.
My cousin has an amazing 250k on her Passat Tiptronic with zero maintenance, better than same-year Hondas in that dept.
Much of the "electrical" issues were that batch of coilpacks, a $25 part that affected many brands, inc BMW and Volvo. VW was just selling tons of cars at that time and bore the brunt of the "problems". I could change a CP on the side of the road is 20sec w/a blindfold. I could carry a spare and be unaffected. Another owner might need a tow and it place them in a bad position. Again, ZAMM provides a framework for the uninitiated. To make matters worse, dealers could only replace the one bad CP for the owner, somtimes pulling them off new lot cars, just to make the customer happy. VW was unable to instantly source the millions of replacements for the bad Bremi coilpacks, so it goes. All those parts were doomed due to a flaw introduced by the crimping machine on the production line.

Another similar bad luck scenario was PS racks that were shipped overseas by the supplier without anti-corrosives to seal the piston bores in the unfilled units. They all rotted out, but in order to meet production tables, the bad racks were brushed out and installed into cars. What to do? Can't stop the production lines for maybes. Millions of dollars lost FOR SURE of you stop. Oh well. No worse than GM bean-counting and VW sales are strong World-wide. There are plenty of cars out there for people who don't "like" VWs or have whiny friends who never read ZAMM or whatever. Duh.
 
Some people might not mind fiddling with their cars on the side of the road, but many people buy them with the goal of reliable transportation and are not amused by distractions like that.
 
Those same people are also "surprised" when something blows up or burns out from lack of "fiddling". There's an old addage about Porsche equally rewards a good owner and punishes a bad one. Porsches are not for everyone, niether are TOYOTA Turcels.
 
The two electronic parts that went bad on my '96 Audi were made by Hitachi: the MAF at 130k miles, and the 10 year old ECU after a hard drive in >100°F summer heat. Other than that there were no electric or electronic issues.
 
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
Those same people are also "surprised" when something blows up or burns out from lack of "fiddling". There's an old addage about Porsche equally rewards a good owner and punishes a bad one. Porsches are not for everyone, niether are TOYOTA Turcels.


So you are saying the Peoples Car (translation of Volks- Wagen) is actually misnamed and mismarketed? The car really isn't for serious transportation purposes, it is merely for hobbiests and tinkerers?
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: TooManyWheels
So you are saying the Peoples Car (translation of Volks- Wagen) is actually misnamed and mismarketed? The car really isn't for serious transportation purposes, it is merely for hobbiests and tinkerers?


Actually, Volkswagen is the people's brand, because that's what a very large percentage of Germans drive.
wink.gif


A name is just a name and nothing more than that, especially after so many years since the company was founded.
 
i don't think giving up on a car that had 3 bad engines in less than 40k miles, and going for a different car is really "whiny".
I think it was kinda difficult to drive that car to work, etc when the engine sorta self destructs 3 times.
 
Originally Posted By: Audi Junkie
No worse than GM bean-counting...

I think it says it all when even a VW-Audi sympatico can't say anything nicer than this.

And we've heard your sad coil pack story and how it forever sullied the good name of VW before.
 
Originally Posted By: moribundman
Originally Posted By: TooManyWheels
So you are saying the Peoples Car (translation of Volks- Wagen) is actually misnamed and mismarketed? The car really isn't for serious transportation purposes, it is merely for hobbiests and tinkerers?


Actually, Volkswagen is the people's brand, because that's what a very large percentage of Germans drive.
wink.gif


A name is just a name and nothing more than that, especially after so many years since the company was founded.


Founded... by Hitler!

http://ask.yahoo.com/20050308.html
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

Just Dropped In
Any experience with Spectrum for internet?
2
Replies
25
Views
495
IndyFan
bubbanik
Kia went "kiaboom"....well almost
2 3 4
Replies
68
Views
5K
Leroybrown
J
Newer VW Gen3 engines with blue smoke?
2 3 4
Replies
61
Views
5K
Jetronic
U
I don't think I'll find or buy a used car
2 3
Replies
53
Views
4K
addyguy
D
1 year / 10k mile report - 2024 VW Atlas
Replies
18
Views
3K
dgunay
Back
Top Bottom