Is the VW Golf a Bad Car?
- Thread starter parimento1
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I get the premise but to me, low TCO is pretty important. Cost per mile, total, is pretty important. Although at some point the upfront cost may be too high, but still. I drive cheap cars and leave time open for other things.
Also... pre-pandemic I drove 32k/year. I preferred it in my VW. But I didn't die when I got a 20 year old Camry either. If anything it was more relaxing. Door ding while out shopping? not sure which one is the new one. Wash once a week? I wash once a year but can't tell. Feel like drilling a hole here for something? Sure why not.
At this level the supplier determines the need, and negotiates with whoever is making the sensor. When you want to buy a million of a particular part, it may be easy to get exactly what you want, for the application, and shave every penny possible. Without a doubt, the cost of R&D to make each custom sensor comes into play, so, if a penny shaved can pay for that R&D, then it's custom time. If not, then sure, no doubt the same sensor is used across more than one OEM, or at least more than one model line. Or is programmable to the need--sometimes making a slightly more expensive sensor makes sense, if nothing else it's less unique items in the pipeline.
then look no further than a cpo original toyota, or rebadged toyota by mazda, yaris. dont let the open-catfish-mouth front end look scare you away. my 2014 yaris is 100% toyota, made in france of all places, bought from hertz. it is reliable, fun and solid, a great city car (where mine is) but i have done 8 hour interstate trips in it. the thai-built yaris sedan is southeast asia’s national taxi. surprisingly roomy, airy with great visibility. i rode often enough in a friend’s mazda2 in indonesia (the rebadged yaris ia). it feels a bit more cramped but also a bit more sporty. as a contented passat owner im not against vw at all, but wouldn’t consider a golf for your intended use in the big city. either version of the yaris will serve you well, and an ex-rental likely comes cheaper and pre-scratched to ease your mind.
Lucas supplied all kinds of important stuff to aircraft manufacturers, they also produced the cheapest stuff on the planet for the various leyland econoboxes. It’s all about how much you’re willing to pay your supplier to build it right and having a good design in the first place.
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- Jul 18, 2020
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The Duratec years Focus would be a great option for a boring appliance. I had a 2006 wagon and it was awesome. Kinda regret selling it even though I rarely drove it.
The Golf does not require any sort of crazy maintenance. The only odd thing is the short spark plug change interval, but they're readily accessible. A 1.8T with the Aisin transmission will be plenty reliable.
It’s a good car in a sea of boring cvt ones.
1. WHy you asking if you "know?"
2. VW and Audi are VAG. So, if Audi is turd, why VW would not be?
Often VW has multiple suppliers making the same part, and then the parts get revised later when they realize a common failure. Like plastic impeller water pumps from one brand when the other brand makes the same one with a metal impeller. VW is so global that your car could have parts from just about everywhere. Toyota does this too but they really go overboard on the quality specification. That is why Toyota is the unquestioned king of quality. Its a shame they cant do driving dynamics like german cars at the same time.
They COULD do this with driving dynamics... or they could come close. They don't want to... 'cuz the general market is not very discerning about driving dynamics... as opposed to ride smoothness. They know their market pretty well.
We have a 34 year-old Golf in my family and it's still being driven on a regular basis. I don't remember any horror stories about repairs. The newer generations are better but like all newer cars they are packed with more features and gadgets that may break. Maintenance is key. They do not tolerate neglect.
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Mazda and Honda have that covered
Honda is almost as good as Toyota, but their cars drive much better. Honda makes some of the best manual transmissions.
Mazdas are supposed to drive good, too. Only a step or two down from Honda and Toyota in quality. Their biggest problem is rust, so as long as you get Krown or other rustproofing, you'll be ok.
You don't have to put up with high maintenance Germans to enjoy the drive
Does the golf have a timing chain or belt?
If it has a timing belt, is it an interference engine (I will assume so since it's a VW, but one still has to ask).
If direct injection does it also have port injection like Ford/Toyota, and if not how hard is it to clean the deposits?
How hard is it to change out the following items:
all the filters
all the fluids
light bulbs (espically headlight bulbs)
battery
Do I need to remove a brake line to replace a strut?
Do I have to drop the gas tank to replace the fuel pump?
Does it have a test port for fuel pressure?
Does it have a replacable fuel filter?
Does it have a transmission dipstick?
Do the dash gauges include engine coolant temperature,a tachometer, oil pressure, or volts?
Does it have a regular parking brake or electronic parking brake?
Does the TPMS work off something that is inside the tires, or does it use the ABS system?
If it has a timing belt, is it an interference engine (I will assume so since it's a VW, but one still has to ask).
If direct injection does it also have port injection like Ford/Toyota, and if not how hard is it to clean the deposits?
How hard is it to change out the following items:
all the filters
all the fluids
light bulbs (espically headlight bulbs)
battery
Do I need to remove a brake line to replace a strut?
Do I have to drop the gas tank to replace the fuel pump?
Does it have a test port for fuel pressure?
Does it have a replacable fuel filter?
Does it have a transmission dipstick?
Do the dash gauges include engine coolant temperature,a tachometer, oil pressure, or volts?
Does it have a regular parking brake or electronic parking brake?
Does the TPMS work off something that is inside the tires, or does it use the ABS system?
Plastic impeller is not an issue. Many companies use plastic impeller. Problem is plastic housing. It always cracks at the same spot. GRAF offers water pump with aluminum housing. It solves an issue.
You can search this easily:
Suspension is beefier than any Asian or American comparable vehicle.
Timing chain. If belt, doesn’t mean it is interference engine necessary.
no port. In Europe yes. But, CBU is not as big issue as before as long as you use VW approved oils. Keep in mind for example that Honda now has issues in their engines that VW had 17 years ago. So much about learning from others.
Changing pads or rotor is easier than on Toyota (It is easier on BMW too). It has MUCH better brakes, and less clips and other garbage on pads. All Euro vehicles have same brake fluid reservoir. Japanese do not, so it is always some improvisation to flush brakes.
TPMS on VW (as on other Euro cars) automatically register sensors. I have winter tires for all three cars. On BMW and VW TPMS automatically registers new wheels. On Toyota you have to register each sensor, which I gave up on, so I just drive with light on during winter.
in snow VW and BMW are our go to cars as they are like ridiculously more capable than Toyota. Numerous other stuff that makes VW and BMW our go to cars everyday except if we need to do road trip bcs. space. With Euro cars it is all about preventive maintenance, same as with Toyota. People are willing to tolerate some problems while not other. One thing is for sure, you are not going to find better assembled vehicle in that class.
That is my observation from three cars we have in same garage.
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I dunno, wife's 2001 Civic was a mess of repairs and our '03 CRV is just an all-around awful vehicle. Both made my '04 VW look like a paradigm of reliability and enjoyability. I get it, those are old vehicles now, but still. I've got no good opinion of Honda at the moment.Mazda and Honda have that covered
Honda is almost as good as Toyota, but their cars drive much better. Honda makes some of the best manual transmissions.
Mazdas are supposed to drive good, too. Only a step or two down from Honda and Toyota in quality. Their biggest problem is rust, so as long as you get Krown or other rustproofing, you'll be ok.
You don't have to put up with high maintenance Germans to enjoy the drive
Here is Consumer Reports data on Golf, recent stuff is quite reliable and its a great car and honestly better driving then anything else in glass currently. It tops out would you buy again category by a huge margin in its class.
VW put billions into the underpinning/chassis of vehicle which it shares across VW CUV/car line and also Audi line all the way up to the Audi Q7 SUV. That is why its such a good vehicle in terms of driving.
VW put billions into the underpinning/chassis of vehicle which it shares across VW CUV/car line and also Audi line all the way up to the Audi Q7 SUV. That is why its such a good vehicle in terms of driving.
Platforms are not shared between Audi and VW when it comes to bigger vehicles. A3? Yes, but not Q7. Atlas is based on same platform as Golf.
One way of interpreting this is that the new ones are too new to broke down.
Technically Atlas is not a stretched out Golf - the MQB "platform" is not a platform per say but more of an engineering consolidation relating to major systems.
Here is a good wiki article (see 2nd paragraph) - and yes it has working citations.
VW MQB
My 7th generation Golf is incredibly built to say the least, tight as a drum with 53k miles on the clock. Only thing on carfax from first owner was a key fob battery x 2 (yes they went to dealer to replace key fob battery). Only sporadic issue that would be hard to duplicate for dealer is the backup camera doesn't work maybe 1 out of 20 times backing up, camera pops out but doesn't display on the infotainment.
The 5th gen Jetta Sportwagen is a post dieselgate special so it sat idle for ~1 year somewhere in the Southeast. Carfax had only routine maintenance from prior owner before VW bought it back with ~42k miles on it. Only issue we have had (covered under CPO) was a leaky panoramic sunroof which is a very common issue with any VWAG pano roof which probably was not helped by car sitting idle for ~1 year. Other than that over 2 years it has been flawless and now has about 60k.
1 year/10k services are ultra easy to remember and plan around. Oil change, inspection, tire rotation and car wash run ~$79-$129 depending on dealer and engine. My dealer runs $79 synthetic oil change specials for gas models, TDI doesn't get any discounts unfortunately and depending on coupon we typically pay $100-$110.
These are my 6th (TDI) and 7th (E-Golf) Volkswagens and very happy with them. My first 4th gen Golf TDI had its issues, my 5th gen Jetta 2.5 had its issues - VW had made great strides in quality since 1999. I continued on with VW despite some issues over the years because they overall just provide a better driving experience vs your typical Honyota.
