VW/Audi Have Highest Engine Failure Rates

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Originally Posted By: lawrencerd
I can vouch firsthand that VW/Audi have unreliable engines. Nice, but unreliable. With a recent oil change in spec and everything up to date, my 2.0 FSI engine in a 2006 A3 failed with 130,000mi on it. It's tempting if you like the car to excuse any amount of data showing the unreliable or problematic nature of the cars but there you go. Multiple engines in other cars in the family trucking along happily on any type of oil and my A3 fails with the vaunted M1 0w-40 in the sump. Go figure - it really must be more about engine design/materials than oil in some cases.


VW/Audi engines being near the top in unreliability makes sense to me, simply because everything they have out now is direct injection and turbo charged. Even the base engine in the Jetta is a 1.4T. I maintain two BMWs and my dad owned a Benz, all very reliable. None of them were turbo charged though. The complexity of a standard BMW e90 328i with the N52 3.0L N/A engine is nothing compared to the direct injection turbocharged N54 engine in the 335i. The other brands will soon follow the Germans in complexity. Even the newest generation Honda Civic has a 1.5L turbo.

There is a reason my daily driver is a 16 year old Jeep Cherokee XJ.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
As usual, this article is much about nothing and as expected plenty have swallowed the bait.
Japanese have a really tough time penetrating Euro market, even Koreans are beating them, it's pretty obvious that nobody across the pond is buying their reliability claims, but that will not stop the paid off shills to try and sell this nonsense.

It is not only that they have problem selling cars, they have serious reliability problems. Who can forget such "marvels" like Toyota D-CAT, Toyota 1.4 D-4D that apparently could only work using pure diesel made in sterile laboratory. Not to mention that their parts in Europe cost arm and leg. As soon as they have to make engine that has current technology they get into all kind of trouble. But when it comes to selling 20 year old technology to Americans, they are best, no question about that.
Yup, 350K on a 99 Camry and still running. That's "outdated" all right. Better "outdated" and running than technoslick and Found On Road Dead.
 
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
As usual, this article is much about nothing and as expected plenty have swallowed the bait.
Japanese have a really tough time penetrating Euro market, even Koreans are beating them, it's pretty obvious that nobody across the pond is buying their reliability claims, but that will not stop the paid off shills to try and sell this nonsense.
Kindly NAME the paid off shills. I'll give them a ride in my 99 Camry with 350,000 miles on it. Regular maintenance only.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: KrisZ
As usual, this article is much about nothing and as expected plenty have swallowed the bait.
Japanese have a really tough time penetrating Euro market, even Koreans are beating them, it's pretty obvious that nobody across the pond is buying their reliability claims, but that will not stop the paid off shills to try and sell this nonsense.

It is not only that they have problem selling cars, they have serious reliability problems. Who can forget such "marvels" like Toyota D-CAT, Toyota 1.4 D-4D that apparently could only work using pure diesel made in sterile laboratory. Not to mention that their parts in Europe cost arm and leg. As soon as they have to make engine that has current technology they get into all kind of trouble. But when it comes to selling 20 year old technology to Americans, they are best, no question about that.
Yup, 350K on a 99 Camry and still running. That's "outdated" all right. Better "outdated" and running than technoslick and Found On Road Dead.

Dude I made 400K on BMW 520i with regular maintenance and then sold it. So? Difference is when I made those miles it was state of the art car (something Toyota will put in their engines in mid-2000, this was 1991 car).
My brother made 300K (miles) on 525d (3 liter inline 6 diesel) driving it on auto bahns 120+mph. So? At the same time Toyota could not make single diesel engine for Euro market that did not have recall. So what happened? They are now buying diesel engines from BMW for their Avensis line up.
The difference is, you actually drive those cars. In Camry you cannot wait to get out.
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw

The difference is, you actually drive those cars. In Camry you cannot wait to get out.


I think this is key for a lot of people who buy German. My family has owned Hondas for years, but nobody in my family really cares about cars. They are appliances. My dad might be the closest to a car person because he cares about ride, handling in snow, power, and towing.

I thought about getting a newer Civic as a commuter/daily driver car when I was at my old job since the Jeep is getting older. I drove one and it felt cheap. No doubt it was built to do a certain purpose which it does well, but even my 16 year old Jeep is much more comfortable, less road noise, etc. Having maintained a few friend's BMWs, I can see the appeal. I drove one of them (e90 325XI) for 7 hours on a trip with my friend, and I wasn't even exhausted when I got out of it like I would've been in an economy car.
 
Originally Posted By: jeepman3071
Originally Posted By: edyvw

The difference is, you actually drive those cars. In Camry you cannot wait to get out.


I think this is key for a lot of people who buy German. My family has owned Hondas for years, but nobody in my family really cares about cars. They are appliances. My dad might be the closest to a car person because he cares about ride, handling in snow, power, and towing.

I thought about getting a newer Civic as a commuter/daily driver car when I was at my old job since the Jeep is getting older. I drove one and it felt cheap. No doubt it was built to do a certain purpose which it does well, but even my 16 year old Jeep is much more comfortable, less road noise, etc. Having maintained a few friend's BMWs, I can see the appeal. I drove one of them (e90 325XI) for 7 hours on a trip with my friend, and I wasn't even exhausted when I got out of it like I would've been in an economy car.

In April I rented Camry from Seattle to Vancouver and back. Except Nissan Versa I rented 3 years ago for two days around Colorado Springs and one trip to Denver and back, I cannot remember car that tired me so much, including pain in the left leg due to ridiculous position of foot rest. Central console is positioned that I 6.2ft cannot rest properly right leg, and door panel is soooooo thin, that there is no way to rest elbow while driving (get that, most Toyota drivers drive 10 and 2, 10mls below speed limit, 99% of time in left lane). Noise in cabin was ridicilous, and all that on brand new car with 1500mls, on Michelin tires.
I have a feeling they had to actually work hard to make it so bad.
However, driving it from house to grocery store? yeah I can see that.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: 4WD
Have you tried a Chrysler 300 rent car ? Pretty roomy and rear drive 4W independent...


Based on the chassis of the w210 E-class.
cool.gif
 
My daughter has a Beetle (Made in Mexico, majority of parts Made in Mexico including engine) that has had many little but costly problems with the engine, tranny (Made in Japan) and switches. I did buy a Warranty Direct policy for about $1000 (if I recall correctly) extending the warranty to 100,000 miles. They have paid out over $3800 in payments for repairs (all to local VW dealer) There was no problem at all with Warranty Direct. Relativly fast, no hassle and worked well with the dealer. Last repair was at about 75,000 miles..now over 109,000 miles with no further trouble. Last semester at university for her so the car although she loves driving it, will probably be sold...not sure I can trust it much longer.

My son has a VW CC that also has had many small but costly problems Extended warranty (I believe VW) saved him thousands of $. The car is really nice to drive, but again as it nears 100,000 miles (warranty period) the days in our hands is about over.
 
Originally Posted By: tenderloin
My daughter has a Beetle (Made in Mexico, majority of parts Made in Mexico including engine) that has had many little but costly problems with the engine, tranny (Made in Japan) and switches. I did buy a Warranty Direct policy for about $1000 (if I recall correctly) extending the warranty to 100,000 miles. They have paid out over $3800 in payments for repairs (all to local VW dealer) There was no problem at all with Warranty Direct. Relativly fast, no hassle and worked well with the dealer. Last repair was at about 75,000 miles..now over 109,000 miles with no further trouble. Last semester at university for her so the car although she loves driving it, will probably be sold...not sure I can trust it much longer.

My son has a VW CC that also has had many small but costly problems Extended warranty (I believe VW) saved him thousands of $. The car is really nice to drive, but again as it nears 100,000 miles (warranty period) the days in our hands is about over.
My mechanic worked on a 2010 CC last year. 52k miles, timing chain guides failed (common problem) and the valves clashed with the pistons. It was towed to the dealer on the very last day the warranty was in effect. Dealer couldn't get to it until 2 days later and told the customer over $5k to fix it. They would not budge since it was technically out of warranty.

My mechanic fixed it for around $2,200 I believe.
 
Originally Posted By: 4WD
Thanks for the warning - daughter has been bugging (sorry) me for one ...

LOL I had CC that I bought with 28K and traded in for BMW with 98K and did not have one single issue on a car! Not a single one!
2010 2.0T.
 
Originally Posted By: 4WD
Have you tried a Chrysler 300 rent car ? Pretty roomy and rear drive 4W independent...

Nah, usually I rent something for a day since I have conferences in downtowns and it is one day trip somewhere. So i go with cheaper car, usually Camry size, etc.
I did drive 300 a lot maybe 6-7 years ago. Those were older versions with 3.5 V6 engine. I remember that it did not have power whatsoever.
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
However, driving it from house to grocery store? yeah I can see that.


Which is how most of them will be used. Mundane drives.

Drive what you like, but the Camry hate here is ridiculous. Show me a road in New England where going past 3/10's is "appropriate" in a German car--or past 4/10's in a Camry for the matter.
 
Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: edyvw
However, driving it from house to grocery store? yeah I can see that.


Which is how most of them will be used. Mundane drives.

Drive what you like, but the Camry hate here is ridiculous. Show me a road in New England where going past 3/10's is "appropriate" in a German car--or past 4/10's in a Camry for the matter.

Appropriate? Dude 90% of Toyota drivers drive 10 below speed limit in left lane and do not care what is appropriate.
It is car for grocery store since going for 2hr trip might get you to sleep or in physical pain like me.
Like great philosopher of our time, Jeremy Clarkson said: if car does not excite you every time you sit in it, you might as well take public transportation.
 
Originally Posted By: edyvw
Originally Posted By: supton
Originally Posted By: edyvw
However, driving it from house to grocery store? yeah I can see that.


Which is how most of them will be used. Mundane drives.

Drive what you like, but the Camry hate here is ridiculous. Show me a road in New England where going past 3/10's is "appropriate" in a German car--or past 4/10's in a Camry for the matter.

Appropriate? Dude 90% of Toyota drivers drive 10 below speed limit in left lane and do not care what is appropriate.
It is car for grocery store since going for 2hr trip might get you to sleep or in physical pain like me.
Like great philosopher of our time, Jeremy Clarkson said: if car does not excite you every time you sit in it, you might as well take public transportation.


?

Must be the high altitude, that is not what I see where I live.

I've sat in my 2011 Camry for up to 14 hours at a stretch. I don't like the seats but I was fine afterward. Done 11 hours in my Tundra. Both are base models so the seats kinda suck. Both were fine for long distance drives so they can't be that bad.

I had a car that I liked, that "excited" me. A turbo-diesel VW, manual transmission, wagon. Loved that car. Guess what? It wore out. Perhaps I could have taken better care of it, kept the rust at bay better; but in the end, it still would have been dinged up, rusted, and in need of many parts. Or I could have ignored the repairs (which I started doing towards the end), at which point... what is the point of having a fancy car? It's just going to wear out.

When I have disposable money again I'll have something exciting. Until then I prefer to spend my money elsewhere.

And I'm starting to think you're just baiting me, and I'm too dumb to not respond...
 
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