OT: Volkswagen ownership experience? Options

[Cracker]

Beyond the cheating scandal...does anyone have direct ownership experience? Are there years or models to stay away from? I am thinking of a used car for my son - heading to college next month. Thanks in advance!

Tony

[Racer]

I bought new a 2005.5 Jetta, base model (they called it the "Value Edition" - cloth seats, no sunroof), 2.5l 5 cyl, 5spd manual. Still have it. Over 200,000 miles and its been my most reliable daily driver to date. Regular maintenance. Pre 2003 I'd stay away.

[Porschef]

Interesting, I was just looking at Car Complaints regarding a no heat issue on my 2002 Passat w Climatronic. Seems the 1.8 has many engine issues, especially with sludge. Mine is a v6 tho.

I guess they're trying to make up for all those years of making Beetles, simple, cheap and reliable. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)

[injunmort]

pain...... then more pain, whats your point?

[Montreal914]

Bough a brand new Jetta 1.8T in 2001 for my wife and every time we would bring it in for oil change something was wrong (sensors of all types).
Had the infamous coil issue and was without a car for 3 weeks (no stock).
Driver window dropped during summer vacation trip, 2 years old. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/blink.gif)
Sold the car after 3 years of pain and got a Corolla. Gas, oil change, tires and pads, for maaany years, no problem. She was happy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving-girl.gif) (happy wife,...)

VW, been there done that, never again, except for air cooled of course (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[dlee6204]

I had an 05 GTI 1.8t with tiptronic. I owned it for about a year and put 30K miles on it. In that time frame I had multiple coolant parts break, interior trim break/fail, transmission solenoids failed, dash catching on fire and many other things. My wife also had a 99 Jetta that overall was decent but tranny started slipping at 140K and we got rid of it. I can't recommend the MKIV generation and based on what I've heard the quality hasn't got much better since then.

Fun cars to drive but not to own.

[Gmanscott55]

I have / had a 2008 Golf R32. My son has it now as his 1st car. No issues with approx 85k miles. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/aktion035.gif)

[RickS]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=J62-Z3fIKOU

I have a 2010 Jetta Sportwagen TDi with 55K, and it is not only a blast to drive spiritedly but returns almost 50 MPG on the interstate doing 70. The car has had zero issues, but if you read the TDi forums, they were made by the devil to drive us straight to hell. A number have suffered catastrophic high pressure fuel pump failures resulting in new motors. There is an aftermarket kit available to mitigate this issue but it costs a pricey $1500 plus labor.

The most reliable cars are made by Toyota, but being a VW owner I can sympathize.

[mzalanka]

Owned a 2006 GTI (MkV) from 08-16. Great car to drive but highly trouble prone. Entire HVAC system had to be replaced at 20k, cam follower self destructed and camshaft needed replaced (both under warrantee). Water pump failed. ECU needed replaced. Went through a cylinder ignition coil every 5k miles. Airbag connectors shorted. Developed a leak into the spare well that the dealer couldn't solve. Solution was to drill 2 holes at the lowest point. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/huh.gif)

I let it go at 95k after I tried and failed to replace a headlamp, and ended up paying the dealer $350 for the job. To literally change a bulb. It was, however, the nicest and smoothest manual car I've ever driven, and got quite reasonable MPG (33 on the highway). I hear later model years had some of the early 2.0T issues sorted out.

Over the same timeframe, my wife's Honda Fit has had one bad wheel bearing. Guess what I DD now? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/yellowsleep[1].gif)

FWIW my parents are VW fans and have had both a TDI Passat and now a gas one and have loved both of them, with much less drama than my GTI.

[Optimusglen]

Recently sold a 2014 Jetta with the 1.8 direct injection turbo. Awesome vehicle, would have kept it if we could afford the car payment and the new baby.

The 2.0 turbos, especially early mk5 cars, have issues. The 5 cyl engines are pretty robust. I've had a few VWs with the VR6, love that engine. Electrical gremlins in the mk3 and mk4 chassis, mk1s and mk2s are drivers cars.

[76-914]

As mentioned above Toyota and Honda are both Aces. Subaru is the new Volkswagen and JD Powers just named KIA the most reliable. Don't forget to look at the safety rating of any car you buy, Tony. Kids have a way of wrecking their first car or two! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[Cracker]

Thanks everyone...I do not make it a habit of gambling - I won't with the VW. We have had four Hondas to date - I guess I will look for a decent Civic for Rich. Thanks for EVERYONE'S input!!!

Tony

[Montreal914]

Thanks everyone...I do not make it a habit of gambling - I won't with the VW. We have had four Hondas to date - I guess I will look for a decent Civic for Rich. Thanks for EVERYONE'S input!!!

Tony

I don't know about the US, but I know for a fact that it costs a fortune to insure a Honda Civic for a young boys in Canada (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) . You might want to check your insurance before buying any car... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)

[Cracker]

Thank you...I will. We have zero accidents, zero tickets and adding my son to our policy nearly doubled our rate. He drives a CR-V and will probably be the car we send him off with - it just happens to have to flat tow gear for our motorhome. Maybe I'll just buy another; however, it hasn't been nearly as bulletproof as our Odyssey's!!!

cheers!

T

[quote name='Montreal914' date='Jul 7 2017, 11:25 PM' post='2504097'
I don't know about the US, but I know for a fact that it costs a fortune to insure a Honda Civic for a young boys in Canada (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif) . You might want to check your insurance before buying any car... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sad.gif)
[/quote]

[tomeric914]

Base Toyota Camry should equal low insurance rates. No excitement, just reliable.

[thelogo]

I cant help but chime in here
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/beer3.gif)

My buddy and his dad had like 10 vw s
Started out with a fox (IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

Then jetta after jetta only guy i ever saw who had twin black and white jettas , even a pink jetta trek , a old 71 bus

Golfs the so called all out sporty vr6 stick shift vw

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/av-943.gif)

And those older vws like i said above could be worked on easily
Not like these more modern stuff

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/welder.gif)



But if you really like sporty little cars that are actually made in japan 100 %(IMG:style_emoticons/default/smoke.gif) and or german (IMG:style_emoticons/default/pray.gif)

The best car is a mazda protege stick shift .
If the maintenance is keeped up which is really inexpensive

Way sportier , cheaper ,lighter ,great handling
Cheap ride . Mazda absolute best bang for the buck


Toyota and lexus for that matter is the longevity king
I put 283 k on a tacoma, on just oil changes

But toyota s are about as sporty as a old Mercedes diesal sedan .
And can we make a rule is your tires are bigger then 15 inch
Its NOT a daily driver


And i would real like to know what the f is a accord sport (IMG:style_emoticons/default/WTF.gif)

[PatrickB]

If you're looking for OLD stuff... stay away from Mk3 cars if you're anywhere that gets rusty cars, mechanically good but rust buckets. They're the reason VW has an 11 year rust warrantee now. MK2 cars last forever, diesels anyway. my daily driver for the last umpteen years is a '92 jetta diesel that won't quit. pulled the engine out of the last one I had, car was over 500,000 when the back strut tower parted ways from the inner fender... car had seen too much salt. Motor went in the current car (gas to diesel) at least 7 years ago, weekend job to do. put at least another 100,000 on it since, and the car does everything I need it to do so I keep driving it.
Wife is driving 2009, one of the emissions cars. Waiting to see if they can come up with an epa approved fix. If not we'll have to bit the bullet and take the buyout but we really like the car. Know someone that has an '06 jetta diesel that had wiring issues when the car was about 4 years old, VW had to replace harnesses and switches in the doors because they were having issues with the power windows. My experience is all diesel, I know that I the older gas cars they had trouble passing emissions here when the mileage gets up. tend to have high Nox readings.

[Porschef]

Although I posted earlier about some issues with the 2002 Passat, (what do you want for $300) my wife loves it. I said I can only imagine how great it must have been new; there's 170k on it now. Biggest one is no heat; the A/C cranks but come October she'll be looking for it, so I'll have to figure out that one.

In all fairness, however, my DD is also a 2002, but a Golf TDI. I got it from a neighbor with just over 200k, I think she decided to sell it due to an occasional injection pump problem that would create difficult starting. I tried a seal kit from DieselGeek (I believe) that ran $60 including the special wrench. 3 hr job, has run flawlessly since. It's now got almost 260k, and returns about 47 mpg here on LI.

Yes, it's a base model, no power windows or sunroof, I did have to repair the passenger window regulator when I got it, and yes, the interior bits are rather flimsy, the radio really sux (needs a new antenna) but reliability has been terrific.

So I guess it's an overall crap shoot. But yeah, having had a Honda, there's going to be things that need replacing/repair; I think sometimes it just comes down to luck... (IMG:style_emoticons/default/confused24.gif)

[Mark Henry]

I own the last year VW made a quality car..... 1967. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

I've owned 5 watercooled VW's, I'll never buy another.

[falcor75]

I'm on my third VW, its a 2011 TDI DSG, love it, prevously I had a 2002 Passat 1.8t and a 2003 Golf TDI as daily drivers and two Mk1 Sciroccos as fun cars. After Saab went out of business I dont see myself driving anything but a VW or a BMW. Honda would be the interesting Asian brand but it is way underrepresented over here and Toyota is just meh.

As for reliability nothings left me stranded, the Passat needed a timing chain tensioner outside of ordinary service, the old Golf needed a roof antenna and new rear calipers at around 250k km. Not sure if theres a difference between German built cars and Mexico/US built cars but from what I read here it seems there is..... None of my cars I've bought new, always buy them as the second owner when its passed the first three year lease or so and I tend to keep them for 5-6 years.