Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

My car inexplicably grows electric windows and relocates the battery under the rear seat?
 
Let me be clear that he bought the Jetta while shopping with his girlfriend (he is a chronic procrastinator and was borrowing her car while he put it off). I didn't know until after the fact. The dealer will of course fix the CEL but I can only hope it lasts until he has saved enough to move on, it's very much a stopgap car.

prizrak said:
1) He overpaid by about 3 grand
2) how Is it any better?
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It's better because it doesn't have a guaranteed $1500 repair on the horizon.... just a likely one.

New discoveries are an exhaust leak, a leaky tire and very tired sounding power locks. All but the latter should be covered by the dealer.
 
thevictor390 said:
Let me be clear that he bought the Jetta while shopping with his girlfriend (he is a chronic procrastinator and was borrowing her car while he put it off). I didn't know until after the fact. The dealer will of course fix the CEL but I can only hope it lasts until he has saved enough to move on, it's very much a stopgap car.



It's better because it doesn't have a guaranteed $1500 repair on the horizon.... just a likely one.

New discoveries are an exhaust leak, a leaky tire and very tired sounding power locks. All but the latter should be covered by the dealer.
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Ugg, your friend is not going to be having fun with that... Also from my experience with the Audi it guarantees a much more expensive repair on the horizon and the Audi's are the better built ones...
 
I just talked to a guy with 450 000 km on his B5 A4's odo. "Good car", he said, "though I did pour a litre of oil in it the other day."
 
The older ones were hungry for oil Needed a litre every 10k. Mine was like that from the start too, but since the first oil change I haven't seen the oil light come on, it's been frugal.
 
Thing is, the guy was looking for Opel Fronteras on his iPad. I politely tried to steer him away from those. (edit: the Fronteras)
 
public said:
Thing is, the guy was looking for Opel Fronteras on his iPad. I politely tried to steer him away from those. (edit: the Fronteras)
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I fucking hate those. They were rebadged Rodeo's and if they're anything like the 2nd gen Rodeo I had the pleasure of driving for a while it's awful. CR didnt lie: the ride is buckboard stiff yet jittery, the interior is abysmal...i could go on.

The Rodeo and Blazer/Jimmy/Bravada are two SUV's that if i needed to get somewhere i'd honestly rather walk instead of drive.
 
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public said:
Thing is, the guy was looking for Opel Fronteras on his iPad. I politely tried to steer him away from those. (edit: the Fronteras)
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I fear there's no hope for him now, you must do what is necessary.

I've only ever spoken to one Frontera driver, he proceeded to try and follow me around an off road site when I had the old Series III and failed miserably. I felt a bit sorry for him.
 
thevictor390 said:
It's better because it doesn't have a guaranteed $1500 repair on the horizon.... just a likely one.

New discoveries are an exhaust leak, a leaky tire and very tired sounding power locks. All but the latter should be covered by the dealer.
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No, he has a non stop parade of $500 repairs, and those problems are just the beginning. A family friend who owns a small dealership won't even take VWs in trade and won't buy them at auction. My mechanic refuses to work on most VWs, even for me, and my family have been customers for almost 20 years.
 
Electric motor failures.
Ignition coil packs frying out.
Leaking struts.


All these and more awaits your friend with that crappy Jetta.
 
Blind_Io said:
No, he has a non stop parade of $500 repairs, and those problems are just the beginning. A family friend who owns a small dealership won't even take VWs in trade and won't buy them at auction. My mechanic refuses to work on most VWs, even for me, and my family have been customers for almost 20 years.
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Yep, I've had dealerships flat out tell me that they won't buy Audis cuz they are too unreliable.

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British/Columbian said:
Electric motor failures.
Ignition coil packs frying out.
Leaking struts.


All these and more awaits your friend with that crappy Jetta.
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Coil packs are an easy enough fix, assuming he got the 1.8T motor that my car had just spend $120 on the set of Hitachi E-type CPs (stock packs are around $100/piece so it's even a cheaper fix).
 
prizrak said:
Coil packs are an easy enough fix, assuming he got the 1.8T motor that my car had just spend $120 on the set of Hitachi E-type CPs (stock packs are around $100/piece so it's even a cheaper fix).
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It's not the cost or the ease of the fix that's the issue. It's the randomness with which its occurrence will cause your car to suddenly "run out of electricity" :may:, like it did me. On a busy motorway. In February. During a torrential east coast snowstorm. 100 km from a major city in either direction.

thevictor390 said:
It's the 2.0, with it's rather shocking 115 HP....
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Yeah, that's the one I had back in '03-'04... with all the complaints I mentioned previously. That car.... a combination of what Spectre would call "German engineering" (the bad kind) with literal Mexican build quality. That car was an utter turd.
 
British/Columbian said:
It's not the cost or the ease of the fix that's the issue. It's the randomness with which its occurrence will cause your car to suddenly "run out of electricity" :may:, like it did me. On a busy motorway. In February. During a torrential east coast snowstorm. 100 km from a major city in either direction.
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Nah the E-types don't fail at all, that's the fix for the CP issue :p

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thevictor390 said:
It's the 2.0, with it's rather shocking 115 HP....
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Now that's real power now your silly little wankel :p
 
you silly americans and you're silly fear of german cars. Seriously I have 3 VW cars, all 3 of which are working mechanicly perfect.
Some of it i own more than 6 years and i haven't payed more than 300? for either one of them :dunno:

So i only have 2 conclusions why so many VW's blow up in good ol' america:

1) Dealer and garages are not well educated enough to maintain and repair the cars.
or more likely
2) most american drivers don't know what a car is,what an engine does,How an engine works etc. (that's why you need all the buzzes and LED's to tell you something or not to forget something).

I mean seriously how hard can it be, to 1) look for the oil in the engine and change it frequently,2) look for the cooling and refilling it and 3)to change you're timing belts when you have one ?
so america get you're MC'D. or Buger King Ass up !

/rant off
 
Bobele23: VAG does not do sufficient warm climate testing - many of the failures we have in the US are heat related. (Remember, most of the country is below the latitude of Madrid.) Further, even where the dealership wins award after award from VAG for knowledge and service quality and the cars come with free maintenance, they still disintegrate and have electrical problems. On top of all that, you can maintain one by the book here, never abuse it, follow the manual exactly - and they still fall apart. Most owners do change the oil and coolant on them as directed - the service was often free at the dealer - and the timing belts go prematurely, before VW says you should change it.

To say nothing of VAG engineering bodges that don't show up in Europe but are glaringly obvious here. Like the fact that Passats don't have their front subframe attached with proper bolts, so then entire subframe slops around as you drive down the road.
 
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Warm climate isn't really an issue around here - and Volkswagens are probably not as bad around here as in other places. But they are still well known for electrical issues and high repair costs.
 
Never heard of timing belts being an issue on VAG's. And we have hundreds of thousands of them in this small country alone. One of the most popular car makers.
 
Perc said:
Never heard of timing belts being an issue on VAG's. And we have hundreds of thousands of them in this small country alone. One of the most popular car makers.
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Yet over here (as linked above) they have been a perennial problem for VW, with tons and tons of premature failures.
 
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