Why do Volkswagen get a bad reputation?

Why do Volkswagen get a bad reputation?

My mom was pretty close to signing a VW Golf for me at the VW dealership its pre-owned she decided to sleep on it and ask her mechanic he told her to stay clear of all VWs they are bad maintenance wise. Is that so because i love VWs....

Asked by: john @ 2009-05-07 14:04:33

Answers ::
Probably cause so many trashy ghetto people drive them.

Garynewell91

Some people have real good luck with VW's, some don't. They're about the same as an American car for reliability.

Paul

They have a bad rap becuase the parts are so darned expensive! If you buy a used VW you will spend more in maintenance than you will ever be able to recover by selling the car.

hank

VW is a good car if maintained properly and often! just like most cars if you don't take care of it it'll not be very good! when aVW breaks down it is expensive and time consuming to repair. most mechanics i know, i work in auto industry, wont work on VWs they send them to a specialist or dealer. i had a VW fox one time it was a good car. although seeing the cost of parts to repair vehicle probably wouldn't get another one though.

gjj_3

This is why- they went to watercooled. They mastered the aircooled, but then they abandoned it. Stupid move. My stock 1973 Volkswagen Beetle is extremily reliable and parts are extremily cheap. What's wrong with that?

Prime

They are very well built cars, but use intelligent German engineering that the common American mechanic can not understand. So they blast the car because they are not smart enough to understand how to work on it.

Germans built the first rockets which allowed America to land a man on the moon.

Buy the car but figure to have it serviced and repaired at a shop that specializes in Volkswagen's.

Wes

They build crappy vehicles. My family knows that for sure. Weak engines and etc make this true.
Who would want to drive a thirty-some year old VW? It will break down when you least expect it...

G

I've worked with VW's for much of the last quarter of a century, I think that it is because of what happened with the generation of cars from 1999.5 till 2004. This generation of vehicles was VW's attempt to move the cars upscale and improve the profit margins of the vehicle.

Sadly, this generation undid everything that VW had built a reputation on: mechanically simple, reliable and inexpensive to buy and run. The power accessories like window regulators, electronically controlled automatic transmissions, check engine lights coming on all the time, ignition coil failures, mass air flow sensor faults, PCV system failures, cooling system faults with water pumps, timing belt failures, oil cooler failures, water leaks, power lock failures, and more, plus the VW attitude that it must be the customer's fault just compounded the reputation that VW's are a load of junk and expensive to maintain.

It didn't help that VW didn't have enough parts on hand to correct problems when they happended; we had long back orders of window regulator parts, ignition coils and more. For a while we were stealing parts from new cars to keep cars on the road, while we waited for VW to ship us parts. Not a happy time for any of us, either the customer or the service department staff..

Also, the people who bought many of these vehicles were first time VW customers, who didn't understand the "German way of thinking!" The glove box door latch is a good example: you cannot reach over from the driver's seat and unlatch the glove box before it will break off one of the pivot points. You need to pull the latch with two fingers giving equal pressure to each side of release pivot tension bars behind the handle. By doing this, the latch pivot doesn't get weak on one side and eventually break off. I used to show people who never owned a VW before "the German way of thinking," when they purchased a new car. If they followed the directions, then they didn't have as many issues as most had with these cars. By the way, the idea behind using a retractable pin on each side of the glove box door was to provide extra security and reduce the chance of glove box door rattles. A good idea, but the engineering behind it was too complex.

The fact is that VW has used one model that is sold world wide; Toyota, Honda, Mazda, & even Hyundai design some vehicles strictly for sale in the US and Canada. Now, VW is changing as they must: the plan is to sell 800,000 VW's in the US by 2018, plus 200,000 Audi's for a total of 1,000,000 before 2020. Engineering will become simplier, hopefully less complex to repair/align/adjust. (Ok, the EOS & Touareg still are pain to service)

It is true that VW's can be somewhat more prone to mechanical difficulties than either the Asian or American vehicles, especially on a used car because they don't take kindly to missed service at all. A certified used VW is a safe choice because of the warranty and (hopefully) pre-inspection done before the vehicle can be qualified as a certified pre-owned VW. All recalls must be up to date; brakes have to have a certain percentage of wear remaining, inspections of safety equipment, road test, scan check, tyre wear and more have to pass before the car can be sold. So, at least the car shouldn't have any immediate issues.

A certified pre-owned VW has 24 months or 24,000 miles of "warranty" from the date of sale, plus you still have any remaining warranty on top of that. Road side assistance, special financing and more come with the pre-owned certified used VW.

You should expect that a VW will be more expensive to maintain; they need a VW specialist to service them, not a local garage. It doesn't have to be a dealership, but someone who works on VW day in and day out... they'll understand the quirks that the Germans do in their designs and can take care of them while the cost is small. As an example, before VW changed the vacuum hose material, it used to become hard and brittle and break by the time the car was 3 years old or had 40,000 miles or so on it. (Especially on turbo models, where the heat would cook hoses and belts) So, at each 15 or 20k service, our techs used to replace about $6 worth of vacuum hose as part of the service: the result, our regular service customers had far fewer check engine light issues than most people. When those vacuum hoses leak, its guaranteed to turn on the check engine light!

So, go ahead and purchase that VW used; the best bet is the basic Golf GL with the 2.0 liter NON turbo four and standard shift. Depending upon what year it is (if its a certified pre-owned it cannot be more 75.000 miles or 5 model years old) it could have enough equipment to make you happy and yet, provide the type of safety that isn't often seen in a smaller car. Features like ABS, side air bags, curtain air bags and more (depending upon the year) have been standard long before Civic, Corolla & Protege offered them even as options!

a car nut

For my family VWs have an excellent, reliable reputation. Here's proof:
my son has a 1998 VW GTI Vr6 with 160K problem-free miles
I drove a 2000 GTI for 80K powerful miles (replaced window regulator under warranty)
sold 2000 GTI to buy a 2006 turbo GTI (have 45K screamin' quick miles on it with no trips to dealer)
my sister has a 2000 Golf with 170K ultra-durable miles on it ( has an automatic transmission, also without a problem). Also, this car sat in flood-water 3' high until the water receeded. That was 6 years ago and she has had no problems.
my wife has a 2005 Jetta with 73K reliable vacation and go-to-work miles on it.
after seeing for herself how super-reliable our VWs are my son's wife just purchased a 2008 Golf!
We've driven other makes of cars, but now that we have such great service from our VWs, we probably will continue to own them.
As far as costs for parts go, VWs are competitively priced. My friend drives a Honda Accord and we compare parts prices we have paid. Guess what? Part for part, they come out about equal! Lets be honest, car parts for any brand is not a pleasant buying experience.
Then too, VW is # 1 in sales in most of the world. Millions of people buy them. Why would they continue to buy them if they had a bad rep?
Safety is also a prime reason we buy VW. They have many safety features standard (most other cars in their class do not even offer these safety features). VWs are engineered to drive on Germany's unlimited speed Autobahns. Therefore, they simply must pass rigorous safety standards.
Another reason we drive VWs is because they are amazingly stable in bad weather. The built-in agility/solidity has that indefinable poise which distinguishes this 1st rate car from the merely competent ones we have had before.
But the main reason we own VWs is that they are so enjoyable and entertaining to drive! I can be having a 'bad day at the office', and as soon as I grip the leather steering wheel of my GTI, I smile and blast away, problem solved!!

fenton

who is the most richest personin the world?

Asked by: jobellette @ 2009-05-07 02:34:39

Answers ::
The guy who truly lives a happy life.

pearbear

bill gates? i dno
some lucky person

Nina

Bill Gates

Leif H

It's between Bill Gates, and the guy who owns Virgin.
:)

<3вву вσσ.....χ

William Gates III
Rank: 1 Net Worth: $40.0 bil, Fortune: self made

Warren Buffett
Rank: 2 Net Worth: $37.0 bil, Fortune: self made

There is another website that says Warren Buffett is the richest, and Bill Gates the 3rd richest.
http://top--10.blogspot.com/2008/03/top-10-richest-person-in-world-2008.html

silkesheen

Financially, at any given time it could be Gates, Buffett, Slim or a handful of others. In any case he's probably not driving a Volkswagen (the topic of this forum).

GJ289FIA

The larva of the click beetle is called what?

Asked by: Anna @ 2009-05-07 10:40:25

Answers ::
wireworms

jayda

Larvae...

No, really....Larvae

Laurence B

clit beetle

Jose Caracas

Click Larvae are know as Wireworms.
Hope this helps.

A,Holt

Andrew Holt

A Baja Bug of course.

Chewbydoo

My brother just bought a VW Gti 1.8T?

He wanted to run it on a dyno to check his RPM and HP. All it has is a intake equiped and its chipped. He was guessing 3-400HP is that correct?

Asked by: SukMiiDick! @ 2009-05-07 06:00:22

Answers ::
NOooooo... not even close. Assuming your talking about a NEW GTi... Turbo 2.0L is 200hp. Hard to guess what the chip is adding since we dont know brand, level. a guess would be 220hp

Maverick

What year is the GTI? My 01 is only 150 ponnies. Intake, maybe 2-5 horse and the chip, need to know brand to begin to make a guess.

camjam93

1.8T's made about 180hp.

If it has a chip, it could be up to about 210hp and intake would net you about 5-10 more.

So let's call it 220hp at the motor which I think conservative.

niceguygabriel

If he got 200, it would be outstanding.

racefish68122

I own a 1973 Volkswagen beetle.The alternator warning light comes on when the head light is on high beam,why?

I am refering to the "g" warning light on the speedometer.It lights up very faintly when the head light is set to high beam.The warning light lights up more clearly when the headlight is in high beam with the acclerated depressed..

Asked by: mages v @ 2009-05-07 08:53:54

Answers ::
Your alternator is not putting out enough current to compensate for the current draw of the lights. Have the alternator and voltage regulator tested to see which is going bad. This is putting a strain on your battery so needs to be fixed soon.

Ron G

Sounds like either the alternator is going south on you or you might have a slight short on the high beam circuit.

High beams draw more power because a second filiment is turned on which increases the power draw. If you have some other accessories drawing power at the same time shut them down and see if the light dims or goes out. If you turn on a turn signal you should also see a little fluxuation on the alternator light.

The short is unlikely, but check your wires for warm ones just to be sure. It may not be enough to fry a fuse, but I would check it just to make sure. But.. like I said.. my money goes on a bad alternator which is a simple replacement.

.

ca_surveyor

First, you should have a generator. And unless this something that "just happened" it is pretty normal for the VW gen to glow dimly when it is under high draw. I would however check my belt for good tension and then put a volt meter on the light switch and see if your loosing some out put.

williamM

I'm guessing you have a generator not an alternator. If so your generator isn't putting out enough watts to run all or the things you have. ie. radio and lights.

jason

I just bought a classic Volkswagen beetle.What is the "G" indicator light on my speedometer refers to?

Asked by: mages v @ 2009-05-07 06:54:49

Answers ::
The generator warning light.

thebax2006

It is the red generator/alternator light (you did not say what year you bought).

A suggestion which will no doubt be echo'd to you often....

You should buy yourself a 'how to keep your vw alive and running forever' type book. There are several out that were written back in the 70's and are worth their weight in gold If you can not find one in a local used book store, then go on to eBay and buy a reprint. Keep it in your bug or in your garage and it will save you a LOT of trouble and worry.

Now.. have you wondered what the OTHER Lights are for (grin)?

.

ca_surveyor

One thing the Generator does is run the cooling fan. SO: when it comes on, you must check immediately if the fan belt failed and your in danger of frying the motor.

Once the fan belt issue is covered, you can usually run till the battery dies --just to get to the shop and get the generator work done. BUT do keep your nose sniffing for burned wiring. You can have more serious stuff in the works.

I used to carry a big wire cutter for the battery cables just in case the worst was happening.

williamM

It stands for generator.

jason

is the vw Jetta front wheel drive?

Asked by: Robert @ 2009-05-06 18:39:47

Answers ::
yes

Joe

yes. i believe every jetta ever made is fwd

hello

yes

missme12377

yes, the vw jetta is FWD.

yahoo