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Sticking with vintage VWs

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I own a '12 Jetta Wagon TDI. I've already racked up 62k on the car. The only serious issue I've had was the particulate collector failed with only 20 something thousand on the clock. Again a "known issue". The second issue was when VW chose to update the filler neck to make it impossible to put in gasoline -- the problem was, it also made it impossible to put diesel in. It would take me almost 20 minutes to fill the car, so I made them undo the modification. Otherwise, it's been our family's workhorse.

Prior to the Jetta, I had a 2008 Subaru Outback. I loved that car, but it spat out both of its head gaskets at 83k. It was the last year of the car based body style before it became more of a "crossover" SUV.

Neither one could hold a candle to my wife's 2004 Toyota Corolla. We finally got rid of it at just under 180,000 miles. In that time, it only had two unscheduled maintenance visits. Yes, Corollas are very vanilla, but they are also very bulletproof.
 
Wife has had a 2002 Passat 1.8T for the past ten years and it's a good car.... I found that the later editions of the Passat used cheaper materials for the interior (I agree that they used to be Audis with a different badge) which rather put me off the newer versions.
 
kellysguy said:
Why?
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The VW is cool, has some personality. I like em. Didn't say I was going to trade. The VW would be fun locally but make my frequent drives to Montana much longer and probably less frequent. The Civic is good in that it cost little, takes little maintenance and gets great gas milage. But it's boring and I have no feeling for it so I'm constantly looking at others, all less practical. An old Beetle for 5 or 6 thousand and you have a funky driver.
 
sail said:
The VW is cool, has some personality. I like em. Didn't say I was going to trade. The VW would be fun locally but make my frequent drives to Montana much longer and probably less frequent. The Civic is good in that it cost little, takes little maintenance and gets great gas milage. But it's boring and I have no feeling for it so I'm constantly looking at others, all less practical. An old Beetle for 5 or 6 thousand and you have a funky driver.
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When's the last time you've driven one? It aint gonna be like you remember.
 
Driven one recently; small, cold, slow, dripped oil... come to think of it I should just stick with the TR.
 
Here in western Canada I see lots of people driving vintage cars year round, okay a few people... Mind you we don't need to dump tons of salt on the road like what happens out east... I see quite a few 1960's era cars and trucks being driven around in winter here... One of my co-workers drives his 1985 Olds Delta 88 sedan year round, he's owned it for over 20 years and I don't think he plans to sell it anytime soon, apparently he also has a 1990 Buick LeSabre that he drives less...

Speaking of which, I recently spotted a mint VW Samba Van, was quite surprised to see such a valuable truck out in winter weather, most of the snow was melted but there would have been lots of gravel around to cause some paintwork havoc...

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Although I haven't looked at a lot of old VW vans lately, that Samba looks like it is riding kind of low, either saggy springs (torsion bars?) or low profile tires, or a little of both?
 
kellysguy said:
Coulda told you Passats were junk. They were 15 years and for some unknown reason, never got better. At the time, Passat was just an Audi in disguise. The Jettas were a lot better. The squarer, the better with those. Shoulda kept the BMW but if it doesn't grab ya, it doesn't grab ya.
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No affiliation with VW in any way, just drive VW as company car for the last 7 or 8 years, my car gets changed every year for a new one and I can choose between different models. I always get a Passat wagon, I have had them in almost every color there is by now, and have always chosen the 2.0 TDI 130-140 cv (it has changed over the years). My cars are always serviced at VW dealers here in Spain, and I have NEVER had a single problem with any of them that required the use of the warranty. I just put kms and kms on them with no problems. My current one is a white 2014 2.0 TDI 140cv High Line with 50.000kms by now and as said it just asks for diesel fuel and tyres.

I do think VW are good vehicles. Just my two cents
 
glemon said:
Although I haven't looked at a lot of old VW vans lately, that Samba looks like it is riding kind of low, either saggy springs (torsion bars?) or low profile tires, or a little of both?
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Ya wanna be kool ya gotta lower it
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glemon, You're right. that brown one is lowered. Me61ic, I think my problem lies in the specific engine my car has. From the searching I have done it seems that specifically the 2.0 Turbo FSI engine (Gas powered) is problematic. It has a laundry list of common failures at low mileage. My car is 7 years old, and had 73k miles. The warranty is out. VW has washed their hands of that car. Are all VWs junk. I highly doubt that. They are the worlds second largest car company. You don't get there by producing garbage. I guess I'm just disappointed enough to be crabby. I paid more for this car than any other car I have ever bought. and in one year it had needed more repair that any car I ever owned, and I usually keep cars for over 5 years. so I should revise my statement to say, look under the hood of any VW you want to buy. If the plastic shield on the engine says "FSI" close the hood and walk away.
 
stick with a 1.8t engine, my mechanic will not recommend any other vw . I have a 2004 Audi a4 avant with a 1.8t and other than regular maintenance it hasn't had too much go wrong. It has 257000 km. The only major issue is it has rust through on the drivers fender which Audi says they will only cover 70% of the cost as a goodwill gesture even though there is a 12 yr perforation warranty. I will take it to a different dealer and see what happens.
 
I came pretty close to buying a Jetta TDI with a six speed, the diesels have very good reliability ratings and resale, I wanted to save on gas, but also just thought the efficiency and performance achieved with modern diesels was pretty cool. However, in the states the price of diesel has stayed relatively stable while gas prices have plummeted, so it wouldn't have made great sense from an economic standpoint. As far as car reliability and maintenance these days, there are if fact many cars that will get to 100K without much other than oil changes, brake pads and tires, in fact I think a good car should be able to do that these days, and I have had several cars that have.
 
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glemon said:
Although I haven't looked at a lot of old VW vans lately, that Samba looks like it is riding kind of low, either saggy springs (torsion bars?) or low profile tires, or a little of both?
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I know the van, it had a full high quality restoration done, but you know what some of the VW crowd like to do these days... :friendly_wink:
 
glemon said:
I came pretty close to buying a Jetta TDI with a sic speed, the diesels have very good reliability ratings and resale,.
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I've been waiting one too but when you figure in the extra cost of a used diesel v.s gas plus the differencne in fuels prices you pointed out you really don't save anything. I had an '85 non turbo diesel Jetta when I lived in uptown N.O. When the streets would flood to the bottom of the dash I'd drive it around like a submarine...blub blub blub blub:driving:
 
my son just bought a 2014 vw golf wagon (jetta in the US)wolfsburg edition tdi. It used to cost him $60-$70 to come home for the weekend and now it costs $20-$25.
 
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