Volkswagens - whats the deal ?

obi604

I drive a VW golf, 1.6 petrol, the reason I bought it was for relibaility, however, it has given me nothing but problems, granted, Engine has not been too bad but iva had a load of electrical , ECU, sensors etc. etc. problems

Ive been on specilist VW and Audi forums in the UK and a word that springs up on them constantly is " common fault "

I think Volkswagens were reliable 20 / 25 years ago when there was little electrics in them, but in last 10 years , they just seem to give an awful lot of problems or common faults

And I think the same can be said for Audi's

Are volkswagen cars just a pain for all these common faults / reliability ?
Anyone else in Ireland have lots of VW problems ?

Anan1

In a word, yes. The idea that VWs are reliable has had a lot more to do with clever marketing than with the quality of the cars for almost 20 years now, IMO at least.

Atomic Pineapple

Anan1 wrote: »

In a word, yes. The idea that VWs are reliable has had a lot more to do with clever marketing than with the quality of the cars for almost 20 years now, IMO at least.

+1

Its all marketing.

The "Lika a Golf" advert is a perfect example

obi604

ok, fair enough, but I know older people in their 60's who im guessing would not be the type of people to be influenced by fancy marketing and they still swear by Volkswagens

R.O.R

obi604 wrote: »

I drive a VW golf, 1.6 petrol, the reason I bought it was for it's perceived relibaility, however, it has given me nothing but problems, granted, Engine has not been too bad but iva had a load of electrical , ECU, sensors etc. etc. problems

Ive been on specilist VW and Audi forums in the UK and a word that springs up on them constantly is " common fault "

I think Volkswagens were reliable 20 / 25 years ago when there was little electrics in them, but in last 10 years , they just seem to give an awful lot of problems or common faults

And I think the same can be said for Audi's

Are volkswagen cars just a pain for all these common faults / reliability ?
Anyone else in Ireland have lots of VW problems ?

FYP

Still trading off the glory years.

Not sure if they are that much worse than the competition, but due to the large numbers around then it seems like there is a problem with a VW or Audi every day.

That said, we aren't seeing that many issues with the new model Golf or the new Audi A4. It may be that they are still so new that the gremlins haven't raised their ugly head, or they may have sorted a the issues with previous generations.

Only time will tell.

Anan1

obi604 wrote: »

ok, fair enough, but I know older people in their 60's who im guessing would not be the type of people to be influenced by fancy marketing and they still swear by Volkswagens

I've never met anyone who admits to being influenced by fancy marketing, and yet so many people still think that VWs are reliable.;)

Gophur

obi604 wrote: »

.....................

Are volkswagen cars just a pain for all these common faults / reliability ?
Anyone else in Ireland have lots of VW problems ?

Nothing unusual in that, all common for VW.

obi604 wrote: »

ok, fair enough, but I know older people in their 60's who im guessing would not be the type of people to be influenced by fancy marketing and they still swear by Volkswagens

I think you'll find these same people do not have any experience of other marques to be able to tell any difference.

voxpop

I drove a mk4 golf for 2 and a half years without issue - so go figure.

Now have a bimmer and everyone talks about their notorious crappy cooling system. The diesels are know to blow turbos and ingest swirl flaps .

My point is that all marques have common faults - a good community highlighting these faults just means you know what they are, how to spot them and how to fix them

Henry Ford III

voxpop wrote: »

I drove a mk4 golf for 2 and a half years without issue - so go figure.....

A 30 month run of good luck?

bijapos

My parents have had a new Polo or Golf every 3 years since around 1995, they do about 30,000 km a year, a lot of this on very bad country roads. Never had a breakdown and after 3 years there tends to be no squeaking or rattling.

Result: Most of the neighbours have a Golf as well! My parents usually have the smallest engine with the lowest spec.

That said sales and service people have been pretty dire over the years. Some horror stories there. Up till 95 they were big into Japanese cars but its VW all the way now.

Keano

Another VW thread, the battle lines are drawn :P

TomMc

And urban myths aplenty:D

Mr.David

No one should draw a conclusion about the reliability or unreliability of a marque from owning just one car.

You have a sample size of 1 and so cannot generalise about 1million+ other samples in existence.

Example: you are in a bar and meet a hot blonde chick who loves football and giving head and could suck a golf ball through a hoover. by all accounts that's bloody brilliant...but it doesnt mean all womens love football and giving head does it?

R.O.R

Just all Blondes :D:D

obi604

draffodx wrote: »

+1

Its all marketing.

The "Lika a Golf" advert is a perfect example

Mr.David wrote: »

No one should draw a conclusion about the reliability or unreliability of a marque from owning just one car.

You have a sample size of 1 and so cannot generalise about 1million+ other samples in existence.

Example: you are in a bar and meet a hot blonde chick who loves football and giving head and could suck a golf ball through a hoover. by all accounts that's bloody brilliant...but it doesnt mean all womens love football and giving head does it?

Well im not generaising, ive been on VW and Audi forums from the UK, Australia and America and the amount of problems on these forums is ridiculous, so im not generalising from personal experience there is alot more people out there with problems

mailforkev

In the US they have the opposite reputation for reliability amongst a lot of people. Over here it's been some very clever marketing.

We had an '07 Golf for a year and it was fine, slow and severely lacking in equipment but we never had any problems.

Among a certain social circle (who don't have any real car knowledge) the Golf is a default car of choice for a lot of people in their mid 20s into their 30s. It's an image thing (along with the perceived quality/reliability), look at the used prices of 2-3 year old Golfs for example.

I'm now in my early 30s and so far a couple of the lads have graduated to one of the default next steps, an Audi A4. Same deal with the perceived image/reliability.

waxon-waxoff

The last of the trouble free Volkswagens was the mark 2 Golf and Jettas that were made up to 1992. These cars were basic and low spec and probably the most common engine was the non turbo 1.6 diesel. Even the GTi had only 115bhp. There was little to go wrong and the cars were well built so they deserved their reputation. There was no NCT either to worry about. Farmers and taxis loved them and many had 200k + on the clock.

As times changed the cars got more complicated and it was inevitable that more problems would occour. The reputation for quality was established by now and it stuck. People expect Volkswagens to be trouble free and pay a premium to get into one so maybe their expectations are higher, leading to disappointment when it fails to live up to it. Fiats and Renaults dont have this image and their price reflects this.

langdang

mailforkev wrote: »

Among a certain social circle (who don't have any real car knowledge) the Golf is a default car of choice for a lot of people in their mid 20s into their 30s. It's an image thing (along with the perceived quality/reliability), look at the used prices of 2-3 year old Golfs for example.

I'm now in my early 30s and so far a couple of the lads have graduated to one of the default next steps, an Audi A4. Same deal with the perceived image/reliability.

Exactly - massive proportion of them are bought by people who got a bit of money and it went to their head - they couldn't be seen dead in a toyota/ford now...
Hold the horses now, true VAG heads, not saying ye all bought them as an agricultural status symbol -but ye know it's true - they are the culchies beemer.

(I'd regard true VAG fans as I would true MX-5 fans - they may enjoy the cars as driving machines but there's always the whiff of farmyard/hair-salon in the background to ruin it for them...)

bijapos

This is the German AA (ADAC) list of car reliability, based on the amount of times they were called out last year. Deals with cars as far back as 2003 in this table.

Lower down the list the more reliable the car.

Dark green is the best, Red is the worst. Golfs and A4s come out better than average to very good in their categories. Golf was beaten only by the BMW 1 series, Merc A and B and Audi A3. Audi A4 only beaten by the Merc C class

Numbers refer to the amount of times these cars broke down per 1000 of their model that year. Cars need to have sold 10,000 units per annum to be in the table.

I accept that certain cars have certain issues, but I think overall they are a decent make.

http://www.die-auto-experten.de/blog/2009/04/16/die-adac-pannenstatistik/

-Corkie-

I think if the op posted about any car he would get similar replies. I bought my wife a new passat in 07 which never gave any trouble until it was crashed and i replaced it with same mileage same year car which has gave nothing but trouble.... I have a top end audi which has given a lot of niggily problems too.

bmw535d

your main problem is you bought the petrol version. expect a head gasket change down the line

BrianD3

bijapos wrote: »

This is the German AA (ADAC) list of car reliability, based on the amount of times they were called out last year. Deals with cars as far back as 2003 in this table.

Lower down the list the more reliable the car.

Dark green is the best, Red is the worst. Golfs and A4s come out better than average to very good in their categories. Golf was beaten only by the BMW 1 series, Merc A and B and Audi A3. Audi A4 only beaten by the Merc C class

Numbers refer to the amount of times these cars broke down per 1000 of their model that year. Cars need to have sold 10,000 units per annum to be in the table.

I accept that certain cars have certain issues, but I think overall they are a decent make.

http://www.die-auto-experten.de/blog/2009/04/16/die-adac-pannenstatistik/

+1. Also, the ADAC report for 2010 has just been published and follows the trend from recent previous years

VW, Merc and BMW good,
recent Renaults good
Citroen C4 best small MPV
Toyotas about average or a bit below
Ford Mondeo and Opel Vectra poor
Honda Civic and 2009 Jazz poor

http://www1.adac.de/Auto_Motorrad/pannenstatistik_maengelforum/Pannenstatistik_2009/default.asp?ComponentID=290014&SourcePageID=9989

From that if any make is overrated, it's Honda. The 06 onwards Civic is at or near the bottom of its class each year.

L1011

Ooh look, the only Fiats on the ADAC list are solid green... (the yellow Punto is the old, 1993-based model)

Reliability reputation lasts, even long after the basis for it has become bull****.

shamrock105

obi604 wrote: »

Well im not generaising, ive been on VW and Audi forums from the UK, Australia and America and the amount of problems on these forums is ridiculous, so im not generalising from personal experience there is alot more people out there with problems

well bare in mind most of the time the people who dont have issues stay silent, it will be the ones with problems that speak up. Myself, I have an 01 Polo. Not long after I bought it, a fuel injector went and the clutch died. But hey for a 9 year old car that had nothing replaced up to that point i thought that was grand... not at the time though, I thought i had bought a pup. So far its running well (touch wood). Regular servicing and not driving the arse out of it help the cause though. The last four cars the old man has owned since 1998 were two Accord's and two Mondeos. He drives sensibly and services regularly and never had a single thing wrong with any of those motors...zip, nada.

Tea 1000

mailforkev wrote: »

In the US they have the opposite reputation for reliability amongst a lot of people. Over here it's been some very clever marketing.

We had an '07 Golf for a year and it was fine, slow and severely lacking in equipment but we never had any problems.

Among a certain social circle (who don't have any real car knowledge) the Golf is a default car of choice for a lot of people in their mid 20s into their 30s. It's an image thing (along with the perceived quality/reliability), look at the used prices of 2-3 year old Golfs for example.

I'm now in my early 30s and so far a couple of the lads have graduated to one of the default next steps, an Audi A4. Same deal with the perceived image/reliability.

Exactly, the perceived image and quality clouds all judgment. Mate of mine knows a woman who is always talking about how great her Golf is, what a quality car it is, and how ultra reliable it is. It's been back to VW numerous times for various problems, but if anyone else has only the tiniest problem with their car of a different make, she asks with confusion why they don't buy a VW? You'd wonder what goes on in the noggin of some people.
What bugs me about VW is that how anyone can produce such a crappy weedy and noisy 1.4 petrol engine and despite the low power uselessness of it, and still manage to manfacture a gearbox that can't take what little power the 1.4 offers it.
I don't rate VW/Audi as a reliable brand, they're not the worst, but they're far from the best. I know a repeated VW owner who doesn't either, but he's a repeated owner because the perceived reliability means he looses the least on trade-in of a VW versus some other brand.

colm_mcm

People who don't read reliability survey on first impression will jusdge how well built a car is by the action of the door handle, how heavy the door is and how solid the dash is.

to be fair to VW, they've nailed these things.

murphym7

I had a 00 Passat which broke my heart, eletric problems, leaking footwell, loosing power and cutting out completely............ Replaced it 3 years ago with a 00 Civic. Not one issue - through 2 NCT's with almost no hassle. The only other car I had was a 99 Meganne - I could be here all day listing the things that that donkey had wrong with it.

So for me the urban myths of cars are pretty much living up to the press - Renaults will break your heart, VW can break your heart and Honda won't give you any trouble.

Saying all that though - I know of friends and family who swear by VW and Renault. I think its a luck of the draw thing. And in fact, my bad experiences would not stop me buying another Passat cause I think they look great.

rob88

my friend has a 98 polo 999cc.. has had for the last five years.. it had 50k on the clock when bought and now has 85k.. never had any problems whatsoever

i think if you go to any forum for a certain type of car there will be nothing but people on it with their problems

mailforkev

colm_mcm wrote: »

People who don't read reliability survey on first impression will jusdge how well built a car is by the action of the door handle, how heavy the door is and how solid the dash is.

to be fair to VW, they've nailed these things.

Very true.

Coincidentally the FiL picked up a new Avensis on Tuesday and brought it out to us for a spin.

I couldn't believe how light the doors felt when opening/closing them, and the quality of some of the interior plastics was shocking. The drivers armrest is a lump of scratchable hard plastic that will look tatty pretty quickly.

My old VW and current Volvo are a good bit smaller but feel far more substantial.

colm_mcm

RE: the Avensis, would have to disagree on the plastics thing, seemed to me to be hard wearing, unusual texture alright (supposed to be modelled on bamboo or something) but I don't think durability will be an issue.

the fact that it scored highly on the new NCAP (which most cars in its class haven't been tested on) would suggest that the doors are strong enough how hard a door is to close isn't really an indication of how heavy it is.

mailforkev

colm_mcm wrote: »

how hard a door is to close isn't really an indication of how heavy it is.

Of course I know this but it's still all about perception. A nice solid thunk will always be worth something intangible to me.

thirdmantackle

2005 - 2008 Audi A4 1.9 TDi

bullet proof

obi604

thirdmantackle wrote: »

2005 - 2008 Audi A4 1.9 TDi

bullet proof

based on your own experience or from a number of experiences ??

L1011

mailforkev wrote: »

Of course I know this but it's still all about perception. A nice solid thunk will always be worth something intangible to me.

You'd be mightly worried by the luxury cars that don't let you slam the door and basically suck them in themselves, silently then.

Its done to make a tighter seal than a normally closing door could, to reduce road noise. But theres no noise from closing them at all.

bijapos

Along with the ADAC test the German TUV (NCT) report is useful. This shows the cars with "considerable faults" i.e. cars which fail their tests.

You can click on the age of the car at the end of this link.

"2-3 jaehrige" means 2-3 years old etc.

The lists show the percentage of cars of that age that failed the NCT, the next row is the average mileage in km's of that particular model.

http://www.vdtuev.de/presse/pm/tuv-report-2010-mehr-maengelware-auf-den-strassen

sean1141

i have had 3 mk4 based cars. covered about 150k miles so far in them and they never gave any serious problems. a mate of mine had a mk4 golf and it gave him nothing only problems. sold it to a local chap who drove it for 6 months and never gave him a bit of bother.. every make/model has its faults. if anyone thinks a certin make or model is totaly trouble free they are wrong

Guy:Incognito

BrianD3 wrote: »

+1. Also, the ADAC report for 2010 has just been published and follows the trend from recent previous years

VW, Merc and BMW good,
recent Renaults good
Citroen C4 best small MPV
Toyotas about average or a bit below
Ford Mondeo and Opel Vectra poor
Honda Civic and 2009 Jazz poor

http://www1.adac.de/Auto_Motorrad/pannenstatistik_maengelforum/Pannenstatistik_2009/default.asp?ComponentID=290014&SourcePageID=9989

From that if any make is overrated, it's Honda. The 06 onwards Civic is at or near the bottom of its class each year.

06 Transits worse than early Laguna 2? No outcry? Ford should stick Renault badges on them

Neuro Energetic Kinesiology

Have been driving VW's for past 11 yrs....Had a few different issues arise with the age of the on board computers but nothing that couldn't be rectified easily.:)