Post: #26

(09-28-2015 04:47 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  I knew that car in and out and knew what to expect when things started going wrong. They got replaced. When you know how a car works, you avoid frivolous expenses and unnecessary repairs.

A good car doesn't need things constantly replaced on it.

And not every person has the time, inclination, tools, or aptitude to work on their own cars.

I say the above as someone that does have the tools and aptitude to work on my stuff.

Post: #27

(09-28-2015 04:57 PM)Hotwheels Wrote:  

(09-28-2015 04:47 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  I knew that car in and out and knew what to expect when things started going wrong. They got replaced. When you know how a car works, you avoid frivolous expenses and unnecessary repairs.

A good car doesn't need things constantly replaced on it.

And not every person has the time, inclination, tools, or aptitude to work on their own cars.

I say the above as someone that does have the tools and aptitude to work on my stuff.

At best we're talking one major repair every two years along with basic fluids and filters. For the amount it was driven, the preventative maintenance paid way off. Car still hasn't stranded anyone.

Hotwheels you're a good dude and I respect your opinions, but the second comment disappoints me. I expect more from this forum.

I'm done here, I got what I wanted out of my original rant

Post: #28

(09-27-2015 09:32 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  The VW cars made in Mexico are for export to other Latin American Markets, the US VW cars are imported from Germany.

Must be a coincidence then that the few people i know in the DC suburbs all have VW's that are "Hecho en Mexico".

Post: #29

My first car was a mk1 jetta diesel. It couldn't do 65mph but it got 50mpg if you drove it like a grandma. It wasn't the prettiest thing but I could get bitches where they needed to go for pennies in 8th grade. The older stuff is easy to work on and were perfectly reliable cars until they turned in to a pile of brown dust. I agree with the earlier posters that VW got up their own asses around the bloated mkiv era though. I loved being able to show off in highschool by deadlifting the back of the jetta off the ground in the school parking lot.

Post: #30

Quote:My personal resource for maintaining the car was here
http://forums.tdiclub.com/
They provided everything I needed to get anything fixed.

That's a great site for TDi owners. Wife drives a 2011 Jetta TDi, one of the cars impacted by the emissions scandal. I work on my own cars, and ours is just this year out of warranty, but there is no Chilton's/Hayes/Bentley manual for any VW's after 2010, so for this car I have to depend on the Internet for maintenance procedures and tips.

So far all I've had to do on ours is the oil and the battery, both easy. The thing that surprised me somewhat was the need for special oil and an uncommon filter when doing the oil change. Both took me a while to track down, unavailable at the local Autozone, but no big deal (Amazon.com). I can tell I'll learn a lot working on this car, but I'm not worried about getting stumped with that TDi forum site available whenever I need it.

The car itself seems to have a great build quality, tons of torque for a 2.0 liter, and gets over 40mpg on the highway. These traits, with the "clean emissions," seemed almost to good to be true when we bought the thing, and now we know it wasn't true at all.

Oh well. Despite owning one of the affected cars, I don't really care about the emissions scandal. I live in a no-inspection state, so I intend to just keep the car away from the dealer and not let them do the inevitable ECU flash that will cripple the performance and shorten the motor's life. And I buy cars to drive until they die, so I don't care about resale value. (If I still lived in California, I'd be very upset though--they won't let you register the car if you haven't had the emissions "corrected.")

If I get a compensation check as the result of some class action suit, sure, I'll cash it. Otherwise, I'll try to not feel guilty about spewing a little extra NOx into the air while wifey drives around a safe, solidly-built car getting great mileage with a diesel motor that should last a good long time. No problem.

Post: #31

Volkswagen Group have deep pockets and carry some major badges such as Audi, Bentley Bugatti, Lambo, Ducati and Porsche so.......

"Paul Walker’s daughter is suing Porsche over her father’s death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt.

The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames.

Lawyers acting for Meadow, 16, claim Walker was alive in the vehicle when it caught fire. The suit, obtained by TMZ, claims the seat belt he was wearing “snapped Walker's torso back with thousands of pounds of force, thereby breaking his ribs and pelvis”."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people...71351.html

Post: #32

(09-29-2015 10:28 AM)Kingsley Davis Wrote:  Volkswagen Group have deep pockets and carry some major badges such as Audi, Bentley Bugatti, Lambo, Ducati and Porsche so.......

"Paul Walker’s daughter is suing Porsche over her father’s death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt.

The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames.

Lawyers acting for Meadow, 16, claim Walker was alive in the vehicle when it caught fire. The suit, obtained by TMZ, claims the seat belt he was wearing “snapped Walker's torso back with thousands of pounds of force, thereby breaking his ribs and pelvis”."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people...71351.html

It's advisable to not run your car into concrete posts at high speed.

Bad things tend to happen.

Post: #33

He always seemed like a decent and likable guy in Hollywood. With that said, he was driving at 90-100MPH in a relatively congested area, in a car with tires that were about 9 years old.

Post: #34

The fuss about WV cheating on emissions is hilarious coming from the organization that just oversaw the worst toxic waste spill in U.S. history.

Post: #35

I personally drive diesel cars and have done so since the late 90s. I had many of the TDIs and they are generally good cars. Now I drive a larger German diesel sedan from another manufacturer. There is nothing like hitting 700 miles on a tank of a substantial car.

My only take on this is if you drive a lot and need a fuel sipping machine, if the market for these used has fallen / or if they sell the new ones with incentive, this is an opportunity.

Post: #36

The cars that Volkswagen retails in the US market have never been that good. They are, however, rabidly adored by the armchair car enthusiast community and have therefore been able to get away with truly substandard products under the misnomer of quality 'German Engineering.'

VW parts are expensive for a mass-market car, largely bespoke only to VAG products, and mostly worked on by VW or Euro-specialty shops. VAG diagnostic equipment is expensive and difficult to procure and the electrical quirks of VWs are mindnumbing to say the least. Simple equipment like power door lock actuators and power windows regulators run off an unnecessarily complicated system of control modules which are themselves also expensive (for a mass-market car).

One might chalk this up simply to assembly quality, as USDM Beetles/Jettas are assembled in Mexico while current-gen Passats come from their new factory in Tennessee. However, European assembled models also had many short- and long-term quality problems and the trim on these cars after a few years is appalling at best - loose headliners, dash trim that gets easily scoured by fingernails, loose items, etc, door cards that separate with normal usage, etc. Again, finding replacement parts is expensive for a mass-market car.

The six-speed automatics in the New Beetle ~'03MY are notorious garbage. Early DSGs have ridiculous and expensive service requirements...and still shift sloppy, moreso than a comparable Ford PowerShift (Focus, Fiesta). The older 3.0l V6s puked more oil than they burned. 2.0Ts are also Russian Roulette in terms long-term dependability. Electronic A/C pressure valves that cause cars to take ~15 minutes to begin to cool down. And don't even mention the EOS with that Rube Goldberg top. On and on and on...

Frankly, everyone should be surprised VW managed to get a piece of electronic equipment to function correctly and consistently!

And the proof is in the sales. VAG - that's VW, Audi, Bentley, Porsche - has been consistently neck-and-neck in the US market with Subaru...SUBARU. That's the same Subaru that essentially offers a lineup consisting of a sports car no one buys and two sizes of the same car with outdated interiors in the traditionally unpopular wagon bodystyle and whose hallmark is a drivetrain 1/3 of the country has no use for with a smaller dealer network to boot.

VW in the US heavily fleets Jettas and Passats and gives them away retail with a dunderheaded long-term-residual-sapping lease and finance program (ask Mitsubishi how THAT worked out for them...), no one buys the Golf, the Tiguan is a dud that is a compact CUV priced like a premium midsize CUV, and their big five-year-plan prior to this scandal consisted of FINALLY offering a 3-row crossover in 2017 and reintroducing the Phaeton, another Ferdinand Piech vanity project that was a marketplace joke.

The TDIs were the only thing they got right in this country. And they did it on massive fraud.

And that's the key, folks. Its was intended fraud from the get-go. You can debate the necessity for the regulations until the sun comes up, but you have to pay to play - follow the rules or don't retail your cars here. Everyone else seems to do it the correct way - Ford, Mercedes, BMW, GM, Chrysler - why couldn't VW just do it right or not do it at all?

Fact is, no one will REALLY miss VW if it ever leaves US shores (which they almost did in the eighties, and the nineties) because they haven't offered anything for us to miss for so long and burned all their goodwill with inferior products and blunt mismanagement.

Post: #37

(11-09-2015 11:20 PM)dicknixon72 Wrote:  The cars that Volkswagen retails in the US market have never been that good. They are, however, rabidly adored by the armchair car enthusiast community and have therefore been able to get away with truly substandard products under the misnomer of quality 'German Engineering.'

"Exaggeration is the root of all mental illness" forgot where I read that quote.

The cars are fine, you have picked out a bunch of vw whining from across two decades, all in one post. I owned 5 or 6 and never had a single failure or warranty repair of any kind on any of mine. Another Jetta TDI in my family had the air replaced a couple times in 100K. NOT A BIG DEAL.

They are not substandard they are low end. When you are shopping for a new car at the bottom price levels VW offers some of the best safety available for a cheap car. Some of the alternatives in this price range are ok too, when accompanied by antidepressants.

TDI good deals await.

Post: #38

Just been burned by VW so many times on the used car retail end.

(11-09-2015 11:38 PM)offthereservation Wrote:  They are not substandard they are low end. When you are shopping for a new car at the bottom price levels VW offers some of the best safety available for a cheap car. Some of the alternatives in this price range are ok too, when accompanied by antidepressants.

The safety thing is a bit of a misnomer nowadays when things FMVSS require curtain airbags, stability control, TPMS, rearview monitoring, and myriad other equipment once held as optional equipment only on high-end marques. IIHS testing also compells all manufacturers to go above and beyond. When comparing among the same weight/size classification, there is a near-negligible spread between the 'best' and 'worst' when it comes to safety.

(11-09-2015 11:38 PM)offthereservation Wrote:  TDI good deals await.

This is biggest takeaway from this 'scandal.' Mainstream VWs have lousy resale value for their class (Touareg, GTI notwithstanding), but TDI models - especially hard-loaded Sportwagens and Passats - always bought big money wholesale and retail. Now, they're toxic. To the right buyer confident in their ability to legally register and tag a Diesel VW long-term, sweet deals await.

Post: #39

(11-09-2015 11:20 PM)dicknixon72 Wrote:  The TDIs were the only thing they got right in this country. And they did it on massive fraud.

Yup, I was defrauded and bought one based on false emissions stats, but as I said in a previous post, I don't care -- it's a great car. Solidly built, and the mileage/power combination is amazing thanks to VW cheating their way around the EPA regs.

Today I learned that VW is sending me two gift cards -- one for $500 I can spend anywhere, and another for $500 I must use at the VW dealer (I'll use the dealer-only card to buy filters/fluids/tires to last me for the next 5 years), plus 3 years of free roadside service!

I live in a no-emissions-inspection state, so I won't go near the dealer with the car to let them apply the "fix" that will screw up the car. Just in case, I bought this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ASKR...ge_o00_s00

Now I'll wait to see what additional compensation I'll get from the class-action.

Post: #40

It's a genius way to get around the emissions garbage. It would be interesting to see behind the scenes of this drama and who else is implicated in it.

Bosch make the ECUs and would have written the code so someone there knew about it.

The cars are better off with the hack in them. That's why it's there. If it goes to the dealer for a "fix" it will make less power and use significantly more adblue.

Post: #41

(11-09-2015 11:20 PM)dicknixon72 Wrote:  The cars that Volkswagen retails in the US market have never been that good. They are, however, rabidly adored by the armchair car enthusiast community and have therefore been able to get away with truly substandard products under the misnomer of quality 'German Engineering.'

Armchair car enthusiast?

I take offense to that Dick. Try shade tree mechanic enthusiast.

They're solid cars, auto emissions requirements are a joke and are used to nickel and dime wage slavers who need it to get to their job. Just wait until world governments start with more of this carbon credit bull crap. The people who will get hurt the most are you and me.

The guy who discovered this should be dragged into the street and shot. I bet he's going around to other cars to see if they've been faking them as well.

(11-10-2015 12:56 AM)JayR Wrote:  

(11-09-2015 11:20 PM)dicknixon72 Wrote:  The TDIs were the only thing they got right in this country. And they did it on massive fraud.

Yup, I was defrauded and bought one based on false emissions stats, but as I said in a previous post, I don't care -- it's a great car. Solidly built, and the mileage/power combination is amazing thanks to VW cheating their way around the EPA regs.

This^^ Car manufacturers should be focusing the most efforts on increasing fuel economy.

Post: #42

Now Oliver Schmidt was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/6/16743...dal-prison

This is outrageous.

Post: #43

(12-09-2017 08:05 PM)captndonk Wrote:  Now Oliver Schmidt was sentenced to 7 years in prison.

https://www.theverge.com/2017/12/6/16743...dal-prison

This is outrageous.

Anyone watch the Netflix special on the VW emissions scandal? I think you would be much less sympathetic to the Germans if you did. Not to mention the direct harmful effects to America- our environment, and the effects on companies that sacrificed money and performance trying to comply with the law while VW had no such concerns.

When discovered, their strategy was basically "stall as long as possible by being evasive and uncooperative." American regulators had every right to be pissed off- If I were in charge of the EPA I would have decertified all VWs, gasoline and diesel.

Two people from VW went to jail, though it should have been many more.

Post: #44