Didja See the Latest Car and Driver Magazine?

'06 Jetta finished in first place in their comparison with Acura, Honda, Mazda and Pontiac. Not a lengthy or exhaustive comparo, but interesting points raised, and a startling result, I think.

Reply to
Brian Running
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Well, I suppose it depends what magazine you pick up. Consumer Reports doesn't really like it, but they don't like anything thats not Japanese. European Car and several others said (and rightly so) that the Jetta has lost a lot of its sporting nature, even when compared to the MK4. One thing they all agree on is that it is a good value...... VWofA is definitely looking at this as a volume car, kind of like what Nissan did when they launched the latest Altima - bigger, more standard features, blah blah blah. VW will sell a lot of these, but won't sell many to those of us who fondly remember the the Jetta I and II......or those of us who still drive Sciroccos and MK2 Gti's. The Jetta V doesn't even compete in that class anymore. But, it goes the way of everything else - it must get bigger and fancier and hold more universal appeal -to the point where we wonder why they still call it a Jetta or a 325i. With all the upmarket VW maneuvering, it leaves a gaping hole in their lineup. And, with fuel costs, they'd be nuts not to send us the Polo ..........

Reply to
Willie78

Reply to
Rob Guenther

I agree wholeheartedly that Consumer Reports doesn't like anything unless it's Japanese...and as a result, I pretty much ignore their "reliability ratings." At any rate, I'm disappointed that the younger VW enthusiasts have not as a whole warmed up to the New Jetta. The future of VWoA depends on sales, particularly of this model, and to a lesser extent, the Passat. I'm trying hard to stay loyal to VW, and this next year with all the new models should be interesting. It is imperatave that VWoA comes out of their 4 year sales slump. And yes, we need the Polo over here.

Reply to
Sills

My friend has sport suspension in his

Hey, did you change springs, or anything else in your Golf? I'm thinking I want to upgrade mine. Previous car was an Audi 5kcstq with sport suspension, and I love the Golf, but I'd like to tighten it up, without making it a killer. Just a little more sporting. Thanks, Bill D.

Reply to
Wm Donley

re: "I agree wholeheartedly that Consumer Reports doesn't like anything unless it's Japanese...and as a result, I pretty much ignore their "reliability ratings."

I'm not defending CR but will say that it's their _subscribers_ who report on product reliability. I've been sending in reliability reports on my cars to CR for 30 years and would generally agree with their ratings as far as my cars' reliability records are concerned.

BTW, CR rated the VW Passat as their number one pick for best mid-sized car for a couple of years.

Reply to
jpmccormac

Consumer Reports, which I very rarely read and am not a subscriber, is merely reporting the facts, which are - Toyota, Honda, and Nissan vehicles are the best in terms of reliability. Having said that, I still like my unreliable but easy-to-work-on 1988 VW Rabbit Cabriolet convertible. It's a cool car.

Reply to
Papa

They should be sending you guys the Skoda lineup. Nice cars, extremely good value. The Octavia (based on the Mk V) is a great car which, to me, looks better then the new Jetta. I drive a Fabia myself which is a great car with the 101 bhp TDI engine. VW technology and according to some reviews even better quality then VW itself.

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Remco

Reply to
Remco Meeder

Younger people typically have less money. The a5 Jetta is significantly more expensive than many other small cars.

Reply to
Timothy J. Lee

Mmmm, yes. The 1.4L turbodiesel Polo gets in excess of 60mpg. I'll take a slice of that, please.

Reply to
tylernt

Reply to
Rob Guenther

They provide no information as to the statistical reliability of their rankings. That is because the responses are voluntary, so they are nowhere near a proper statistical sample. The CR ratings are nearly worthless.

Reply to
RJ

Reply to
none2u

Can't ignore it, but you have to take it in context. Two little facets of human nature make consumer reports (literally, not "Consumer Reports," the magazine) a little shaky: One, people that buy cars for reasons of fashion, or because of trendiness, or some other non-objective, personal or emotional reason, will NEVER admit that there's anything bad about their cars. Wouldn't matter if they were the worst POS cars ever built, their owners will defend them to the death. This applies to any car ever built in the UK. Recently, Road & Track noted that, in spite of poor quality and reliability, Mini Cooper owners just rave endlessly about them, they're in complete denial of reality.

The other facet is the other side of the coin -- some consumers are not mechanically inclined in the least, and are very "twitchy" about the slightest little problem. A piece of exterior trim the size of a dime falls off their car, and they go ape-shit, starting letter campaigns, putting up anti-manufacturer web sites, calling 60 Minutes and every consumer-reporter news program in the country, and just generally spilling bile about their car everywhere they can. I'm both a car enthusiast and a lawyer, I get calls from these people every now and then. They bitch that their car is the worst, most defective fraud ever perpetrated on the car-buying public -- then I find out that they changed the oil every 25,000 miles, or neglected every service interval, or beat the daylights out of the thing, or just generally took a "head-in-the-sand" approach to car care. But, by God, they want to sue.

Don't ignore Consumer Reports, but take it with a grain of salt.

Reply to
Brian Running

Reply to
none2u

Hey, None, ol' buddy -- that wasn't an argument, that was just my advice. Take it or leave it. You want to believe everything in Consumer Reports as God's own truth, more power to you.

Reply to
Brian Running

Reply to
none2u

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