Renting a Jetta or Passat?

What 'callsign' is that ?

Graham

In the end it's all down to how keen a dealer is to make a sale methinks.

Graham

How many Yugos have you seen that survived 200,000 miles of police patrol car duty plus another 200,00 miles of taxicab duty?

Your ignorance speaks volumes.

Last time I bought from a VW dealership (Nov '02), they handed me the keys to an '03 Passat GLX and let me drive around with nobody else in the car. Ironically, my previous car was an '00 Saturn (you know, the "hands-off no-pressure people"), and there was a salesman in the car yakking at me the whole time.

-- Mike Smith

He must have an awfully sensitive butt. I've found the seats in my '03 Passat to be just fine for 200-300 mile trips.

-- Mike Smith

That's an excellent choice, as is Chevy's counterpart.

In rec.autos.driving John S. wrote: (about the Crown Vic)

By Chevy's counterpart, you mean the 1992-1997 Caprice, not the new "Impala" which is basically a glorified Lumina, right? The first car is awesome (I had a 1992 Caprice wagon for a while, it lasted 190k miles, got stolen, and is probably still runnin' around somewhere), but the second is a stop-gap pile of dreck thrown together by GM so they'd have *something* to sell to cops after they discontinued the Caprice so they could build more SUVs.

Unfortunately, I think the original poster is looking for a new car. If he weren't, I'd highly recommend any Volvo 940 made up to 1996 or so. Same bulletproof engine as the 240 wagons (good amount of power if you get a turbo), comfortable inside, huge interior, etc... Unfortunately, not available with a manual tranny, but the auto trannies that came with those cars (71L made by Aisin-Warner or Borg-Warner IIRC) were very strong and troublefree.

A 90s Bimmer 5-series also wouldn't be a bad choice (this was before Bimmers got obscenely overcomplicated).

-Andrew

All I can say is that Volvo was putting bucket seats with adjustable lumbar support in their 140/240 models at the same time when most US makers of "family station wagons" were using flat bench seats in front. Granted, being able to seat 3 in front is a nice feature, but why couldn't they have contoured the left and right parts of the benches where people usually sit (the middle part is for occasional use only)?

-Andrew

Actually the Lumina is pretty roomy - I've rented them several times. The point of mine and other messages is that the VW cars the OP is looking at are not roomy. If he has some sort of back problem then one of the larger american-size cars like the Avalon, or the Ford/Chevy products are viable alternatives because of their interior dimensions.

Lumina has a transverse engine. Be afraid of anything with a crosswise V-6 or V-8 since getting to the rear cylinder bank for plug replacement, etc, will be a bitch. The possible exception to this rule are engines like VW's VR6 that have a very narrow V angle and are almost inline motors.

-Andrew

I would stress the *quality* of the seat over sheer size to avoid back trouble.

Another problem I've experienced in a Ford was thigh ache due to insufficient leg support ( the seat squab wasn't 'long' enough ). It was horribly painful. Had the journey involved ( ~20 mi ) been any longer I'd have insisted we stop for me to stretch my legs.

Graham

I can't argue with that, but you're saying here that one pile of shit stinks slightly differently and maybe a tetch less than two other piles of shit.

The basic design is nearly 30 years old.

It is. However, the corollary is "Never buy a Ford".

Exactly as many as I've seen Fords that survived 200,000 miles of police patrol car duty: Zero.

Even the most hard-up police department doesn't keep their cruisers much past 70k miles. But you knew that...right?

The Caprice went off the market after the 1996 model year, and the bathtub-shaped one you're thinking of was introduced as a 1991 model.

ummm... Chevy doesn't *have* a counterpart.

nate