VW Maintainability

With respect, if any contemporary vehicle receives the scrupulous, often expensive and painstaking maintenance that a VW requires to make that 'properly broken in' 100,000 miles - it too will last equally as long. So, the statement is not BS, just very nearly impossible to execute.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

The owner's manual for my 2009 VW Rabbit (AKA Golf) says the break-in period is 1,000 miles. So what's this about 100,000 miles? That seems like an awfly long break-in period. VW's factory warranty (in the US anyway) only goes up to 36,000 miles/3 years.

Eric

From what I understand, the name is actually "New Beetle", not just Beetle. So the name is actually different, to differentiate it from the old Beetle.

The issue is around the definition of "properly".

VW has pretty much always demonstrated a singular lack of faith in their products these last dozen years or so based on their warranties, anyway.

Peter Wieck Melrose Park, PA

I have heard that VW cars were getting lower-than-average reliability ratings in recent years. A long time ago, I had always thought VWs were known to be very reliable cars. Indeed, I saw (and still occasionally see) many early 80s VW Rabbits (AKA Golf) on the road, as well as older Beetles.

I had a 2006 VW Rabbit at one time, and when I bought that car, the VW salesperson told me that many of the New Beetles were having lots of reliability problems. The reason, as explained to me, was that at the plant where the New Beetles are made (at their Mexico plant), they weren't inspecting the cars before they were shipped. The salesperson said the manager of that plant was fired. On the other side, I've heard that the VW Passat is known to be a reliable car, and those are made at VW's plant in Germany. So, perhaps the quality issues have to do with different plants not following outlined procedures.

Eric

Yeah I am not too fond of the newest VWs, but the ones made in around 2001 had warranties on their powertrains for 10 years or 100,000 miles (original owners though) I have driven some VWs with less than 100K miles and they just feel like they are quite running smooth enough to me!

Yeah minor things break or go bad but I know a few VWs running well and they have past 240K miles. A couple of theses are 1995 Jettas with the 2.0 engine and auto trans! I only have 240K on my '83 GTi engine in my '83 Audi 4KS with 240K.

I would buy a VW/Audi with over 100K miles before I buy a Japanese or American car! I would buy a Jeep with over 100K miles though.

JMHO

My dad used to drive a 1980 VW Scirocco that he eventually replaced in

My 2009 Rabbit was assembled in Germany (rather than Mexico or Brazil, where the US models have been manufactured in the past), and it gives me a little more confidence to know that it was assembled at VW's home factory. I think they were careful to use the word "assembled", though, because various parts may come from other factories. The engine came from VW's Mexico plant, and the transmission came from Japan.

I think the Japanese brands have tended to be good cars too. I haven't heard anything bad about Honda, and I always used to hear good things about Toyota, although I've heard Toyota's quality has gone down a bit lately. Before I bought my 2009 VW Rabbit, I considered buying a Mazda

Eric

AFAIK that 2.5 liter engine is 50% of a Lamborghini engine. Has a chain that should last many years if the engine is maintained correctly. I have heard of one engine with barely over 100K miles needing the chain already. That lady paid big $$$$ to have her sickly car repaired to the engine and auto trans. I will assume it is running correctly now but I am not sure it needed all of that work. :-(

I have only seen a few of these engines but have not done any work on them. They have no history with me therefore I am not confident in them...................yet! lol