Originally Posted by Vuflanovsky
As long as you don't say that the average VAG product approaches the average Toyota product in terms of "issues" then I have no problem in letting everybody have their preferences to run with...Convincing somebody that Toyotas are X and BMW/VAG are Y is fine as long as someone can accept that the context might not really apply. Is driving a BMW somewhere between self-conscious and self-congratulatory and driving a Camry is a totally soul-sucking, ubiquitous experience?? I don't know...but if you don't care it doesn't really matter and convincing somebody who still doesn't want to care is a tough row to hoe.
I drove a Mk IV Golf for 10 years as a second car and while it wasn't terrible, I think there's a "truism" with the idea that the window regulator, coil pack, bulb, etc. issues with that era car don't really happen in the same niggling ( sometimes called "overengineered" ) way with the average Toyota. On that front, I guess my personal experience and that of others I know don't need boyfriends and second cousin's friends to confirm. Personally, I think the EA211 1.4T is a great engine and I wouldn't mind having it in my current commuter car but I might be engaging in some thread drift...
Light bulb will go away in Golf IV or V, bcs you are running H7 light bulbs. In Toyota you will run pair of candles called H11, which project same amount of light as my cell phone screen. So, VW can easily make bulb last "forever" by putting same light bulb as Toyota. In the end, Toyota also installs OSRAM light bulbs as OE.
Coil pack better does not fail on my Sienna for example (and they do) since it will take half a day to replace it, unlike any VW product. I just changed coil packs in Tiguan at 76k, took exactly 7.5 minutes to put them in.
But, I am not saying somehow VW is more reliable than Toyota (in the US, in Europe, they probably are due to the fact that Toyota has to offer smaller more complex engines). Toyota is, and it would be astonishing if it is not, considering how "under engineered" they are. But, problem is that that comes at other expense, They are poorly assembled (my SIenna is by far the worst assembled vehicle I owned in the last 20 years), brakes are undersized (rear pads on this minivan are smaller than what I had on 1996 Opel Vectra, and that thing was like 2000lbs lighter), simple suspension that tests integrity of your jaw over potholes, while providing much worse handling than any European vehicle, small or big, the quality of materials (BMW E61 525d that I sold with 425k km in Europe looked better than what this Toyota looks now, and it is in garage).
So far when it comes to expenses, I spent on VW Tiguan since I bought it in 2013 with 36k, less than what I spent on SIenna I bought in 2018 in September with 42k. Difference is, VW feels like one block of steel on the road, and Sienna feels like box assembled by cheapest bidder.