Originally Posted by supton
Originally Posted by jeepman3071
Originally Posted by SeaJay
I'm long in the tooth, and have never really understood people's fascination with VW's. Back in the day, maybe when a new bug was about half the cost of the cars most folks drove. But since then I am at a loss. For the most part they have very elegant German engineering that was designed strictly for its elegance without regard for long lasting reliability.
But to each their own. I have suffered thru quite a few American built cars with their problems. Now I my DD is built in the USA by a Japanese owned outfit. No one's idea of excitement, but I have been enjoying its reliability with a smile on my face when behind the wheel.
My sister and several of my friends own Jettas ranging from 2012-2016. IMO they are one of the best cars for the money. They have much better corrosion protection than anything American or Japanese which is a major plus in the salt belt. They have a solid, connected driving feel, nice interior, and get 36-38 mpg on the highway while having decent enough power. There are 5 total in my circle, and all of them have around 100k miles or more with very little problems. So far one has needed a fan control module, another one a battery and an O2 sensor, and that's it. I think this era of VW is much better than the MK4 era Jettas which were huge piles of garbage.
Ouch. Sometimes I think I slid through on pure luck as I had a MkIV. PD TDi no less, although I only drove manuals back then so no automatic. I still miss that car, loved it, but after 300k it was time to move on for a number of reasons. Biggest issue was getting quality work done, that seemed worse on a VW, but TBH good mechanics are not easy to find for any brand.
Yeah I can imagine finding a good VW mechanic nevermind one that works on TDi's can be a bit tough. My sister had a 2001 Jetta 2.0L and it was a nightmare. By 100k miles the transmission (auto) was done. It drank oil like it was free, CELs nearly every other week, and just generally fell apart. I'm amazed she even considered buying the one she has now, which has close to 100k miles and drives like new. It's amazing what a few generations of a model will do for reliability. She had a 2005 Civic in between, and initially set out to find another Civic, but all the Japanese cars in a similar price range were beat to death and still had high "it will sell because it is X brand" prices.