Fucking Volkswagen

The BBQ Pit
1

That’s it. I’m selling my piece of shit car, and that’s final. Volkswagen has screwed me for the very last time. I realize that the 99 Jettas have significant problems with them. In fact, so many parts on my car have been recalled that I’m kind of suprised that they haven’t just recalled the whole damn car and given me a new one. Apart from the recalls, I’ve had to pay out of pocket for almost as much as the car is worth, and, goddamnit, I’m not going to do it anymore!

Today I took my car in. It was in the shop two weeks ago for a problem covered under recall, but it broke down again Thursday. So, anyway, I took it in. Since the problem I was having wasn’t covered under recall, I had to pay $109 for a diagnostic, and the dealer refused to cover a rental car. It pissed me off, but I caved - the problem with my car was that the air conditioner was busted, so I was more than happy to pay $25 for a vehicle that actually had AC, and I was expecting to be shafted for the diagnostic. So, I’m almost to my husband’s work to pick him up (his car died last week - when it rains it pours), when all of sudden, I realize - I’ve forgotten my house keys. They’re back and the VW dealer in my car. Dammit! So I pick my husband up, we drive back to get the keys, I wait in line for 30 minutes with a bunch of other irate VW customers. Finally, the guy gets to me and says, “Oh, Mrs. Overly, I was wanting to talk to you in person about this…” Oh, shit, I’m thinking. What is it? How much will it be - $500, $600?? I just started my own business, I don’t have a lot of money - in fact, I just broke even for the first time last month. And my husband needs a new car, too. Shit. But, no, it’s actually worse than I thought it could be. The repairs will cost me at least $1,400 in parts, NOT including labor, which will probably cost me about the same, bringing my grand total to about $2,800.

So, I say, Okay. Bring me a sales guy. I ask the sales guy, “How much is this piece of junk worth? I’d like to sell it to you now and leave it here.” The guy tries to get me to trade in my car for another fucking Volkswagen!!! I laugh, yell “WHAT?!? I’m never buying one of these cars again - they’re awful, the most horrible car I’ve ever owned. There is absolutely no way in the world I would EVER purchase one of these pieces of crap from that company ever ever ever,” at the top of my lungs. One of the irate VW customers snorts and mutters, “No kidding.” The sales person glares at me and says that he’s sorry I feel that way, but wouldn’t I like to see the new VWs. I say, no, I would not, in fact, I’d like to leave and pick this car up tomorrow so I can sell it to another dealer who won’t try to sell me another car of the same brand that I hate. I hand him the car keys back, tell him I’ll be back in the morning to pick up my car and leave. I now have an appointment with another dealer tomorrow. Fucking Jetta. I hate you, Volkswagen. I’m buying a used Toyota, and so is my husband.
As a side note, to make matters worse, when I was paying for my rental car at Enterprise, the guy asked for my credit card, of course. I gave it to him, and he asked to see my driver’s license because it didn’t match the name on the card. “Of course it does,” I say smiling (I get this a lot because since I married my name is so long my whole name no longer fits on the same line on my driver’s license). I hand the license over, pointing out that the name is really long, and, nope it turns out that the name really doesn’t match the one on my license because it’s not my credit card. A friend and I accidentally grabbed each other’s credit card when we went to dinner Saturday night.
:mad: :mad: :mad:

2

VW must have really went downhill in the past 20 years. My dad had a '79 Rabbit that lasted for over 750,000 miles.

3

You have no idea. Although, I think the 1999 Jettas were particularly bad cars for VW. I’ve paid nearly $7,000 in repairs for mine - the fucking thing breaks nearly every three months, sometimes more often. It’s a horrible, horrible lemon of a car.

4

Just don’t trade it in on a Land Rover. http://automobile.auto123.com/en/info/autonews/index,view.spy?artid=25979. Check out the second paragraph on page 5!

5

Another '99 Jetta owner here. While it sounds like my problems haven’t been quite as bad as yours, I’ve still had a ton of annoyances with the thing. Really, really poorly made.

There’s been at least 2 times when something has broken and I’ve had to have it replaced, only to find out after I’d already paid for the repair that VW was recalling it. And of course, they make the process of getting reimbursed for something that is subsequently recalled, so much of a hassle that most people (including myself) wouldn’t bother to do it.

One of those times was the O2 sensor, which caused the car to go dead right in the middle of 70mph freeway traffic. Another was the driver side window, which just collapsed into the door frame on the first day of a week-long rain streak. Each cost around $500 to fix.

Plus, mine seems to burn through oil like crazy; I have to have it changed about every 2000 miles instead of 3000. The Jiffy Lube guys tell me that I’m not due for a change yet, and I have to show them that the engine is empty (not just low) on oil, it’s running like crap, and the “change oil” light comes on every time I turn a corner. And I’ve tried just about every grade of oil there is, with no difference.

The other stuff is just minor annoyances, but annoyances all the same – tail light and headlight blow out at least once a year, the cup-holder broke and is now worthless, the automatic switch to the gas tank door no longer works. Plus my key keeps falling apart, and it’s over $100 to get a new one (it’s the fancy remote door-opener kind).

Kudos to you, overlyverbose, for telling them where they can stick it. I’m keeping mine because it’s finally paid off and it still runs okay (when it has oil), but I’m definitely not getting another Volkswagen.

6

yawn

I’ve put over a million miles on VWs in the past 20 years or so, and never had a major breakdown. Tell it to the Marines.

7

Everyone I know who bought a VW before 12, 15 years ago reports that they are essentially indestructible.

Everyone I know who bought a VW in the last five years reports that parts are falling off them before you pull out of the dealership’s lot.

What the hell happened?

8

Y’know, my Jetta is a 2001 an my A/C isn’t working either. I won’t have time until my summer class is over to take it in, so I’ve been running it with the windows down. I hope the warranty covers it, it was a certified used car, so I don’t know. I’ve only had it a year and a half, but I like to drive cars until they’re almost dead. I haven’t had to have any warranty or service work done on it yet, but if the VW dealer tries to charge me for it I will take the car to my SOs cousin for service, he can fix anything.

Another problem is the check engine light. I filled up with gas and it came on. Next tank, it went off. The tank after that, it came on again. There is a recall notice (brake light?) I need to get taken care of too. Other than that, it seems to be OK.

9

My '02 Passat has been almost entirely trouble-free. Damn good car, as a matter of fact.

10

At least for the US market, Passats and Jettas are built in different places – IIRC it’s Germany for the Passats and Mexico for the Jettas. I haven’t heard anyone complain about Passats. I’ve heard numerous complaints about Jettas from 99 - on.

I guess I should be more specific about my complaints – I’m talking about Volkswagens I can afford to buy.

11

That could simply be caused by not having the gas cap securely on, EPA laws on new cars mandate that if the gas cap isn’t secured the “Check Engine” light come on. One would think that they’d have it set up so that there was a light which said, “Fix Your Gas Cap, Stupid!” but apparently, that’s too much trouble.

A buddy of mine had a '99 Jetta that had a valve cover gasket leak. He took it to all the dealerships in town and they told him that they couldn’t get the part to fix it. He also had problems with the hinges leaking grease. When he pointed it out to the mechanic at the dealership his response was, “They all do that.”

FWIW, he bought a '03 and hasn’t had any problems with it so far.

12

Don’t blame the Mexican plant - Volkswagen’s reliability scores have plummeted in European markets too the last 10 years, and all cars sold here come from Germany. The Passat seems to be somewhat trouble-free, but the Golf, Bora (Jetta in the US), Polo and Lupo models all score below average in their classes (source: a Dutch consumer magazine, last year). VW sells cars based on a quality image that’s two decades old, and no longer applies.

It’s ironic, really. My car outperformed all Volkwagens in terms of reliability in that test. And it’s a fecking garlic-laden, shat-together-by-striking-Frenchmen, rattly Citroën. :slight_smile:

[sub](In fact, it’s a really, REALLY good car, and a testament to the fact that the tables are shifting: the French now actually make cars that are just as reliable, if not MORE so, than the German ones. The apocalypse is nigh.)[/sub]

13

I checked that. I took it off and re-tightened it to make sure, the light stayed on. Our GMC Safari van has a check engine light problem too. The GMC dealer told us about the gas cap thing, but that light has stayed on since almost the day we bought it (used).

14

That truly is alarming! No French marque has been imported to the U.S. in years, so we haven’t gotten to witness the transformation. When you say “French car” to most Americans (at least those old enough to remember when they were sold here), the mental image that pops up is of a Renault Dauphine, spewing smoke and leaving a trail of miscellaneous body trim parts behind. Fine, fine vehicles! :smiley:

15

Heh. The Dauphine was a cute car, though! And weren’t all cars unreliable in those days? :slight_smile:

Actually, there have been some French cars sold in the US more recent than that. Peugeot stopped exporting to the US in the mid 90’s (though I believe some models are exported to Canada), but perhaps the Peugeot 405 or its somewhat older brother 505 rings a bell?

Not sure about Citroën, but I don’t think they’ve been sold in the US since the 1970’s. And from Renault, I only know they marketed the 5 as “Le Car” in the States, and they also made US-versions of the 9 and the 11 in the mid-80’s, under some Chrysler group label if I’m not mistaken?

16

Yes, the Peugot managed to hang on longer than the rest - mid 1990s sounds about right, though they were never big sellers at any stage. Citroen has been gone from these shores for over 30 years - a buddy of mine had one in high school, ca. 1970, but that was pretty much the end of the line.

Renault was still being sold here in the mid-1980s under the American Motors banner: http://www.arcticboy.com/Pages/arcticboysrenault.html. AMC was purchased by Chrysler in 1987, basically so that Chrysler could get their hands on the Jeep brand. They promptly killed off the ex-AMC offerings, and I believe 1988 saw the last of the “American” Renaults.

17

By the way, for those of you unfamiliar with the glory that was the Renault Dauphine, you can start your education on this website! The page is old and stale (a lot of the links are broken), but info is tough to come by, so you make do with what you’ve got.

18

Thems the ones! The Alliance was called the 9 over here, and the Encore was the 11. Actually, there was even a Renault 11 Turbo back in the day, and it was quite a rapid little car!

Yes, you got your facts down pretty well… I seem to recall that the whole Renault/AMC/Chrysler/Jeep thing resulted in the Cherokee having a Renault gearbox, eventually. Perhaps they still do, given how slowly these things evolve. :smiley:

And didn’t some of the Renault diesel engines also find their way to Jeep cars?

19

Citroen was ALWAYS making great cars! I have a Citroen DS (the one with the revolving lights!). It is 40 years old, I have no idea how many kilometers on the clock, and its one of the most reliable cars I’ve ever had :cool:

Coldfire, what’s your Citroen?

20

Consumer Reports, a US consumer magazine, pretty much echoes that. The Passat is the only used Volkswagen they seem to recommend, and even then they recommend avoiding some years.

FWIW, I’ve been very satisfied with my '02 Passat wagon. Other then two recalls which were both fixed during normal maintenance, I haven’t had any problems with it. I plan on driving it until it falls apart–hopefully that won’t be as soon as the Jetta! :dubious: