Hey guyz,
quick question, which car is more reliable , decent in pricing for parts, less maintains fee and better for long run
Volkswagen Jetta TDI (Diesel) 2014 vs Toyota Corolla LE 2014
You’ve got it down to two, both with excellent reputations. Try driving them both.
Some mechanic Dopers will chime in. This is half an IMHO question.
I don’t know about those particular models although I have experience with both brands. You are comparing a notoriously unreliable make with a very reliable one. Corolla hands down. Not a fancy car, but known to be a workhorse. VW may appeal to you on some other level maybe. On a personal level, VW is for people who have the money to fix it often.
JD Powers links (because Consumer Reports wants my money):
If you have other requirements, like must be diesel or design preference, then go with the VW. But based on long-term reliability especially, it’s not close.
Corolla. Definitely the Corolla. Time and space does not allow me to detail all of the good this automobile has afforded me. And mine is a model year 1999. 15 freaking years.
Moderator Action
While parts of this are factual, overall the OP is asking for opinions about which one is better.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
I was hoping a Mod would move this thread to IMHO. What parts of this are factual? I’ll come up with a laundry list. Thx!
We’ve owned 2 Jetta diesels over the years, and while they were decent vehicles, they weren’t all that great. To be fair, with the first one, we used a mechanic who was a friend but not to bright about diesels, and I think he caused some of our problems. The second one, maybe 15 years later, seemed to be of poorer quality than the first - nothing major, just lots of little things. One other minor issue - sometimes finding diesel can be tricky. More stations seem to be carrying it these days, but we had to keep on the lookout, even around town, so we knew where we could go.
I’ve never driven a Corolla, but I had a Scion xA, which is a Toyota product, and I loved that car. I only sold it (to my sister) because when I retired, we didn’t need 3 vehicles, and mine was the least practical to keep. If it was indicative of Toyota quality, then that’s the swing vote in my mind.
People lean towards Toyota because of reliability but I go to VW because of the engineering, design and, in my case, reliability as well.
My daily commuter is a 2000 VW Jetta GLX. It’s not my first VW. Unlikely it will be the last. There have been a couple of recent electrical issues but I think they are sorted now. Outside of that, the car has been incredibly reliable and after nearly 15 years, still lifts my mood every time I get behind the wheel.
Granted it’s not a diesel but I have friends and family who were the happy owners of a VW diesel models and they’ve loved the years and miles of ownership. When the new Golf GTD arrives next year, I may buy my first diesel to replace the GLX, which will go to my kid.
The VW TDi’s are reputed to be some of the best performing engines on the market these days I would not hesitate to pick it over a Corolla.
Things like the historical reliability data for each model and the cost of parts are factual and can be cited. Weighing the relative importance of these cites would be a matter of opinion, however.
Note that even though the thread has been moved, factual data may still be given.
I would get the Corolla.
Maintenance, repair, and parts tend to be less expensive for domestic and Japanese (and Korean - Hyundai/Kia) than European cars. This isn’t a universal fact, just in general.
The Japanese and other Asian makers modeled their cars after US makes. European cars are their own design/engineering.
Not my direct experience - a close friend - Drove a Jetta for several years. Had various electrical problems and whatnot. She would bring it to the local garage who I suspect wasn’t too experienced with European makes. They never could get the electrical system right. Plus they would mess up basic things like oil changes and stuff because even the oil filters are a different design. They once overtightened a plastic filter cover cap and broke it during an oil change.
the corolla, the corolla, the corolla, and the corolla
The Jetta will be a much more fun car to drive (imho)
Go to kbb.com and find the message board for the cars you are interested in. You’ll find lots of reviews from people who own the car. Look at the lowest rated reviews to get a good idea of the troubles people have.
I’m not sure how to directly get to a specific car’s forum. I usually get there by going through the steps to price a used car. When it shows the price, there will be a link to the consumer reviews forum.
The answer is the Corolla, but who cares? These days other than maybe some of the really high-end luxury stuff (I’m looking at you Land Rover) the difference between reliability in new cars is basically negligible. If you actually look at the nitty gritty of the reliability surveys, the actual difference between relatively high and low reliability cars is tiny. Just get whichever one you like more.
One factor you might want to consider is ease of repair. Pretty much any shop can work on the Corolla and you can get parts for it at any auto store. The Jetta may need more specialized mechanics and the parts won’t be as widely available. So even if they have the same exact type of maintenance history, the Corolla will be easier to get fixed.
Oh, you have a newer model. We have a 1990 we bought in 1998 with almost 100K on it.