I've owned about every kind of VW that they've made. All of them were very reliable and didn't cost a lot of money, save the last one. It wasa 2002 TDI that ran like a dream, but had a few costly repairs just out of warranty. I loved the car, but sold it for the A3. I just talked to the guy that bought it from me and he has driven over 50k miles in the last 2 years without a problem. Go figure! Glad I could fix everything upnice for him. lol



Cheers!

 

I don't know if this makes any difference but almost all the VW's (with the exception of the GTI, Passat and Toureg) are assembled in plants in Mexico. Where as all Audi models are assembled in Germany.

 

VW (Group) is like the GM of Europe. They own Audi, Porsche, VW, Bentley, Seat, Bugatti, and I think Skoda. Audi owns Lamborghini so by association VW owns Lamborghini. You can see the connection between each company in the majority of their cars. Audi based the 5.2 V10 of Lambo's 5.0 V10, Audi and VW interchange engines and mechanics, and VW is the reason Bugatti rose from the dead and the Veyron was built. You can also see the Audi/VW motors like the 1.8 and 1.9TDI used in Skoda's and the Passat platform was used to make the Skoda Superb.

Little history lesson, this is what I do during myChemistry for Engineerslecture

 

I had a VW Golf and T'reg. The Golf was a great little car. The T'reg, while a cool SUV had alot of bugs. I spent many a days at VW service here in SoCal, not fun. It also ate rotors , pads and tires every 18k or so, painful.....Looking forward to my new Audi experience!

 

I had a VW Golf and T'reg. The Golf was a great little car. The T'reg, while a cool SUV had alot of bugs. I spent many a days at VW service here in SoCal, not fun. It also ate rotors , pads and tires every 18k or so, painful.....Looking forward to my new Audi experience!

PS I sold the T'reg and got a Ford F150 Lariat, that thing was amazing, never needed anything and full service package costs $49! (you even get tire rotation for that!)

 

I owned a 2003 Jetta for 2 years. Never had any problems with the car. Not 1. Car was a tank! Got a 05 Mercedes C230. had the rotors changed 3 times (out of round), air bag sensors replaced or plugged back in (they fell out wtf?) 4 times, windows once rolled down and would not come back up, seat belt chime would go off randomly even if you had the seat belt on, Leather on armrest cracked and pealed, Center armrest top broke off,Electronic key broke at the gas station so I could not turn the car on and had to have it towed, plastic cap on set belt ratteled to all hell, sigh... I could go on. I guess some cars really are built on a Friday.

Point being. you never know what kinda car your going to get!

 

It seems this thread took a turn to the VW side so I thought I'd jump in. I had 4 VW's before my A3: Scirrocco, 2 Jettas, and Touareg. As said above the Jettas were rock solid. Also, ditto on the Touareg - biggest POS I've ever owned. Tons of bugs. I just traded it for an A6. I agree about VW service (at least in L.A.) - horrible. Carry on.

 

FWIW: Audi is top ten for reliablity just within the last few years. I've spoke with my mechanic who is friend of mine. No BS, up front sort whom I've known for the past 10 years. I'd trust my kid with his family.

A generalization I know, but one thing he said which stuck with me: "With a BMW or V.W.; if some thing is wrong it usually a well known problem, a common one. With Mercedes, Honda or Toyota and even Subaru, if a problem happens it could be a number things, when they're broke, sometimes it's not obvious what needs to be fixed."

 

I got the 98 Jetta home and have a few problems after replacing the starter.

The car has been sitting for about five months after the starter stopped working. Before that it was used every few weeks for about 4 months. We bump started it and I drove about 100 miles to get it home. At first it drove very nicely, but after about 50 miles it began to hesitate and skip when I pressed on the gas too far. It had about a half tank of gas. I suspected bad gas - or a clogged filter. Finally it stalled when I slowed for the tool booth in NH and I had to have it towed the last 5 miles. (Sometime I'll tell you about my problems with AAA)

After I did the starter it seemed fine but the starting problem came back. (I didn't drive it on the highway.) I then replaced the gas filter (it was the first time in 170K miles) and everything was OK again for about an hour. Then it would not start easily. It will startafter a long time and will only catch whenItake my foot off the gas. I suspect bad gas and maybe more crap in the tank. Tonight I will drain the tank and see what I find. Might have to replace the filter again.....

Any other ideas? I hope it's not a sensor causemy VAG Com will not connect.

Don't mean to hijack an AUDI forum -- Is there a good VW forum with friendly helpful people like Audi?

 

There is a good VW forum, but I'll give it a whack. After sitting that long, there is a lot of things that I would do. First, the gas may be bad after sitting that long if there wasn't any conditioner added. Drain the fuel, then pull and check the plugs, and replace the fuel filter. Add fresh gas and conditioner.

I would also check the electrical side. Check the battery level and use a multimeter to check the alternator's output. Make sure that you don't have any items causing a drain on the battery. Also check for corrosion on the cables and connection, especially on the battery and main contact terminals.

Obviously, check all other fluids and such. Basically, the car needs a service.


Hope that helps.


Cheers!