Ahh. The joys of owning a VW..

[Antisocial Virge]

This summer the door trim falls off both front doors and the sides of both seats collapse, both common VW problems. The door lock breaks, very common VW problem, "Might as well fix the other side it will break also" VW Mechanic. Cost to fix is almost $50 in parts and I do it myself.

O2 sensors go bad...both of them.. $400+

Car dies yesterday. Cost to repair $596. Two sparkplugs had backed out, (??!!!) and shorted out the coil and rotor button in the rain.

Other parts that need looking at soon according to mechanic. Leak in valvecover, breather line to valve cover. Antifreeze leak where the heater hose flange and temperature sensors bolt to the head and a ton of other things but I stopped listening when my eyes glassed over and smoke started coming out my ears.

Total cost approx $1400 in repairs on a 96 Golf with LESS THAT 50K Miles. Never buy a newer VW!!

 

[Frdm51472]

Oh you should change the topic to the joys of owning a new psuedo VW. Since you tend to offend us real VW owners with the current one.

 

[C'DaleRider]

I can understand both O2 sensors crapping out, but $400 for the two? You can buy direct replacement Bosch O2 sensors form almost any parts store for $100/each and put them in yourself.....you'd be paying $200 for labor which is just unscrewing the two and screwing the new ones in.....just make sure you coat the new threads with anitseize compound before you put them in.

The hardest part is fishing out the wires and hooking the new ones up, but since these are direct plugin replacements, it's a half-hour job tops. (have dont this exact job myself and I'm no great mechanic.....decent shadetree, but no pro...)

If you feel good about your soldering/wiring skills, universal fit for that VW are about $50/each, but you'll have to splice them into the wire plugin that is on the old O2 sensor.

 

[JBT]

Sounds about right for a newer VW. The only thing my VW ever does if its REALLY cold I need to tap the fuse box with my foot to get the heat,windshield, and CD player to start going. Mines a 94 JettaIII with about 130K. Back in HS I had a 89 Jetta that actually ran really well It had 240K miles when I sold it about 4 years ago for $900 and I still see it running today just looks like a POS hehe.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: Frdm51472
Oh you should change the topic to the joys of owning a new psuedo VW. Since you tend to offend us real VW owners with the current one.

Psuedo VW? WHF are you talking about? The Fox was a psuedo VW. I alctually used to like the old VW Rabbits but the new ones have gone downhill bigtime. Just read about the coil problems with the diesels as an example.

You can buy direct replacement Bosch O2 sensors form almost any parts store for $100/each

Actually one of them is $100 and the other is $179 from part stores. You can go to universal ones but I don't have the time or place to work on it.

94 and 96 models don't qualify as new unless you consider an eight year old and a ten year old to be infants.

True. I used to own late 70's early 80's Rabbit diesels so 96 seems super modern to me. The fact remains that the quality has gone down hill. Coil problem mentioned above for example.

 

[Mill]

94 and 96 models don't qualify as new unless you consider an eight year old and a ten year old to be infants.

 

[DurocShark]

You need to get a REAL VW: Like this one

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Originally posted by: DurocShark
You need to get a REAL VW: Like this one

Probably Like I said I had real good luck and loved driving old Rabbits but I have never had as much problems with a car as this one. Especially one with milage as low as this one. My 95 F150 is older with double the mileage and has never had a tenth the probs of the VW. Especially on things that you mention to someone and 10 other people have the same exact problems.

 

[DurocShark]

Originally posted by: Antisocial-Virge

Originally posted by: DurocShark
You need to get a REAL VW: Like this one

Probably Like I said I had real good luck and loved driving old Rabbits but I have never had as much problems with a car as this one. Especially one with milage as low as this one. My 95 F150 is older with double the mileage and has never had a tenth the probs of the VW. Especially on things that you mention to someone and 10 other people have the same exact problems.

I had two '84 GTIs and they were both great little cars. I'm thinking VWs have just gone to poop altogether. I hear very few "I love my 90's VW" stories.

 

[mrCide]

i have an b5 A4.. i'd like to drop a k04 into it =\

 

[Joemonkey]

i have a 1999.5 jetta w/ about 70k on it... bought it with around 67k, and the only thing i needed to do to it was replace the spark plugs and wires.

of course, i have no idea what the problems were with the car before i got it. i know the windows have been fixed so they won't fall into the door!

 

[SherEPunjab]

That German engineering and Mexican manafacturing makes a lethal combo.

 

[Murphy Durphy]

I have a 2002 VW Jetta and have never had a single problem with it. I love it.

 

[Mr N8]

Just be glad you don't own an Olds Aurora. I have spent ~$3400 on it in the last 1.5 years.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Originally posted by: Antisocial-Virge

Originally posted by: Frdm51472
Oh you should change the topic to the joys of owning a new psuedo VW. Since you tend to offend us real VW owners with the current one.

Psuedo VW? WHF are you talking about? The Fox was a psuedo VW. I alctually used to like the old VW Rabbits but the new ones have gone downhill bigtime. Just read about the coil problems with the diesels as an example.

You can buy direct replacement Bosch O2 sensors form almost any parts store for $100/each

Actually one of them is $100 and the other is $179 from part stores. You can go to universal ones but I don't have the time or place to work on it.

94 and 96 models don't qualify as new unless you consider an eight year old and a ten year old to be infants.

True. I used to own late 70's early 80's Rabbit diesels so 96 seems super modern to me. The fact remains that the quality has gone down hill. Coil problem mentioned above for example.

Diesels don't use coils. They have glowplugs to start then use compression only for ignition.

The coilpack issues affect the 1.8T's and even I have had missfires in my Golf (V6) 4Motion.

 

[jemcam]

Your car has two driver's seats? I'd get that fixed too. What was it, one of those Driver's Ed specials?

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Diesels don't use coils. They have glowplugs to start then use compression only for ignition. The coilpack issues affect the 1.8T's and even I have had missfires in my Golf (V6) 4Motion.

Correct. I knew diesels didn't have ignition coils, I have rebuilt several, I thought that sounded strange but someone, and I thought I read somewhere, assured me that it was the TDI that was having a coil problem. Your correct, it is the 1.8T. VW even had a press release about it and the fact they were gonna start doing better quality controls.

Anyone want to buy a 96 VW Golf in the Columbus area? Cheap.

 

My '74 Bus is doing just fine thank you, of course it's powered by Chevrolet

 

[JulesMaximus]

My wife had an '89 Golf. Man, I couldn't get rid of that hunk of junk fast enough. What a POS that car was. A good friend of mine had a '91 Jetta. He had to have the transmission rebuilt 3 times before he hit 75k miles on it!!!

Both were bought brand new and well maintained. I'd NEVER buy a VW. Ever...

Rotten little cars they are...

 

[Frdm51472]

Yes, psuedo-VW, if its got water running through it, it ain't a real VW.

 

[jemcam]

I've had two VW diesels and put over 150k on them with very little trouble. The most amazing thing was the tires would dry rot before they wore out. I'm not exaggerating, I could go about 75k on a set of tires on both of the cars. One was an '86 Jetta Diesel, and the other was an '85 Golf Diesel. They were good cars, and I like them, the only reason I got rid of them was because I wanted something with more power and luxury.

 

[Antisocial Virge]

Ok guys. Change of pace. I'm gonna be looking at dumping this car. Wife is gonna need another small car. She is only 5' tall and likes the car to be small. What do you guys recommend? Something from Toyota, Honda or Nissan? Or maybe a good domestic model? My parents have Toyotas and have had incredible luck with them so I'll look at them for sure.

I've had two VW diesels and put over 150k on them with very little trouble

Yeap. I rebuilt a 79 block using factory parts (VW mechanic was a buddy of mine) for less than $200 or something crazy like that. Drove it for 50K miles before selling the car. Cost of repairs engine wise was a $9 seal on the front of the injection pump at about 45K miles.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: MogulMonster
Just be glad you don't own an Olds Aurora. I have spent ~$3400 on it in the last 1.5 years.

Yes, there's another car I'd never own. I'd lump pretty much anything GM in that category also. Junk boxes.

I recently bought a low mileage 1996 Isuzu Rodeo cheap...After owning it for 3 months I'd have to say that I'd never buy another Isuzu either. Damned oil leaks, tapping noises in the engine, rattles everywhere. About the only good thing I can say about it is that it starts and runs reliably...decent tranmission. Other than that...there isn't much good about it. Oh well, at least it's paid for.

 

[isekii]

Corolla, or a Tercel. I'm assuming you're looking at used. Tercel is actually a great car IMO. Great mileage, Good build, as compact as it comes and you should be able to pick one up for like 2-3k easy.

Tercels from Autotrader

 

[isekii]

Originally posted by: JulesMaximus

Originally posted by: MogulMonster
Just be glad you don't own an Olds Aurora. I have spent ~$3400 on it in the last 1.5 years.

Yes, there's another car I'd never own. I'd lump pretty much anything GM in that category also. Junk boxes.

I recently bought a low mileage 1996 Isuzu Rodeo cheap...After owning it for 3 months I'd have to say that I'd never buy another Isuzu either. Damned oil leaks, tapping noises in the engine, rattles everywhere. About the only good thing I can say about it is that it starts and runs reliably...decent tranmission. Other than that...there isn't much good about it. Oh well, at least it's paid for.

My buddies Rodeo started crapping out within a year he purchased it. Problems he's had with it.
The Blinker knob broke off. Car doesn't start from time to time. Car idles, at different RPMs ( keeps on going up and down ), and various other problems.
He sold it and got himself a Civic SI.
He can't be happier that he made the trade.