Any VW fans out there? (Germany, auto, manual transmission, convertible)

[Patsfan20]

I own a 2004 Jetta with the 1.8T (5M) and it has been a great car. It seems if you get a VW with an auto tranny (which is sacreligious by the way), you may have more problems than with a standard. These cars are built well, very safe and fun to drive! All you have to do is follow the maintenance, which can be costly (helps to do most work yourself), and you'll enjoy the car for years to come.

[ESFP]

My first car was a 1966 Karminn-Ghia, then later in my car buying frenzy I got a 1967 Beetle. But, my favorite VW has got to be the 1964 21-Window Bus.

[ferretkona]

I have had a few. We have a '74 181 Thing now.

[recycled]

Originally Posted by ESFP

My first car was a 1966 Karminn-Ghia, then later in my car buying frenzy I got a 1967 Beetle. But, my favorite VW has got to be the 1964 21-Window Bus.

I owned a 64 Karmann Ghia when I was a GI stationed in Germany for 3 years. It had a larger than stock engine (from a 4 cyl porsche) to give it some extra HP needed for cruising the autobahn. It was quite a memorable car, I drove it all over western Europe. The heating system wasn't too great, it was tough to keep the windows defrosted in winter. At times I used an ice scraper and chamois cloth on the inside. All the salt used on the roads in Germany was tough on the body and undercarriage, I was always battling rust issues.

[square peg]

My one VW was a 74 Super Beetle. It got me around and I loved the sunroof. I left it open one night when huge rains came. Not a drop leaked out. I got frustrated driving it in the winter without adequate defrosting capabilities and traded it for a Mazda GLC. Didn't keep that one too long.

Though my present day mechanic has repeatedly told me to not buy a VW, I still like the way they look and would like to get my hands on a turbo diesel.

[yo vanilla]

yeah i'm an old vw guy. vw's have notorioty for their auto transmissions; older mk2's in particular were known for being very difficult to restart after driving on a hot day - the auto trans would get so hot it would overheat the starter.

[Magnulus]

The new six-speed automatics they have in some of the VW's are great. They are computer controlled manual transmissions, very smooth.

I wouldn't drive a manual transmission car, it's a pain in the butt, especially in traffic- I never really got good at it, mostly because I never had the need to drive one- it's a constant dance of the feet and arms. I ride a motorcycle that has a manual transmission, but that's not as big a pain since you can slip the clutch (I also have a Honda Reflex scooter that's automatic, and it actually accelerates faster above 30 mph).

[gardener34]

We have had many;
1981 VW rabbit
1982 VW rabbit diesel
1983 VW cabriolet
1972 VW convertible
2006 VW passat diesel
1972 VW campmobile

I think I listed them all...

80s rabbits had terrible problems with fuel injections if i remember. that old 80s rabbit diesel rocked though. Loved that car, got 50+ mpg with the stick shift.

Current VW passat diesel doing very well. Some problems that dealer fixed under warranty - such as leaky sunroof and sticky trunk latch. Nothing serious though. Great fuel economy although they don't like weather below 0. You WILL be plugging them in but first you have to install a block heater cause VW did not install a factory block heater (you won't need it they said - yeah right).

As for old VWs, they are a sickness... no one owns just one. Advice: carry a fire extinguisher with you when you ride in one of those and don't drive in the winter (you will be scraping the windows from the inside - and they rust bad). They are fun!

[Ohiogirl81]

I had an 87 Golf, and a 98 Golf. Loved them both. Fun to drive, extremely reliable, solid as a rock.

The 87 Golf I drove into the ground -- 180,000 miles in six years -- with few problems. The 98 had some electrical issues that didn't affect the car's performance (yet), but drove me insane.

The only reason I'm not driving one now is because I needed a car ASAP and didn't find what I wanted in a VW. People ask me how I like my Mazda 3, and I say:

"It's a great car, but it's not a VW."

[RoaminRed]

Oh my goodness...the only VW I ever owned was such a POS that I never bought another one. LOL

It was a '69 Beetle. Talk about manufacturer's defects...two that I can quickly come up with are the clutch cable hookup at the pedal, and the fitting where the gas line entered the carburetor. Both of them gave me no end of problems.

The front end of the clutch cable had a metal loop on it, and the clutch pedal had a hook. The hook went into the loop. Well, you've got a metal hook rubbing on a metal loop there every time you use the clutch, and it wears through that loop pretty quickly. When that happens, you have no clutch, and the only way to fix it is to run a new clutch cable. Problem with that is, the only access to get that loop over the hook was a small access hole about the size of a hand...so you couldn't SEE what you were doing, the access hole had very sharp edges, and the cable had to be pulled pretty tightly to get that loop over the hook. I hate hate HATED replacing that cable every couple months!!

Then the second thing was where the gas line went into the carburetor...it was a commonly known problem (with no apparent fix other than gluing the line in place) that when the engine heated up, the gas line could slip off the fitting and start spraying gas all over the engine...you see where this is going? Yeah...so after the first time this happened, I had to replace everything in the engine compartment that was burned up by flames. The second time it happened, I was on the highway and saw the smoke and flames gouting out the back after I lost power. I coasted over to the shoulder, parked the car, got my purse out, and started walking away because I was going to let the f***** burn. Well, some good samaritan pulls up behind me, yells "Your car is burning!!" and grabs a fire extinguisher. I'm yelling "Let the <expletive> burn!" but he puts it out anyway.

LOL...so, I fixed the darn thing again and promptly sold it. Hated that car.