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Again. By pure data, VW bad reliability is most certainly NOT a myth. So regardless of the OPs VERY limited experience, his statement is false. They are certainly LESS reliable than the industry standard.
The VDS is based on responses from more than 41,000 original owners of 3-year old vehicles. It is a companion to Power's annual Initial Quality Study, or IQS, that measures problems new vehicles in the first 90 days of ownership.
The VDS offers overall brand lineup scores — Lexus was by far the best — and also lists best individual models by vehicle type. General Motors was segment champ, with eight winners. Toyota won seven.
Brand scores (problems per 100 vehicles for 2011 models; lower is better):
Your post has nothing to do with what I said. When reading perhaps try reading, then wait one full minute before beginning a response. Even the data you show is suspect and assumes integrity when reporting and that the small sample size is representative, and most importantly where is the data correlating problems in the first 90 days with long term reliability? Perhaps you just have a trick knee or something that makes you a believer.. All three of my points remain valid.
From the early 90's on, the bad reputation is well-deserved. I've known a lot of people with VW's of all shapes and sizes. With the exception of one person (who only puts on about 8000 miles a year), they've all had a boatload of problems. Everyone has had numerous electrical issues, Heat/AC, power windows/seats lights not working. Alternators going out, etc. Some have had major engine sludge issues, and most have had problems with plastic stuff breaking, falling off, etc.
When they're new, they're nice cars, fun to drive and all, but they don't hold up. Much like a Land Rover, I wouldn't own one out of warranty.
lmfao, the 1.8t engines used in the audi a4 and passat were subject to a gigantic class action lawsuit. they died due to excessive sludge.
i purchased a secondhand a4 as a daily driver, what an unreliable piece of junk. the car constantly had issues both major and minor. luckily i totaled the pos after rear-ending some broad.
vw "quality" is a sad joke.
i went on to purchase a bmw 3 series coupe from the same era, much, much more reliable car. still own it to this day, it's never left me stranded and has 180k miles on the clock. runs like new and gets 29 mpg.
For proof, I start with my own experience owning German cars. I've owned eight, in total: one from every important German automaker, and also Volkswagen. And they were all complete pieces of crap.
OK, so maybe they weren't that bad. Oh, sure, the transmission died in one of them. And yeah, so I had to replace the ignition switch in another, and a differential in a third. There were failed window regulators, check engine lights, prematurely worn suspension components, and phantom tire pressure monitors. And my Mercedes G-Wagen suffered throttle response problems until I realized it was rusty enough to be a Civil War-era shipwreck. But they were great when they were working, right?
Unfortunately, this is the greatest problem with German cars: they're never working. Oh, sure, they have relatively few problems for the first few years of ownership. (Technically defined as: "Right up until the Thursday after the warranty expires.") But even then, you're still losing an insane amount of money in depreciation. And once the depreciation curve starts to flatten, the problems start to crop up, which means you can't safely own a German car for more than an afternoon without spending as much money as round trip airfare to Bermuda.
The main problem, as I see it, is that the Germans are just too obsessed with stuffing all sorts of newfangled gizmos into their cars. This is largely because no one questions the prowess of German engineering; they're still the best at that. So they continue to show their engineering dominance by creating all sorts of crazy gadgets and sticking them in the cars; stuff that no one wants, such as cooled gloveboxes, and rear armrest refrigerators, and those little tray tables that fold down, presumably to allow people riding in the back of an Audi A8 to do some cocaine.
Bolded emphasis mine.
I wonder about people's perception of what reliable means. VW's may be reliable in the sense that they're wonderfully built to tight tolerances and perform under a narrow range of conditions. But they may not be very robust. Seems like the parts that human beings actually touch and mess with are not so sturdy: gloveboxes, switches, buttons, electrics, knobs, and the like require more delicate handling. VW's, in particular, do not stand up to real life treatment compared to the competition.
I just got rid of my 2003 Audi A4 with the same 1.8T as your Vw. Let me say it was the absolute worst, most unreliable car I have ever owned in my entire life.
I bought the car with 60k miles on it from the original owner. I thought I got a decent deal, and it had all the maintenance records with it. At 90k I had the timing belt and water pump replaced. Found out the engine was sludged up (even with all oil changes done on time using recommended oil). I had the engine cleaned. At 95k the fuel pump and filter had to be replaced even though Audi's manual says the fuel filter is a lifetime filter. After that all of the following happened between 96k and 105k when I got rid of it:
Sunroof went haywire - had to replace the switch
Rough idle - half the plastic fittings and lines on the vacuum system split from dryrot. Replaced the whole vaccum system
Dipstick tube cracked and broke off
All 4 window regulators went bad
Coolant flange leaking - it's the same crappy plastic and deteriorated.
Injector wiring harness melted. Had to replace harness
Coil pack harness on front cylinder melted. Had to replace harness and coil pack (Common on this engine)
Message center in dash went out - would only be visible on cold days. Was blank above 80 degrees F
I gave up before it got any worse.
Not to mention the quality of the interior materials was subpar at best. All of the buttons had paint worn off to the point of not being able to read them.
I remember when I was in college a friend of mine had a 2000 Passat. It was only 7 years old, but so many electrical problems.
They were stupid ones - like if you operated the power seat when the left turn signal was on, the car would shut off and not start until you pulled the terminals off the battery, touched them together, and put them back on. If you did something with the HVAC (can't remember what , exactly), the car would shut off too!
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