Well, I took the car in this morning. VW should be telling me what's wrong with the car this afternoon when the run the diagnostic. If it's a critical issue, my family and I will have to worry about how to deal with only one car for a week and a half until loaners are available. If not, I'll probably go pick it up then and drive it until VW gets the parts in.
Although, I do wonder... Is it bad if I know most of the people at my Volkswagen dealer?
No, my bother has two vans and they've been broken down since I can remember but that's just due to his laziness. And I shouldn't really say it's pathetic, that's a little harsh. It just kinda bad.
It is a bit sad. But I guess there is no such thing as a perfect car, is there?
It really depends on the VW, and how its been treated. My previous Jetta blew out due to some insane transmission problem that was apparently common on a lot of the MKIII cars. Despite my problems (mostly with electrical system), the car ran well most of the time. I got a good deal on the car, it retained its resale value, but the VW curse ended up getting me. Still, making it 175K isn't half bad. Especially for a VW. We've had four separate VWs in our family: 1993 Fox, 1996 Jetta Wolfsburg, 1999 New Beetle, and a 2002 Cabrio (which we still have). The problems were of the typical sort, electric issues in the wet, power window issues with the newer models, etc. The Jetta and the Cabrio stand out as the most-reliable based on my own memory, the New Beetle suffering from a lot of the early build quality issues.
I imagine it also doesn't help my cause that the car is a 2006, which is the first year the car was sold in the States. I know it was on sale a little earlier in Europe, but the engine still was pretty new when mine was built. So they wouldn't have had too many data points to find trouble spots with.
It always seems to depend on the model, where it was built, who drove it, how the stars were lined up, and what my alphabet soup looked like the day before. VW people know what they're getting into, and they're willing to accept the problems as they come (usually at a significant price). If it weren't for my health problems, and the prospect of my job ending (which it did), I likely would have bought a third VW instead of my Celica. So far, the Toyota has been trouble-free (despite one massive repair)... But its not the same as my Volkswagens. Maybe when my finances get back on their feet, I'll dabble in the VWs again.
But, mark my words: I'll never own an Audi.
I'm in a similar boat. I can't afford to shovel tons of money at a VW right now, but I love them so surely I'll be back. And I probably wouldn't ever be seen in an Audi either. Although if for some reason I wound up in the upper end of the market, Audi does make some pretty awesome cars that I wouldn't mind buying. The RS6 and TT-RS come to mind...
Thank you, that saved me explaining
Philly could even break his MAF himself for all we know. My point was just that you're more likely to get a CEL than to notice a real difference in power with some cone filter
Yeah, you might feel something, but it seems like he thought it was the end-all be-all of his car..
I know the intake wouldn't be the thing to tip the GTI over the edge and totally kill it, but you do have to be cautious putting any kind of performance modifications on a car that already is experiencing reliability troubles.
And to my knowledge a CAI throws a light more often then not when installed because of all the reasons mentioned. I'm not sure if you can just have the code cleared though.
If it does do that, it would probably be a good idea to skip the CAI then. Because I'm going to be needing my CEL for when the next issue does pop up...
Philly, how are services and maintaining costs over there? Is it really so expensive to get your GTI fixed, or is it expensive in general to fix a VW in the US?
I'm still under warranty, so the fixes will be free. But once you get past that, it's still going to be a German car with reliability issues, so I imagine it can't be cheap with the rates you see for Benzes and BMWs. But it will depend on the car. I am under the impression that with all these new electronic gizmos in cars, repair costs in general will be going up. And the GTI is pretty fancy, so it'll be pretty costly.
Norway has already rated VW's services as the worst amonst all brands, and the costs leave a lot to be desired. We love old VWs though, the reliability seems to be way better on them, as most brands seem to suffer from this. But still, 60 000 miles? I'm very surprised you're so frustrated about it already after 60 000 miles, because that is not the distance a car should run before experiencing problems. Or others around there are torturing the GTI, or it really is a bunch of crap incase reliability. Too bad it is, because it seems you have enjoyed this car very much uptill now, leaving all the reliability issues aside.
I doubt that most people see the same kinds of problems that I do with the GTI. They still are going to be less reliable than cars from other brands though. It's still no Jaguar though. And it's not now just starting to break down a lot. It's been having problems more or less out of the box. But you are right that the GTI is a very enjoyable car. And I'm sure
socomplayer2, the other MKV owner on here can second that.
Race Events, On-Line Racing, Weekly Race Series sections.
(runs away...)
