Are you scared of racking hugh miles on the car because of VW's reliablity and high dealer mainteance costs? I drive a Honda and dont care about the miles too much because of their rep. This is my first Honda and I got it new and at 49k only thing gone bad was a lightblub.

I'm considering going to a 09 rabbit in automatic as the Seattle area traffic is making me a bit sick of stick shift cars.

 

We had an 2.0T Audi A4 and we got rid of it before the warranty expired.

We then traded it in for the A6, and we will be getting rid of that before the warranty expires as well.

Since VW=Audi, figured I'd chime in

 

I really like how some VW models make me feel younger when I'm driving it. GTI, Rabbit. Just the other side of the coin is something to think about. I want 100,200k plus of stress free driving and with VW I think I would be a lot more worried about high miles than on a Honda.

I wish I had enough money for both.

 

Reliability of newer VWs and Audis has gotten better for sure. I wouldn't hesitate to buy a new dsg/GTi.

 

VW and Audi quality is vast improved...especially over the last few years.

My GTI has been trouble free. I have seen people on other boards with GTI's (MKV) with 80k mi with no troubles.

The GTI MKV is one of the most enjoyable cars I have owned.
Turbo & DSG FTW

 

no problems yet...5000 miles and going strong

 

We're getting rid of the Cayenne before warranty expires.
Already have a air bag light that stays on. Only driven 1700 miles too Hopefully it goes away soon I checked the onboard diagnostics and it found no problem... whatevers. Take it to the dealer at 3000 miles anyways.

 

After owning a Honda or Toyota product....any German/European Car brand is gonna be a slap in the face in term of reliability

 

You can't really compare. Yes, it IS going to be more fun to drive and more exciting but you will have more issues and headaches. It's inevitable.
Obviously IMHO...

 

Both my brother and I had mid-late production MK IV and experience more then our fair share of problems. Having problems is one thing, it can happen to any vehicle, my problem was how all of the local dealerships treated us when we had problems, it was as though they were accusing us for creating the problems. So while they may have gotten better, I still wouldn't want to deal with the local dealerships who service them under warranty. Of course YMMV, my problems were with the 3 local VW dealerships, if the dealerships in your area are better so may be your experiences. Also never ask the dealership how their service is, search online, every dealership claims to offer the "best service in the business" but in reality only 10% of dealerships, in my experience, are up to par.

 

It is a known fact, you get rid of ANY German car before warranty expires.

 

<--- 10 years with his 2nd gen TL...my dad is going further with his 1st gen TL

 

While this is somewhat true, I think I've just always had extreme luck with german cars *knock on wood* and out of all the 6 or 7 german cars I've owned, all issues were minor.(Burnt lights, dead LEDs, horns etc) I've gained enough trust to own them even AFTER the warranty expired. However I'm fully aware of how wrong things can get and the price to pay when it happens.

 

I bought a 1995 Golf GL (2.0L) new and put 133K on it in 5 years. The only things that ever truly went wrong with it were a sticking front left brake caliper, a sunroof mechanism that required fixing a few times, and some squeaks and rattles. Other than that, it never refused to start, absorbed all that mileage without complaint, and was still on the road last time I checked.

Just one man's experience.
-Mirror

 

2000 VW Passat owner, 120k on the clock, running like a champ. Timing belt was done at 100k. Hoping to hit 200k with it. No car payment ftw.

 

For the record:

The last two German cars I have owned were far and away more reliable than my Acura CL-S was. Replacing transmissions (and the first one under 10k miles) is not reliable.

 

were your german cars automatic?

 

I think the 09 Rabbit is the most underrated car under 20k out there. Civic, Mazda3, Fit is behind imho in the fun dept. Its a GTI without the harsh ride and turbo.

 

nope

 

My sister's got a 99 Passat 1.8T with 149K+ miles and it's still going. A few things have needed repair, nothing major. Rear passenger side window regulator needed replacement ($100 brand new from 1stvwparts.com, dealer wanted $300+!!), ignition module went out ($70-75 new off ebay, dealer wanted $600+!!), had to replace it again a little over a year later ($110 this time off autohausaz.com), and a battery $95 at Kragen Auto. Other than that, just typical maintenance and it's been good to go.

 

The past VAG cars I've owned have been incredibly reliable..Had a C5 A6 with the 2.8l that lasted forever. So long in fact, that my family decided to keep it with 170k+ miles on the original tranny and motor, now it burns a little oil but still runs strong. My S4 on the other hand...well, the 2.7t motor was quite possibly one of the WORST ideas Audi ever came up with. Everything breaking all the time pretty much gave me an excuse to go Stg 3 though =)...until my motor grenaded itself.

The new 2.0t motors are f-king bulletproof though. I do miss the MKIV GTis though, the VR6 motor with AWE exhaust sounds like pure sex. One of the best sounding 6 cylinders next to the 2JZ/1JZ and the VQ...

The only gripe I ever had with VW/Audi is that it takes an absolute assload of money to make them fast. When I say assload I mean about $2/3k+ to make 100whp reliably. Or you can go Stg3 with a custom file/turbo for around $3-4k more...and that's not even getting into modding the OUTSIDE of the engine bay (with the exception of a tbe)

 

My TT 2.0T has in the first year+ has been far more reliable than my TSX was in the same time frame. As well as way more fun to drive, cheaper to insure and getting much better gas mileage. Plus the 2.0t + DSg is a money combo. I don't know about long term, but my tsx was so problematic I made sure to dump it before it was too late.

I don't know that I agree about it being expensive to get performance out of the 2.0t, at least. If you went the absolute cheapest route for performance and got an ATP catless downpipe + revo stage 2 tune you are talking 800 bucks for a car taht will put down at least 235whp(some up to 250) and 300lbft of wtq. TTs with the downpipe/stage 2 flash are hitting high 13s. It's all about what you consider fast I guess!

 

ed zachary

 

The 2.0L FSI turbo is one of the best internal combustion engines ever created by mankind. Its that good.

 

on another note...

from the commercial... I'm REALLY liking the Passat CC

 

My wife had a toureg when they first came out, it went in the shop for several things, off the top of my head I remember, ball joints, something w/ ignition, alignment (which never got fixed) and electrical problems. The interior lights and fog lights would stay on after the car was off and alarm was armed. Traded it in on the lex is350

 

And on a completely related note, what is that in your avatar?

 

I have had several German cars (90 BMW 325 ic, 95 325I, 2001 Audi A3) all were fine cars, I kept the convertible until 2005 and never had any problems (60k)

I really liked the A3 the interior was great the 1.8T was spunky but at 20k kilometers it had several issues that as it was over a year old and car companies are ass*oles in Mexico and give a one year warranty I paid for the repairs, this was in 2003 so I am a bit fuzzy but I think it was ignition related, the coils maybe.

I loved the car but things failing that fast is unacceptable.

 

Jaguar XK-R.

 

The only gripe I ever had with VW/Audi is that it takes an absolute assload of money to make them fast. When I say assload I mean about $2/3k+ to make 100whp reliably. Or you can go Stg3 with a custom file/turbo for around $3-4k more...and that's not even getting into modding the OUTSIDE of the engine bay (with the exception of a tbe) [/QUOTE]

Not sure I understand this one- are you referring to n/a modding?. I have an 04 Allroad with 2.7tt, and for $600 bucks I get an APR chip that will give me and additional 70hp/90 ft lbs of torque. Looks like this works for all turbo VAG models

http://aprdealers.com/audi-allroad.html

 

I dont know how many times I day I think of moving on to that 2.0 T motor and DSG. But its all about the Benjamins and not enough!!!

 

^^^ Trust me: You don't want the 2.0T w/ DSG.

 

Absolute cheapest? $800? That's if you buy everything used.
Revo Stg 2 requires: Stg1 flash/injectors/new DV/TBE/and an upgraded FMIC.

You have your stages confused.
Stg 1: Chip/DV
Stg 2: TBE/Injectors + FMIC for ++
Stg 3: Turbo upgrade w/ replacement TIP etc etc

Doing a full Stg 2 for $800 is absolutely ludicrous, GSG/AWE/APR all have FMIC's that START at around $1.1k

No not n/a modding. Sure, thats just the price of a simple chip. Now go look at the recommended DV replacements (2.7's have two) and the cost for either an FMIC or a SMIC and a full TBE then get back to me

 

Just hit 36k on my S4. Have put 11k on it since July 1.

Just did the 35k mile service and no problems.

I will be getting an extended warranty when the original one runs out in June.

VWs are not cheap. Neither are Audis.

My brother's Jetta wagon needed a new clutch and I think it was $1500 at the dealer.

But every day I drive my Audi I realize that it's worth the extra expense over my Mazdaspeed3. It's just a better car in every way.

 

Thanks for making me feel like an asshat for the amount of $$$ I've dumped into my car to gain 100whp...

 

Before I got my 03 CL 6spd I owned a 01 A4 2.8 5spd w/sports package. I bought it used with a little under 50K on it and had the extended warranty up to 100K.

It was a great car. The AWD made it a lot of fun! I only had to go to the dealer for small things, like speakers going out once or twice and some other electrical problems. I paid the $50 deductable and that was it. Other than that it was just regular maintenance.

I did sell it a little after 100k but not because anything was wrong with it. I moved south and didn't need the AWD anymore and wanted to try something different. My car before the Audi was a older MB C230 K, so I wanted to get something that wasn't Germany.

 

VWs are great until you hit 100K...then be prepared to open the wallet for expensive ass repairs
Audis are even worse.

 

So over my winter break I test drove a few cars (new TSX, TL, Maxima, Impreza) and we were going to go home but I decided to stop by the VW dealership since there was still some time before closing. They didn't have many GTIs on the lot but I got a guy to open one up for me. I sat in it, really liked it, and then egged him on to test drive it, since he originally said he couldn't take it out because there was no gas, which was true, but only the light was on and the needle wasn't on empty, so we took it for a quick spin.

I haven't stopped thinking about it since! I'm actually almost mad I decided to stop by. What a car. That DSG is a piece of work. I'm used to driving Honda/Acura cars (96 TL, 99 TL, 04 TSX, 06 TL, 06 Civic) and it was a totally different experience. I've been driving a 97 Altima since June 03 and I'll probably be buying my first car in spring '10.

Here's my dilemma though: the new GTI will be out by then but hell if I want to buy a first MY German car. Being used to Honda/Acura/Nissan, will it be too much of a shock in terms of maintenance? I guess there's a lot of time until then but I just can't stop thinking about how much I want a GTI, lol.

I love the 5dr hatch in United Grey... mmm.

 

You are incorrect. Stage one is software only.

Stage 2 is dowpipe and updated software flash to take full advantage. All you need for stage 2 is a downpipe. Not even an intake is required, though reccomended.

Stage 2+ includes a new high pressure fuel pump and a software update to make use of it. This is not required on the new TSI as it has a better pump stock.

Stage 3 = ugraded turbo. Not until here do you need injectors etc.

An upgraded DV is never required unless yours breaks. Chris from Revo is running a stage 3 kit on his stock G valve. He's also using stock injectors on a larger turbo.

Again I'm not saying you wouldn't want a fmic etc for maximum gains but doint a stage 2 as cheap as possible I stand by you being able to make it happen for as little as 800 dollars.

 

Okay stupid ass me realized why our Stage charts don't look the same. You're referring to the 2.0t no? Apparently in the middle of my rant I started throwing stuff for the 1.8 out there..lol

But even still, supporting mods that come along with staging haven't even been taken into account either. Sure you could do $800 for Stage 2. But it would suck. Normally when people go Stage 1, they do chip along with a dv replacement. I had Baileys on the S4, as well as the Forge 007's. Again, I'm guessing the 2.0t motor got a better functioning DV because the normal 710N/P diaphragms on the B6's SUCKED, and with more boost the last thing you want is a rip in your DV. Also, a boost gauge to monitor boost is typically a good idea when going Stage 1.

Now I KNOW we're talking different engines here, I don't know how aggressive the Revo tune is on the 2.0t, but I remember GIAC being the most aggressive for the 1.8t, next to unitronics. And most people go with siemens/genesis injectors with a Stage 2 upgrade as well as an FMIC. Not REQUIRED, but totally a good idea. Sure an upgraded DP is a great idea, but I think you'd be going 3'' DP to 2.25'' exhaust piping. I remember full 3'' exhaust being TOTAL overkill for stock turbos, as Ko3's/Ko4's run out of breath pretty fast.

When you say larger turbo on Revos car, do you mean like GT3076r large? or GT28rs large?


Sorry, didn't mean to hurt feelings here. I'm just bred of a money/hp mindset and if I shell out large amounts of cash I expect the performance to reflect it. Certain cars react differently obviously. Normal A4s, as well as TSXs (I assume thats what you're referring to) were never made to be stupid fast. Therefore you have to throw stupid amounts of money to make them that way.

To each his own. Your car, do what you want with it, as long as you love it at the end of the day, to hell what everyone else thinks