I thought that older VWs, especially Golfs are quite reliable. After buying one its literally falling apart. I didnt buy it for dirt cheap, nor too expensive. Engine is running good, but other things are shitting themselves all the time. One year of ownership and it felt like fucking hell.
So where did VW reliability meme come from?
>So where did VW reliability meme come from?
From the mk1/mk2 Golf, which could only be killed by rust or crashes.
>I thought that older VWs, especially Golfs are quite reliable.
Uh no.... thats literally NEVER been the case.
Like its a well known meme the MK4/mk5 generation was decidedly unreliable.
Its only the newer car thats have become more reliable. This is coming from someone whos owned a 2015 jetta and has a 2017 GTI. Both of them were/are rock solid.
For one thing, golfs are literally driven up to and beyond the point of shaking apart and many have the odos reversed to be sold for a bit more money.
Additionally they are almost exclusively driven by lowlifes
How can you really judge reliability for an entire brand on a 1-3 year old car and hope to maintain your credibility?
I never had the impression they are reliable.
Oh, thats actually might be the case, but why then so much Mk4s were sold initially? I mean if they were considered shit, why people continued to buy them?
So, when did VW become good again after mk4/mk5 gens?
I had no clue that Mk4 are considered shit cars, theyre so popular, cant even bat an eye
>user cant into buying used cars
>How can you really judge reliability for an entire brand on a 1-3 year old car and hope to maintain your credibility?
Because they were/are both APR tuned well beyond design spec and have been stellar cars so far.
The mk4 was their attempt to move "upmarket" so they used nicer materials and stuffed in more kit for the same price. They were much nicer cars than their competition.
However, this made them more complex than before and they skimped in other places to keep cost down. Now that they're pretty old, the electronics and other small things start shitting themselves.
MK6 golf are pretty OK but the MK7 generation is the first one that I would consider on fully on par with the competition.
MK6 jettas are also comparable to the competition.
The 1.4t, 1.8t and 2.0t are really great, super reliable engines in these cars. Won wards best engine award as well.
Very over engineered and can reliably run tunes adding on 30%+ power easy with no other mods needed.
Forgot to add, the mk3 is what started their electrical issues but they were still relatively simple and utilitarian, so they had less shit to go wrong.
Most reliability memes come from the owners, not the cars.
Certain cars attract the types of owners and maintenance levels.
Corollas really aren't that much more reliable than most other small cars, but they attract the kind of buyers who drive diligently maintain them and don't drive them like assholes.
See, I wasnt talking about engines. Mine runs good, but other stuff is what breaks or malfunctions that often. Doubt that driving at full throttle and other stuff can cause problems like improperly working turn signals etc
Its true thats its how you take care of them but I see a LOT of toyotas from copart going to the middle east and africa.
They genuinely do have reliable drive trains.
Guess it must be nice buying the american cars that arnt built to be completely bare bones. have A/C, airbags, side airbags, more comfort stuff, etc....
Because in a french or italian car this would happen from the moment it left the factory
How do you know tho, have you owned french or italian car?
Your story seems to be exactly what I experienced with my Fiat Grande Punto.
1.9JTD engine was brilliant and never gave me any bother, but literally everything around it was falling apart.
That was my first car and I sold after 7 months. Bought a brand new car and promised myself to never buy used shit again.
Those actually had finicky mechanical fuel injection systems too when they were new.
I cant afford new car, nor I want new car.
>Engine is running good
That's the most expensive part, so far so good
>but other things are shitting themselves all the time.
>user realizes a 20 years old car has parts failing on it
HOLY FUCK, stop the presses!
The Golf 4 is the official national car of Romania.
Literally everyone over there drives one.
If they were unreliable they wouldn't love them so much and also if you can't maintain them but Romanians actually can, you should take a moment and think about yourself a bit.
>my Fiat Grande Punto.
>buying a FIAT
>GOLLY GEE, WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG
why is Veeky Forums so horribly bad with cars
>2015 car
>it's rock solid
Mate it's like 5 minutes old a 2.5 year old car still working doesn't mean it is reliable. Come back in 15-20.
>Uh no
tempted to stop reading right there. I wish I did
I own a Mk4 for a year now, havent had any real problems except that the wiring caused the handbrake to always be on. Imo that shouldve been fixed before I got the car.
Never had any other problems and it always stays outside and I drive it 1-2 times a week.
Always starts, have the absolute base model so I have little electronics.
Also shouldnt Yuro cars be more reliable in Europe than in the US?
>Also shouldnt Yuro cars be more reliable in Europe than in the US?
VWs are, because Mexico is doing it wrong for some reason.
>the wiring caused the handbrake to always be on
Wtf? Isn't the pull handbrake on these 100% mechanical? Or do you just mean the handbrake warning LED in the dash?
>i made bad buying decisions and it's the manufacturers fault
Well, they are reliable indeed. You must've gotten a bad one, I guess.
Been a proud owner of a 2002 MK IV V5 GTI for more than a year now and it never failed on me. Not once. But then - you always gotta take good care of the car, its engine and so on.
No complaints from my side. Love my V5 to death. Pic related.
I think so but the brakes were always on for some reason but only slightly so you got an annoying whine when you drive more than 10 mins
>used cars aren't always taken care of before you buy them
How inquisitive.
Wtf how did you manage to fuck up its suspension and transmission? They're solid as fuck.
They never were very reliable. Just compared to the astronomically bad stuff coming out of Italy and the UK. Check out European dependability studies VW, is near the bottom. Japanese and Korean cars are who dominates reliability charts now
It doesn't have anything to do with Mexicans assembling them. It's VW design flaws and corner cutting which causes problem
Examples:
1) Several unrelated systems sharing a common ground to save a few bucks which then means if water gets onto a window motor connection, all of a sudden central locking and audio system are fucked.
2) Plastic that eventually degrades being used on chain tensioning systems. When the plastic eventually degrades and brakes the chain slips and kills then engine.
The most unreliable VAG products are the overly complicated Passats, Touareg and Audi stuff. VW isn't like Ford or Daimler who shuffle complex assembly to Mexico. VW only builds simpler vehicles in Mexico which actually makes Mexican VW products more reliable on average.
VW fanboys just like to claim their cars are reliable if they manage to last 3-5 years with now major problems.
t. Former tech.
>transmission
Well, it depends on which engine he's got in his Golf. For example, MK IVs with the 1.6 engine layout (101 PS, motor code AKL), built between 1997 and 1999 have faulty rivets in the transmission area that WILL break over time. VW fixed said issue with the 2000 model year as they replaced the weak rivets with stronger bolts.
Sadly though, in those two years, they have sold shittons of their 'bread-and-butter' version of the Golf 4. Lots of transmissions have failed and lots of transmissions will definitely fail in the near future. The question is not if, it's when.
Dude, Golf is like metal with 4 wheels, what can possibly go wrong? Is there a more basic car?
Im not saying Im not able to maintain it, but this shit has issues all the time.
>Also shouldnt Yuro cars be more reliable in Europe than in the US?
No idea, im from EU and my Golf is Eurospec too
Im not blaming manufacturer, im just curious if car itself is objectively shit or is it just me that got molested one
Suspension is good atm. Transmission is somehow fucked. First gear gets stuck middleway, second has CRUNCH sound that is louder than revving engine to 6k rpm lol. And 4th gear if put too soft may not get in slot. Thats actually disturbing issue to have on econobox thats made for start and stop traffic in city.
>Japanese and Korean cars are who dominates reliability charts now
>now
Except mk4 has been first released in 97, mine being 99
Its just so happens i own '99 1.6 manual, and have the same issue. Feel like some day gearbox will fall out on the ground lol
OH YOU HAVE TRANSMISSION TROUBLE? SHOULD HAVE DONE SIMPLE MAINTENANCE , THATS ALL YOU LITERALLY NEED. DESIGN FLAWS? WEAR AND TEAR? HAHA THEY DON'T EXIST IN MY PERSONAL OPINION ON MY FAVORITE BRAND HAHA
>implying he doesn't oil and polish his transmission everyday and tuck it in at night
Obviously some kind of philistine
???
I bought it and it was with tranny issue already
He's obviously making fun of braindead VAG fantards that will defend their shit engineering no matter what
This thread makes me miss my mum's Mark 4. Despite all it's problems it was such a comfy car. Wish back then I heard understood cars so I could compare its performance to my own 2006 golf
>So where did VW reliability meme come from?
mark 1, mark 2, mark 3 were predominantly all bought with the most poverty options possible.
Less shit to go wrong = more reliable vehicle overall.
Oh okay. But seems that VAGfans are still asleep or just chilling in service shop fixing their passats, cause none are seen in this thread. Weird.
Hah, pretty funny, cause only pros ive noticed in my Mk4 is that its comfy, given i run on R15s with lots of meat. Oh, sound system not bad too for 99 year and it being shitbox, tho subwoofer is a must
>tfw born too late to compare mk2, mk3, mk4 altogether
I wish i could. Mk2 are now 2 types: either its absolutely fucked up and barely running or mint condition for huge price
they're diamond dozen gypsymobiles in Europe
>a diamond dozen
European eco friendly regulations mate everything was meant to biodegrade besides the engine
I've never heard anyone say VW is reliable. Any of the ones made in the last 20 years are designed to have a 130k mile life and that's it. They're not meant to be fixed, just drive it to 130k and everything fails at once and you scrap it.
My MK4 has been great. It's only needed maintenance items and rear hatch struts.
At least until I wrecked it
This mostly applies to Mexican made VW
VW is a synonym of reliability in Europe
Europeans follow maintenence schedules like its the bible
I live in Europe (not Western) and Golfs, together with Passat are the most popular vehicles. If they werent reliable, people wouldnt buy them, would they?
>have to wait until 2019 for Golf production to get the fuck out of bean land and return to Europe
The wait is killing me.
>Corollas really aren't that much more reliable than most other small cars, but they attract the kind of buyers who drive diligently maintain them and don't drive them like assholes.
Also a Corolla was just more expensive than the competition, like a Golf. So you would maintain it better and they were saved a little longer from young guys driving them into shit.
>why then so much Mk4s were sold initially
Because VW is a meme brand. Muh peoples car, etc. Also cheap parts in Europe.
Interesting. Im considering a mk4 GTI with the 1.8T 20V. I hate golfs but i want to get my hands on that engine, i cant think of another cheap euro car with an aftermarket this big.
>VW is a synonym of reliability in Europe
yeah, their old 1.9 tdis with common injection pump and 90 horsepower.
pretty much nothinh beyond it.
Hold up, there was a 5 valve per cyl VW engine? That's pretty crazy
But, but muh 1.9TDi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111111
>Germans follow maintenence schedules like its the bible
fixd
There were multiple during the late '90s and early 2000s. All originally developed by Audi, but some trickled down to VW's lineup.
Yes, like said made by audi.
For the C5 A6 Audi had every gasoline engine with 5V per cylider. 1.8, 2.0, 2.4, 2.7, 2.8, 3.0, 4.2
In my experience all Volkswagens are very comfortable even the low end ones like the Lupo. It's why I buy a Volkswagen because there's nothing I hate more of in an uncomfortable car. It's why I don't have a miata
French cars are reliable shitbird.
you can always count on them to not start
You should get better bait, that low quality's done looking like british carburators.
>buying a mk3/4/5 golf when you could buy a 306
uhhh
t. 73 year old
Whats so good about 306? Just curious.