I’m not ragging on people who buy Toyotas, but I don’t like them either. VW is definitely innovative and designs nice cars with lots of options. But I spent years defending them too, until I hit 30,000 and experienced first hand what everyone else was saying about their quality.

Yeah more options means more potential for trouble…but if those fancy options keep leading to trouble, its not unfair to call them out on it. Its still time spent at the dealer and not with your car, and since VW doesn’t offer loaner cars when your vehicle is with them once or twice a month, it gets old quick.

My services were done at the dealer, actually, or by myself. I admit I had a single service performed at Jiffy Lube, but when I got home and checked their work I found the intake leading to the air filter had been left disassembled when those idiots “checked” my air filter. I fixed everything up and it wasn’t an issue.

Like I said, I took immaculate care of the car. I enjoyed driving it. But once I hit 30,000 miles, the car turned to crap and here’s the kicker – out of the four Passats owned by myself, my sister, my uncle, and my girlfriend, ALL four of them were garbage. It wasn’t like one of them had lots of problems. It wasn’t that half of them had problems. They ALL had tons of problems.

VW admitted their quality was garbage. Selling tons of cars doesn’t equate with making quality automobiles.

thebonafortuna, spare us the sob story. Yes VWs aren’t as reliable as a Japanese car, but they are much more solidly constructed. Just compare the weight of the doors on a Toyota to a VW – not even comparable. Quality is not “crap” because you had a few coils on your 1.8t go. Let me guess, you change the oil at Jiffy lube, pay $30 and think you’re doing the car a favor. Go get a Japanese appliance if that’s how you treat your cars, you have no business with the highly sophisticated award winning 1.8T, let alone the direct injection 2.0TFSI. And lastly, no, the Japanese have nothing to even remotely compete with the state of the art dual clutch DSG automated manual. German innovation will eventually be enmulated by the Asians, it will take a few years, just watch.

vw is not bad, they are number two behind Toyota. Sell many more cars than Honda and Nissan combined, so no, they are not “terrible”.

also, peter really needs a copy editor

I had a 2004 Passat up until last summer. Took immaculate care of it, loved driving that car. At about 30,000 miles it started having problems. Things like the locking mechanism in the drivers door would fail. Then it would fail again. Then it would fail again. Then an ignition coil went on way to an exam, which I missed because of that. Then it happened again, minus the exam. When I drove the car through puddles, water would seep up through the floor boards and soak the carpet. The techs blamed it on drainage plugs in the sun room, which they said they fixed. Then it happened again. They weren’t sure why that time. The trunk got stuck, they fixed it. The computer in the instrument panel failed after they replaced the failed radio, another two trips to the dealer. The motor in the front passenger window went out. Then it happened to the driver side.

I have a longer list of things, but all in all between 30,000 miles and 40,000 miles, I experienced twenty four major problems with that car. It had all proper maintenance, and I drove it with care. I turned in the car last summer and was thankful to be done with it, to never again consider a VW.

Unfortunately, my little sister leased a 2006 Passat while mine was still trouble free. She turns it in about six weeks from today, but as of today with about 28,000 miles on the car, it eating through about two quarts of oil every three weeks. When I pop the cap to add more oil, the oil around the cap is brownish with bubbles…denoting water getting into the system. The engine on that car with fail totally by the 40,000 mile mark, without question. Again, this Passat has had proper maintenance and has been driven with care. The guys at the dealership…well, I always thought them capable until I found the twist-tie they used the tie the oil dipstick to the engine. Clueless.

My uncle got a fully loaded 2006 Passat, a six cylinder, but unfortunately this time the car was purchased instead of leased. He wasn’t thrilled when the catalytic converter failed at 12,000 miles. Was actually thrilled when somebody plowed into the back of his car outside his apartment. That insurance check was a one way ticket to a Honda. Hasn’t looked back since.

I won’t eve get into my girl friends Passat. I’ve heard Volkswagen has officially acknowledged the quality of their vehicles went to crap, and “have taken steps to address this.” That’s all good and well, because their cars are fun to drive and nice to look at. But they’re not built well. Let these stories be a lesson to you.