Uhm, maybe he's thinking of the old veedub Beetles? Which weren't really breaking down so much as drivers drove them severely and kept them way past any shelf-date.
Me, I drive a '96 Golf GL, with a 2.0 liter engine, gas (not diesel). The more recent VWs have larger engines for greater turbo boost but lower horsepower (and heavier weight), so you probably won't get the gas mileage I do -- which is really a function of car weight + engine, not just engine.
Previously, I had a '92 Fox, I think it was, which was also a real workhorse, except that Fox/Jetta seem to have an incorrigible problem with their belts as they age. Start one of those up, and the belts scream like a stuck pig. It's pretty embarrassing in the early morning, to be honest. Other than that, Fox/Jetta are sturdy cars.
And I learned to drive on an '83 Rabbit, which kept going until it died an honorable death somewhere around 300K or more. That puppy also had to deal with my mother and my sister, who are both vicious on clutch pedals. Honestly, that car was on heavy rotation for clutch problems, mostly because for some reason my sister and mother never seemed to understand the entire notion of using a clutch. Short version: if you test-drive a used VW and there's the remotest chance it was driven by a teenager, DO NOT BUY. You will be replacing the clutch and brakes within the first six months, if they haven't been replaced already (and probably not, knowing most dealers).
Oh, and I had a Porsche 914, which sounds fancy but its engine is really just a VW-4 Bus engine (automatic, bizarrely, given the car itself is manual!) ... and again with the absolute workhorse, went until it finally rusted out in a glorious pile of orange paint and unhappy metal. (It was the New England and Colorado salt-in-winter that really did it in.)
VWs are historically cars that just do not stop. I can't speak for the latest batch, but it's usually pretty hard to find them used because owners simply don't trade them in. And of all the veedubs I've known or owned, only that '83 Rabbit was anything close to a lemon, and that was just its first year of issues. Once those were licked, after that it was a regular energizer bunny.
Honestly, you can't beat 'em for reliability. Gas mileage, though... that's dropped, because of the weight of the cars and the way they're designing the turbo engines now. They're more efficient than they would be, otherwise, but that's not the same as marvelously efficient. If gas mileage is your priority, along with price, then I'd recommend a Honda Fit, instead: it's effectively the same size and reliability as a VW, but better price and way better mileage.
If, however, your priority is the actual driving experience, then you can't beat a VW with a Fit even in a month of Sundays. The Fit just doesn't have the engineering to handle things like really curvy country roads, or tight turns, or really punchy acceleration regardless of speed. The Fit is fast off a stop, as is the VW (and the Fit is lighter, so it's actually a little faster off a dead stop than the VW) -- but if both cars are doing 70mph on the highway, the VW can stomp the pedal and in a heartbeat be doing 95mph... and the Fit will catch up in about five miles. Even with my car as old as it is, it still has better acceleration in the highest gears than our year-old Honda Fit. Since fast-response high-speed driving is of major importance to me, I stick with the VW for driving whenever possible.
Mostly, my suspicion is that outside of some cars with reputations for breaking down (hello, Jaguar!), most "those break down all the time" are due to driver error, not the car's engineering. If you treat the car well, and you take it in for an annual check-up even if it's doing fine -- which for both VW and Honda will run about $300 or so, in most US cities -- then you won't have major issues other than the usual eventual wearing-down of some parts that would have to be replaced anyway. Change the oil regularly -- if you use natural, do it seasonly or about every 3500K, and if you use synthetic, you can go longer, but it's still wisest to change seasonly if you live in an area with extreme seasonal changes -- and make sure you always say "yes!" when the mechanic suggests changing out any gaskets or rubber parts. Lubrication is the heart of the engine, and after that, it's the gaskets that act as buffering.
Oh, and try not to smash the car into anything. That's a major part of making sure it keeps running for a long time... post-accident, it'll never be the same, and even a minute change in body-structure alters the tensions between the parts, and creates new patterns of wear that in turn put stresses where they didn't exist previously. So, no running into anything, okay?
no subject
Date: 12 Feb 2011 08:10 pm (UTC)Me, I drive a '96 Golf GL, with a 2.0 liter engine, gas (not diesel). The more recent VWs have larger engines for greater turbo boost but lower horsepower (and heavier weight), so you probably won't get the gas mileage I do -- which is really a function of car weight + engine, not just engine.
Previously, I had a '92 Fox, I think it was, which was also a real workhorse, except that Fox/Jetta seem to have an incorrigible problem with their belts as they age. Start one of those up, and the belts scream like a stuck pig. It's pretty embarrassing in the early morning, to be honest. Other than that, Fox/Jetta are sturdy cars.
And I learned to drive on an '83 Rabbit, which kept going until it died an honorable death somewhere around 300K or more. That puppy also had to deal with my mother and my sister, who are both vicious on clutch pedals. Honestly, that car was on heavy rotation for clutch problems, mostly because for some reason my sister and mother never seemed to understand the entire notion of using a clutch. Short version: if you test-drive a used VW and there's the remotest chance it was driven by a teenager, DO NOT BUY. You will be replacing the clutch and brakes within the first six months, if they haven't been replaced already (and probably not, knowing most dealers).
Oh, and I had a Porsche 914, which sounds fancy but its engine is really just a VW-4 Bus engine (automatic, bizarrely, given the car itself is manual!) ... and again with the absolute workhorse, went until it finally rusted out in a glorious pile of orange paint and unhappy metal. (It was the New England and Colorado salt-in-winter that really did it in.)
VWs are historically cars that just do not stop. I can't speak for the latest batch, but it's usually pretty hard to find them used because owners simply don't trade them in. And of all the veedubs I've known or owned, only that '83 Rabbit was anything close to a lemon, and that was just its first year of issues. Once those were licked, after that it was a regular energizer bunny.
Honestly, you can't beat 'em for reliability. Gas mileage, though... that's dropped, because of the weight of the cars and the way they're designing the turbo engines now. They're more efficient than they would be, otherwise, but that's not the same as marvelously efficient. If gas mileage is your priority, along with price, then I'd recommend a Honda Fit, instead: it's effectively the same size and reliability as a VW, but better price and way better mileage.
If, however, your priority is the actual driving experience, then you can't beat a VW with a Fit even in a month of Sundays. The Fit just doesn't have the engineering to handle things like really curvy country roads, or tight turns, or really punchy acceleration regardless of speed. The Fit is fast off a stop, as is the VW (and the Fit is lighter, so it's actually a little faster off a dead stop than the VW) -- but if both cars are doing 70mph on the highway, the VW can stomp the pedal and in a heartbeat be doing 95mph... and the Fit will catch up in about five miles. Even with my car as old as it is, it still has better acceleration in the highest gears than our year-old Honda Fit. Since fast-response high-speed driving is of major importance to me, I stick with the VW for driving whenever possible.
Mostly, my suspicion is that outside of some cars with reputations for breaking down (hello, Jaguar!), most "those break down all the time" are due to driver error, not the car's engineering. If you treat the car well, and you take it in for an annual check-up even if it's doing fine -- which for both VW and Honda will run about $300 or so, in most US cities -- then you won't have major issues other than the usual eventual wearing-down of some parts that would have to be replaced anyway. Change the oil regularly -- if you use natural, do it seasonly or about every 3500K, and if you use synthetic, you can go longer, but it's still wisest to change seasonly if you live in an area with extreme seasonal changes -- and make sure you always say "yes!" when the mechanic suggests changing out any gaskets or rubber parts. Lubrication is the heart of the engine, and after that, it's the gaskets that act as buffering.
Oh, and try not to smash the car into anything. That's a major part of making sure it keeps running for a long time... post-accident, it'll never be the same, and even a minute change in body-structure alters the tensions between the parts, and creates new patterns of wear that in turn put stresses where they didn't exist previously. So, no running into anything, okay?
here ends today's
readinglecture!