Quote:
Originally Posted by Thunderguts
I'm curious, does anyone have actual firsthand knowledge about why VWs have such atrocious reliability? They are some of the best designed cars in the world. Very few cars drive as nicely as a new VW. What gives?  My suspicions would be:
1) Poor/sloppy manufacturing procedures (doesn't seem to be the case)
2) Relying on theoretical R&D rather than real world testing (a supplier says this gasket material is rated to 30psi but VW never verified it)
3) Well-engineered parts built with the cheapest possible materials (probably the most likely) |
My experience was all over the place. My door frames leaked in the rain and they had to be bent (supposedly) according to instructions provided by Germany. My water pump seals failed twice in 75k miles, both times it still worked but leaked coolant on the ground. If you closed the hatch too hard, the reverse light bulbs would pop out. My sunroof pinch sensor broke so you could open it with the switch, but had to use an allen key to close it (found that out when it started to rain one day). At stock power, the front aubframe bolts stretched and had to be replaced with upgraded parts (out of warranty, I fixed it myself and it wasn’t expensive but dumb that it happened with zero mods). My armrest rattled and was replaced under warranty. My “intake manifold flap position sensor” broke and required an entire intake manifold replacement under warranty. My rear window sprayer leaked since day 1. This is all from memory but I’m sure there was more I’m forgetting about. In all, I visited dealerships 14 times for warranty work.
Could be shoddy materials, poor engineering, not enough testing. Maybe just built on a Friday. Who knows? What I do know is the college kid who bought it off me called up a few months later asking for paperwork to prove the water pump was recently replaced so he could get it warranteed.
