Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2004 11:24:58 -0500
Reply-To: Donald Baxter <onanov@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Donald Baxter <onanov@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Beetle TDI test drive (almost no vanagon content)
In-Reply-To: <BD52EC6E.6805%steeles@horizonview.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
I think the point is that if you buy a VW, don't buy it under the
guise that it will save you money either in fuel with the diesel or in
operating costs. I think most owners' experience just doesn't bear
that out.
Being a VW person, a professor friend of mine here called me to ask me
if she should buy a new Passat. I steered her toward a Subaru Legacy
Wagon... $8,000 less expensive with much less heartache. The Subaru
doesn't have the character or charm of the VW, I will admit. But the
Subaru will require the maintenance of a refrigerator.
My best car overall was a 1985 VW Jetta that ran mostly trouble free
for 150,000 miles--of course I never gave the timing belt a chance to
break but it lasted through the service interval. Being an 8V engine
(like your son's '96 Golf), it wasn't critical if it did break--non
interference engine. The problems I had with the Jetta involved
engine stalling during the first year of ownership and this was
resolved only because of a dozen necessarily aggressive trips back for
warranty service and numerous phone calls to VW customer service.
They actually did finally resolve the problem and it stayed fixed.
Now my other VWs are stories far too long to go into here. The
Vanagon has given me the most pleasure--and when it's fixed right it
seems to be the least buggy (and this surprises me but then it is an
'85 and i think that was a good overall year for VW except for things
like the Passat/Quantum model which was always a good one to avoid).
DB
On Thu, 26 Aug 2004 01:25:02 -0400, Stephen Steele
<steeles@horizonview.net> wrote:
> D. Baxter wrote:
> > ... I'll never buy another VW again and my partner has explicity
> > instruction to shoot me should i ever seriously consider one again. I
> > don't think the TDI should be equipped with a rubber timing
> > belt--almost every VW I've ever had had the timing belt break long
> > before replacement time--disastrous on a diesel.
> Well then, either you would be ducking the buck shot or you wouldn't be
> interested in the 96 Golf that my son bought with 137K on the original
> timing belt, would you?
> Yes, it broke after TWICE its normal life expectancy. And, yes, he had to
> have the head checked out by the local, good guy machinist. But all in all
> he now has a very dependable car with all the normal amenities AND 35 mpg at
> a very small fraction of what a new car would cost.
> I have owned and driven VW diesels for quite a few years now and all of them
> had rubber timing belts . None of them ever presented a problem outside of
> normal maintenance. My personal opinion is that the NB is inferior to the
> Golf or Jetta simply because of its body styling. Either of the others can
> carry so much more efficiently and effortlessly AND cheaper.
> My $.02 worth. YMMV.
> --
> Stephen
> Chillicothe OH
>
>
--
---------------------------------------------
Donald Baxter
316 Ridgeview Avenue
University Heights, Iowa 52246
http://www.mindspring.com/~onanov
