Date:         Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:45:49 -0400
Reply-To:     BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         BJ Feddish <bfeddish@NETREACH.NET>
Subject:      Re: Going towards a new era...
In-Reply-To:  <WM44E5F5BE7988434dA1897D2EFB40F1A9@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
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I want to rant about VW for minute. (I should be working but this is more
fun.)  VW started heading into the more expensive side of things in the
1980's. They were pushing Jetta's like crazy.  Later on when car prices were
going through the roof Yugo came out with a car for $3995, followed quickly
thereafter with Hyundai with cars for $4995. Both were crap. VW came out
with the Fox for $6995. At first I thought, wow, this is awesome. VW is
going to make a cheap car again AND it's going to be well made, having a
Jetta engine, etc.  Hyundai marketed the hell out of that car and sold a
ton. VW went out of their way to not market that Fox. If you went to a
dealer to see one you would find one or two fully loaded and expensive. VW
could have crushed Hyundai as far as I'm concerned but no, they wanted to
sell Jetta's.  They also did no marketing whatsoever on their vans while
Chrysler was cranking out Caravans. VW thought we'd be more interested in 4
wheel steering in their Jettas at the time.  The 90's came and out went the
Fox, gee, I wonder why. They came out with the Eurovan but for some reason
forgot to mention it to car buyers.  Now top this off with the absolute most
sleazy car salesmen around and extremely high parts and labor prices and VW
sure looks unattractive. All 3 VW dealers near me are as&(*&.  I know
several non-VW people that bought VW's in the 90's and it was their first
and last VW purchase.  Fast forward a bit and VW is making SUV's for $50K (
I see a ton of them on the road here) and what were they thinking with that
Phaeton?  Call me shallow but if I have $80K to spend on a sedan, it won't
say VW on the back. Look at their sorry lineup now, a bunch of sedans, a few
wagons and an SUV.  Maybe they are taking a turn in the right direction with
these new VW's under $17 but I'll bet if I walked into any VW dealer those
cars are all loaded with alloy wheels, stereos, pinstriping, floor mats,
leather seats, blah blah and not one is there on the lot for less than $21K.
Just a guess but I'm probably right.

Interesting story, I bought my first new non-VW in '84, a Honda Element.
(Sure the Toureg is cool but not for twice the price). I emailed the dealer
for a price and he emailed me the price back. I drove over to pick it up and
sign the papers and the final invoice had the price he quoted me plus tax.
That was it. I was in shock. I said "That's it? That's the real price?" and
he looked at me quite puzzled. Obviously he had never sat down to buy a new
VW, lets see, the invoice price, destination, taxes, wheel tax,
undercarriage rust treatment we sprayed on 5 minute before you arrived, rust
treatment tax, transport prep charges, dealer prep charges, temporary paper
mat charges, blah blah blah.

On another note, no I still have not seen a VW bus in awhile but today I saw
a Renault Alliance Convertible. Wow, and I thought I was crazy.

Final note, back in '92 when I traded in my '86 Jetta for a new one there
was a brand new burgundy westy (leftover) for $24K and I though, wow who's
got that kinda money? :)

Bryan