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Date:         Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:33:19 -0800
Reply-To:     Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Scott Daniel - Shazam <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject:      Re: NVC Re: Stevens Creek Volkswagen in Santa Clara
Comments: To: Donna Skarloken <dskarloken@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <501dc8150801301339ve75078as2740e616c105d6b@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

All very interesting Donna, So the TDI has been basically 'pretty good' over all those miles ? in terms of repair costs I mean ? And not normal wear items like shocks/tires/ brakes/ timing belts/glow plugs, but things that it 'shouldn't need' hopefully. Like no 3 or 4,000 dollar head jobs ? I'm just researching, I'm not 'trying' to make tdi's look bad. I just hear about a lot of expensive repairs. I would delight in hearing that your tdi experience has been basically good.

I fixed cars in Sausalito, Ca for 13 years straight, 95 % foreign, of all makes. We used to joke lightly that if you had a german car, like a fancy Benz or Porsche say, the only smart and practical thing was to also own a Japanese car as reliable back up for when your german car was in the shop.

German cars have it down in handling dynamics over Japanese cars, and the Japanese are catching up all the time, almost surpassing at times, if you read Road & Track Magazine's comparison tests, for example. But.........over all, all things considered from one end to the other, a Japanese car generally will cost you considerably less over the years. Like up to 1/3 of what the equivalent German car will. Being in California or on the west coast might be a factor ( compared to the east coast ) but I have seen countless Honda's, Toyotas and Nissans..........that almost never fail in any way, ever. There are exceptions of course, and I think the late 80's cars were the best, but I know of ....say a junky little AWD box of a car, the Tercel..............450,000 miles with barely a timing belt , a distributor, and a water pump, and that is common for Tercel's, not that I would drive just a little unsafe box, but that's how tough and long-lifed they can be. .........just absurd durability and reliability. I asked my local machine shop here in southern Oregon what they work on .........Nissans for example, they just *never* get Nissan heads to work on, and doing bottom end work on things like a Honda, just not done. A head gasket can fail due to owner neglect and abuse on a Honda of course, , but that's it. I don't think it's possible to burn a valve, even if driven 190,000 miles with never adjusting the valves, which is supposed to be done every 30K, which I've see, a lot actually. . Overall, by country...........nothing but nothing touches Japanese cars for long life and durability. There are 85 toyota pick up trucks that have 250K on them, and by every indication they do another 250K if they just get a timing chain. Re Amecian cars........ Well, if they keep going and don't burn you financially fine, but most of them are really awful junk. How general motors stays in business is just beyond me, they make such junk. Of course Cadillac is top end, and they MAY indeed get it right with say the NorthStar V-8 and maybe those do go 200,000 fault free miles,. And the Corvette is world class and delviers 99 % of what a Ferrari will at 1/3 the cost, so that is a great vehicle. But most general motors stuff is made terribly cheaply to keep the cost down. But you look in consumer reports magazine at their 'dot graphs..............the rate cars in areas of repair problems, like 'engine, electrical, suspension' etc...............and you can look at a Honda and it's solid pink dots ( the top 'good' rating) and you look at a jeep Cherokee right next to it...........nearly solid black dots. ( the bad end of the scale.......it's a 5 step scale ) . The Jeep Cherokee is a legendary money eater btw. Newer ones are probably a lot better. The Japanese have forced everyone to upgrade their standards. And now Toyota is # 2 , right ? in sales in the US. ...........there is just one problem there............they are making them in the US now, and they are not made as well, the workers do not have a work and quality ethic like Japanese workers do, and now unions are getting in. And I predict that Toyota will become GM-ized, more than they are now, and their quality, which already isn't what it was say, in the late 80's will decline. But they'll still stay on top sales wise. I don't know about now, but traditionally in japan, if you had a job with a big company, it was for life. Unless you extremely screwed up, AND....Japanese mentality is very 'mass and group' focused. Be part of the whole, support the whole. Now they are getting Americanized and have mavericks etc. , but traditionally as a culture they do things like have whole clubs of people, like 200 say, all wearing the same whimsical identical outfit and they all go skiing together. Very 'blend in' cultural mentality. And, in a factory, before their shift, a team of workers , say 40, would do calisthenics together for exercise, before the shift, and when that session was over, they would all BOW to the their shift leader that just lead the calisthenics. They're incredible. They wiped out the British motorcycle industry in a bit over 10 years initially ......and the Brits have recovered some by now. But if you asked me what I thought of a late Acrua- say the CL, Id say ...it won't be German, and it might not have a certain crispness, but it should be about the most reliable and dependable car you every dreamed of. But do your research. And Honda's in general, I put them right after Mercedes Benz, and even they have slipped A LOT in the last decade ( benz ) in term of sheer reliability I believe. ..........I have a 'friend' sort of, ahem, on the east coast, he says Japanese cars are like any other piece of junk and have their problems too, I don't know it it's that environment or what, but in California, Japanese cars, in general, in terms of cost effective ownership, nothing touches them. Nothing at all. Some of them you just can't wear out almost.

Scott www.turbovans.com

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Donna Skarloken Sent: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 1:39 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: NVC Re: Stevens Creek Volkswagen in Santa Clara

I guess it all depends on what you want to drive. VWs have their quirks and I stay far away from the Tracy, California dealership. I've never drove Japanese though most people keep trying to twist my arm into doing so, and I like some of their cars, particularly Acuras.

However, now I guess I'm too old to switch. My husband reluctantly puts up with the bad VW habit and now has a Syncro he shares with me. He curses it but will not part with it (yet). By the way, it doesn't leak oil (knock on wood) and neither does my previous 87, a Wolfsburg (knock on wood again!) nor does my current New Beetle TDI; we did just replace a gasket at about 210,000.

I'm at 222,000+ on the 98 New Beetle TDI. It has not been a hassle-free experience by any means, but I'm used to it now, and staying far away from the dealerships help. I guess it's a lifestyle choice; if you want straight, reliable transportaion, a Honda probably is the way to go.

I don't want a car payment and newer cars really don't interest me. I would like a decent 4-door family car some day but I will likely try to find a decent used model; I really like the look of the Cadillac CTS (I think that's the right initials) and my husband is a U.S. car guy so I have to compromise occasionally. In the meantime, I love driving a diesel so I think I'll hang in there with my old TDI for the daily commute, and the Syncro for weekends/hauling/4-wheeling. The slide in the economy really makes me want to just hang on to the vehicles I have, keep fixing them, and go about my business.

Donna, content VW owner, 1987 Syncro


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