Date: Thu, 14 Jan 1999 11:55:05 -0500
Reply-To: John Anderson <janderson@IOLINC.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: John Anderson <janderson@IOLINC.NET>
Subject: Re: OFF-TOPIC: Re:USA Vs. Japan vs Europe
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>> >My car was indeed assembled in Pennsylvania. However, that is NOT the
>> >deciding factor in how a car feels when you drive it. It's the
engineering
>> >behind it.
>
>To the below I'd say I strongly disagree. I test drove some of the Mexican
made
>Golfs/Jettas a few years ago as well as had friends who owned same and they
were
>problematic and felt poorly assembled though they were "German Engineered"
as
DING, DING, DING, right on. The A2 cars made in Mexico were JUNK, our '89
had paint defects out of the factory, trim fallling off all round, and
mechanical issues, American built A2's (sort of rare '85 only?) were just as
bad, maybe worse. The American A1 was identically never equal the German
in fit or finish. I've seen a lot of ragged '88-'91ish Mexican Jettas,
particularly paint/body problems as they age in the mid Atlantic, and I mean
ragged 2-3 years AGO. Every German GLI, or regular Jetta I've seen has been
impeccable considering their ages, and not I think just because the GLI's
warranted better treatment. In them I get a European feel, in a Mexican
car, not really. I know a lot of people who had trim issues abound on the
first '93 and '94 A3 cars as well, I'm unimpressed how paint again is
holding out on a friends '95. But it works the other way as well, my '90
Corrado was a VERY early US market model and as the damn things were nearly
hand built it had a myriad of trim problems as well, mechanics and paint
were spectacular however. '90 Passat was a transmission nightmare but very
nice otherwise. On both those it was fairly annoying as it was not as if
the cars had not been out in Europe for at least a year to sort out
problems. Still they felt very solid and very German as do most Corrado and
Passats of the early 90's. For as much as VW has come back and touts their
wonderful warranty, I'll be suprised if A3's A4's and Beetles coming out of
Mexico hold up that well for people like me who want to keep the cars over 5
years. The admission of this is the fact that second owner only gets that
5/50. And of course then you have to find out who your DSM is and grab him
by the balls if anything out of the ordinary happens to need warranty work
anyway. To me if it didn't leave Wolfsburg or Hanover it ain't worth
driving. May put me into an Audi in a few years I guess at least they
mostly leave Germany, that TT coupe looks wonderful, or is it to be built
side by side with the bug?
John
janderson@iolinc.net
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