[Spridgets] paging Peter C

[Bill Gilroy]

My main beef is Check Engine Light.  The CEL was on more times than I can
count.  My favorite was it was on and the fix was a "new version of
firmware".  I left the dealer and was about 5 miles away when it came back
on again.  One other time I was short on time because I was leaving NJ going
to WA so I had the dealer fix a couple of things, a headlight that rattled
and the CEL.  Turns out they did nothing with the headlight, it still
vibrated and the CEL was back on before I got to the 100 miles into PA.  I
call the dealer to complain about both items and I contacted VW America.
Short story was by the time I got to WA I had put enough miles to be out of
my warranty period.  It was up to me to fix the issues at that point and VW
refused to do anything  I was more than pissed.  I will never purchase their
products again.

Funny thing is the Outback is a very useful and versatile car and I love it.
My wife's main complaint is that it has more road noise and does not ride as
good as the VW and I agree.  Tons of people lover their VW, but not me.  I
want my wife's car to need very little care, just routine maintenance and
oil changes.

-g

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 5:06 AM, Bud Osbourne <abcoz at hky.com> wrote:

> Bill,
> Not meaning to "dis" you in any way, but, you don't mention if you bought
> it new or used, how it was maintained and by whom it was maintained.  This
> is VERY critical information.  Also "steaming pile" doesn't tell us anything
> relevant.
> As far as VW products are concerned: I just rolled past 296,000 miles last
> week, with my '98 Golf (2.0 liter, 4 cyl. gas engine w/automatic).  I bought
> it new and have maintained it very meticulously via the same dealer I bought
> it from and the same mechanic working on it every time it went in for
> service.  Aside from a fuel pump relay failure at around 250,000 miles and a
> rear wheel bearing failure at around 180,000 miles (I now have wheel
> bearings serviced at least once a year), it has never failed to get me to
> where I needed to go.  I am confident of another 300,000 miles with the car,
> although I realize I will eventually need to replace the transmission (I
> mean, how long can an automatic transmission last????).
> Without a doubt, the weak link in any VW product is Bosch electrics.
> Basically, they suck and have been of inferior engineering and quality since
> the early eighties.  I keep hearing rumors that BMW (more) and Mercedes
> (less) are also having reliability issues due to Bosch electrics.  Porsche
> does not seem to be immune from this, either.
> Subaru.......I wouldn't own one, but not because I don't think they are
> good cars.  I've driven plenty of them (my dealer is a VW/Subaru store &
> their loaner fleet was all Subies) and just don't like them as much as the
> VWs.
> Bud Osbourne
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Gilroy" <wmgilroy at gmail.com>
> To: "Peter Caldwell" <peter at nosimport.com>
> Cc: <spridgets at autox.team.net>
> Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 4:15 AM
>
> Subject: Re: [Spridgets] paging Peter C
>
>
>   My wife had a 2002 1.8T Passat.  It seemed to be a steaming pile.  It
>> was a
>> great day when we replaced the VW with an Outback. I would never buy
>> another
>> VW product and I would never, ever take a Passat for free!
>>
>> -g