VW reliable?

[red91]

Isn't Volkswaggon a German word for Junk?

I wouldn't buy one man.

Hitlers' revenge from the grave.....


You'd have to be as mad as he was to own a water cooled VW...

 

[XJ Dreamin']

Hitlers' revenge from the grave.....


You'd have to be as mad as he was to own a water cooled VW...

Go back to the '70's gas price hike. To save gas on his commute dad bought a VW bug (3 or 4 actually, but only one ran at any given time).

Now, imagine a man in his late 40's beating the crap out of a '66 bug, screaming at the top of his lungs, "God Damn Nazis! No wonder they lost the war!"

There's not much improvement between '66 and '96.

 

[WaXJ_Skier]

I don't personally own one but one of my Dads friends has. The 5spd variety seem to be pretty reliable. His last one he went over 250K without having to do anything with the clutch. I don't believe anything major went out either. The only thing it didn't like was being run over by a semi.

 

[mortskeg]

Im in need of a new DD and i was wondering if mid 90s VW jettas are reliable? what kind of fuel milage to expect?

Hey cjsxj87-
I'm not going to claim to be an expert by any means, but I just wanted to give you a little bit of insight- by mid 90's, I'm guessing you mean 94-98, otherwise know as the 3rd generation, or A3 chassis. I believe the 1.8l equiped jettas are good for fuel economy in the mid 30's, or, near 50 mpg out of the tdi models. As previously mentioned, jettas of this vintage were made in mexico, and have seen a bit more problems than the german made golfs of the same vintage. However, the real electrical issues were seen around 02-03??

I guess the question to ask yourself is what you will be using the car for, how much work do you want to do yourself, what total milage are you looking at, etc. Personally, I prefer the older style, bosch mechanical fuel injection system to the newer EFIS, but you'd have to go pre '90 to find it. Easy to work on and I would go so far as to say- reliable.

My humble opinion on a couple of the above mentioned items-

Parts price. Having owned an Audi, I did feel that I was paying a premium for stuff shipped over the ocean. My vw's on the other hand, parts have been readily available, and as cheap, if not cheaper than the same part on the cherokee. Disclaimer- *This has been with the older watercooled vw's- mid 90's might be a bit more* One other benefit is that vw is like german lego, I could take a transmission out of a '97 and throw it in my '81 with little change. The big things (engines, trans) are dime a dozen at the wreckers.

Reliability. Reliability is one of the main items that drew me to the XJ. The 4.0 is a tank. But the vw engine will run for a long time, like any car- if properly maintained.
My XJ has 227,000 on it,
My VW has 324,000. (okay it's not the first engine)

Wrenchin. Hey you already have all the metric tools anyway right? Again, I'm used to the older stuff- lots of room to get your hands where they need to go. Plus simplicity- I can count on my fingers all the wires under the hood from the factory wiring harness (diesel).

Anyhow, I realize that this is , but if you need a car to commute in, I think there are worse cars out there then a 90's jetta. That being said, the wife has 65K on her 03 civic and we haven't done anything except change the oil, filter airfilter, and pollen filter.

BTW cjsxj87, were you thinking of the 4 banger gas, diesel, or vr6 jetta?
I hope this helps.
I love my jeep, really!

 

[IslanderOffRoad]

after the experiences we've had with my brother's 03 Audi A4 that he's owned for 1 year, I wouldn't reccomend a VW product to anyone.

 

[8Mud]

VW has it's good points and bad points. The basic platform has been around for a long time. Bad points are the sheet metal, it is thin and starts rusting out in under ten years (sometimes way under). The front drive system, is a bit service intensive. The boots and seals wear out and if neglected cause bigger problems.
When somebody asks about cheap transportation, I recommend the Jetta or the Golf. Cheap, with sustainable maintenance most times. You always have to figure if the repairs are going to cost more than the vehicle is worth, the biggest problem with buying a used vehicle (or sometimes a new one). Most all have there good and bad points.

 

[red91]

Go back to the '70's gas price hike. To save gas on his commute dad bought a VW bug (3 or 4 actually, but only one ran at any given time).

Now, imagine a man in his late 40's beating the crap out of a '66 bug, screaming at the top of his lungs, "God Damn Nazis! No wonder they lost the war!"

There's not much improvement between '66 and '96.

I disagree. The parts availablity now for a car that is 40 years old is better than most manufacturers with a 10 year old car. The air cooled were designed to run anytime, anywhere. Adolf wanted a car that could run in siberia, and in Egypt. He got both ends of the deal.

I owned most every air cooled body type produced....very reliable, and once you knew how to work on the heating system you could make good money in the NW every fall.

The ONLY reason the Nazis' lost was over extension of troops. While I inheirntly dislike the Nazis' ( being a Jew ) You cannot deny that they were very effiecient people for their time.

Just a bit out of touch with reality.

My favorite VW....Karmann Ghia or Notchback. after 1969 it all went down hill for looks...

 

[8Mud]

One sure way to tell the good ones from the bad ones (cars in general), is how many you see on the road after 10 or 20 years. Especially the ugly, no class old ones.
I generally dislike the Jetta or the Golf for one big reason, they crush easy in a wreck. I've seen way too many lose half there width in a slow to moderate crash. I'd give them a "D" for side impact resistance.
The same can be said for many of the newer unibody, light sheet metal, short wheelbase models.
I've only had 3 VW's I actually liked. A Baja Bug, a German Police Bug and a Hot Rod Type 3 (square back). The type three was a sleeper, over a hundred horses (quesstimated at 125 hp, 2 liter), a flat low flex suspension and 13" 60 series tires. The German Police Bug, I picked up at auction and was pretty darned quick from the factory.

 

[88xjchief]

One sure way to tell the good ones from the bad ones (cars in general), is how many you see on the road after 10 or 20 years. Especially the ugly, no class old ones.
I generally dislike the Jetta or the Golf for one big reason, they crush easy in a wreck. I've seen way too many lose half there width in a slow to moderate crash. I'd give them a "D" for side impact resistance.
The same can be said for many of the newer unibody, light sheet metal, short wheelbase models.
I've only had 3 VW's I actually liked. A Baja Bug, a German Police Bug and a Hot Rod Type 3 (square back). The type three was a sleeper, over a hundred horses (quesstimated at 125 hp, 2 liter), a flat low flex suspension and 13" 60 series tires. The German Police Bug, I picked up at auction and was pretty darned quick from the factory.

Thats why a Jeep is a good one. You see plenty of them that are 15 years old and 150k miles and in good condition.