I hate Volkswagen I like when the world is quiet though!

[MildredHubble]

I went out in the snow to help my dad with his car as it wouldn't start. It's a Volkswagen so that pretty much sums it up! On the other hand it was lovely and quiet, so nice to be totally alone in near silence shame about the temperature.

Oh and Volkswagens suck!

 

[Gerontius]

Most cars will struggle starting in the cold. I have an older model Toyota that can be hard to start on a cold day due to the stress on the battery. Switching to a battery with a higher lead content is a good trick as well as changing the starter cable for a heavier gauge of wire.

 

[MildredHubble]

My dad has owned two Passats. I think they should drop the 'P'. Least reliable cars by far. Also apparently designed by sadists.

Every time this car has even a minor issue I end up sounding just like Sideshow Bob when he repeatedly steps on rakes!

The problem it seems is the engine speed sensor. Of course it has to be burried deep within the engine. Same sensor on my old Hyundai was right near the top of the engine and a 5 minute job to replace.

On this car you have to go underneath and remove the oil filter bracket and pray that the torx bolt doesn't strip.

I think it's just easier to get it crushed into a cube. I would certainly enjoy that and it would finally be quite useful. Perhaps it could be melted down to make a good car, like my Nissan?!

 

[Outdated]

My next door neighbour when I was growing up had a sulphur crested cockatoo and one of it's favourite noises was:

Rrr, rrr rrr rrr, rrr rrr rrr.

June's car not starting in the morning.

 

[MildredHubble]

My next door neighbour when I was growing up had a sulphur crested cockatoo and one of it's favourite noises was:

Rrr, rrr rrr rrr, rrr rrr rrr.

June's car not starting in the morning.

Oddly enough, I'm pretty sure that was the sound I was making in-between muttering some expletives about "German engineering"!

 

[Outdated]

By the looks of the photo you could have just parked it on it's own hub caps then pushed the old boy down the hill. Like toboggans for grown ups.

 

[MildredHubble]

By the looks of the photo you could have just parked it on it's own hub caps then pushed the old boy down the hill. Like toboggans for grown ups.

The thought had crossed my mind lol! Due to the exhausted battery I couldn't put the car into neutral to even move it. It's an "automatic" but true to form VW made it convoluted. It's actually a computer controlled manual gearbox but automated. So it's the worst of both worlds!

 

[Outdated]

One of the most reliable cars I ever owned was when I was living in the bush, a little 1988 Camry wagon. It always started first time every time. You didn't even have to get in it, just reach through the window and turn the key.

It was beaten up and falling apart, I had a length of venetian blind cord hanging out the back of the tail gate to open it because the proper handle had rusted in place. The front windscreen was cracked but it couldn't be replaced because the bodywork surrounding it was all rusted out. You had to go over speed bumps very slowly and you could feel the whole body flex and twist as you went.

But it never once let me down. It was unregistered and uninsured of course but you can get away with that in the bush. The few times I had to drive it in to the city I blessed my autism, I spot patterns very quickly so I always knew when and where the police patrols were going to be.

 

[MildredHubble]

One of the most reliable cars I ever owned was when I was living in the bush, a little 1988 Camry wagon. It always started first time every time. You didn't even have to get in it, just reach through the window and turn the key.

I was beaten up and falling apart, I had a length of venetian blind cord hanging out the back of the tail gate to open it because the proper handle had rusted in place. The front windscreen was cracked but it couldn't be replaced because the bodywork surrounding it was all rusted out. You had to go over speed bumps very slowly and you could feel the whole body flex and twist as you went.

But it never once let me down. It was unregistered and uninsured of course but you can get away with that in the bush. The few times I had to drive it in to the city I blessed my autism, I spot patterns very quickly so I always knew when and where the police patrols were going to be.

Japanese engineering! In my opinion and experience, the best! It's always the junky cars that capture your heart I think. They just somehow keep going, like a faithful friend, like they never want to let you down! They've got soul!

 

[Outdated]

It's funny the way opinions differ, I watched Top Gear a lot and they often touted the Datsun as a reliable car. That's saying a lot about British cars because we thought Datsuns were unreliable rubbish. Toyotas were a big hit here though.

 

[MildredHubble]

It's funny the way opinions differ, I watched Top Gear a lot and they often touted the Datsun as a reliable car. That's saying a lot about British cars because we thought Datsuns were unreliable rubbish. Toyotas were a big hit here though.

I think some times it depends on where the car was made. It seems that cars get a bad reputation because the majority of the "batch" that was imported was not to the best standard.

An odd thing happened with Nissan in Australia. They launched the Nissan Astra (that's right "Astra"!) and while it was generally well received, it was a total flop! Nissan sold the design to Holden and it became the Holden Astra!

 

[Tom]

I had a couple of volkswagons and they could be tempermental (especially bad starters, now that you mention it). The one I loved though was my new 85' Sirocco. I was in Germany at the time and it was great on the small twisting roads and steady on the autobahn. It could go faster then I wanted to go.

 

[Outdated]

Nissan sold the design to Holden and it became the Holden Astra!

Which you had as a Vauxhal. They cooperated on a lot of things and that was handy for parts. A mate of mine blew the engine in his Nissan ute, but instead of replacing it with another underpowered Nissan 4 cylinder he dropped a Holden V6 in it.

 

[MildredHubble]

I had a couple of volkswagons and they could be tempermental (especially bad starters, now that you mention it). The one I loved though was my new 85' Sirocco. I was in Germany at the time and it was great on the small twisting roads and steady on the autobahn. It could go faster then I wanted to go.

The Scirocco was actually a car that I would like! But that's 1980s VW. A very different beast to the mess they are today and by most accounts (even VW fanatics) they've not been producing good cars since 1992!

But the Scirocco is a lovely looking car and exactly what I like to drive, a proper sports coupe with an engine with plenty of pep!

 

[Outdated]

But that's 1980s VW.

We've got the same problem here, with 4WDs for out in the bush. Everyone wants a pre 1990 Toyota, no one wants the new ones.

 

[Raggamuffin]

Uh oh.

Boxanne is a v dub. The mechanic thinks it'll be a workhorse, as it's an older diesel van. I hope so

Mind you, I did replace my last big project car with what I thought was a sensible VW hatchback. But apparently I bought the economical petrol version with an infamously unreliable 3 cylinder engine. I got the compression issue. When overtaking on a motorway/freeway after seeing a friend join the slip road and wanting to overtake them as a laugh, but also test out just how asthmatic the car was.

It was painfully slow, I'd go so far as to say dangerously slow. When I eventually got up to ~75mph it lost all power, the engine light came on, and I had to limp down the road and park up on the grass verge and call a recovery. At least I got the day off work.

Ed

 

[MildredHubble]

Which you had as a Vauxhal. They cooperated on a lot of things and that was handy for parts. A mate of mine blew the engine in his Nissan ute, but instead of replacing it with another underpowered Nissan 4 cylinder he dropped a Holden V6 in it.

Nissan 4 cylinders are pretty powerful, (not Holden V6 powerful though ) and you can tune them a bit without much effort. They generally had their ignition timing retarded quite a lot from the factory. All you needed was a couple of wrenches, a screwdriver and about 10-20 minutes to unlock an extra 10-15 horses!

 

[Outdated]

Nissan 4 cylinders are pretty powerful, (not Holden V6 powerful though )

Underpowered for a ute though, as soon as you loaded the back up it really drank fuel and couldn't get up steep hills.

 

[MildredHubble]

Uh oh.

Boxanne is a v dub. The mechanic thinks it'll be a workhorse, as it's an older diesel van. I hope so

View attachment 91566

Ed

If you are in a good climate it will probably be good! Thing is, the engines are workhorses, but they are let down by some penny pinching and some wonky design when it comes to actually working on them.

They aren't designed with maintenance in mind. So you have situations where you can't remove a consumable item (eg a wishbone) because it's stuck behind the sub frame, which is holding on the engine and gearbox and also needs to be in perfect alignment or you have a host of other problems.

The engines are about the only thing I like about the Passat. Electrical systems, brakes, and suspension are just sub par unfortunately. But a van might be a different proposition for all I know

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I went out in the snow to help my dad with his car as it wouldn't start. It's a Volkswagen so that pretty much sums it up! On the other hand it was lovely and quiet, so nice to be totally alone in near silence shame about the temperature.

View attachment 91564
Oh and Volkswagens suck!

I agree - I had a VW Rabbit - the one with the fuel pump relay issue. Plus mine would chew up a CV-U-joint about every 6 months. After that, I got a Toyota.