Read my name.
Printable View
Read my name.
I have a new contender. It's the current VW Passat. Not only for being one of the blandest cars currently on sale but also for it's faulty electronics. A mate's Passat had a complete electronics collapse yeasterday which will cost loads to repair.
[quote=Commodore GS/E;947518]I have a new contender. It's the current VW Passat. Not only for being one of the blandest cars currently on sale but also for it's faulty electronics. A mate's Passat had a complete electronics collapse yeasterday which will cost loads to repair.[/quote]
Quality VW engineering.
It's amazing that German engineering is so highly touted, and yet their cars aren't exactly known for being reliable. VW scores near the bottom or even dead last in JD Power's problems for the first hundred days or some shit (which is very poor considering they are a volume manufacturer), and Mercs, BMWs, and Audis aren't known for reliability either.
I don't know about surveys, but the Mini after 100.000 hard kilometres is still going strong. And the same can be said about the BMW and 80.000km.
[quote=Kitdy;947567]Quality VW engineering.
It's amazing that German engineering is so highly touted, and yet their cars aren't exactly known for being reliable. VW scores near the bottom or even dead last in JD Power's problems for the first hundred days or some shit (which is very poor considering they are a volume manufacturer), and Mercs, BMWs, and Audis aren't known for reliability either.[/quote]
Mmh. I think, Mercedes has improved over the last years (since the Chrysler-affair ended). They may not be as good as they were before the "merger of equals", but they are on top again. It doesn't exactly shock me that Audis aren't that reliable, because they are in essence reengineered VWs. BMW is only bad in the states, but they are currently undergoing a phase of descending build quality (caused by their strategy of saving as much money as possible). Opel isn't that bad; their bad reputation is mainly caused by bad press and VW's propaganda. Porsche is pretty good for a sports car maker. Dunno about Wiesmann and Gumpert, they are simply not building enough cars.
I agree, their reliability isn't the best, but german engineering is still some of the world's best along with the japs (although the japanese brands have lost ground if you ignore thy hybrids chapter, especially Honda has become worse inmy eyes). During the recent months, I was totally baffled by the improvements of the US brands (which were pretty much out of sight for many years).
But I have to say that i can't look at this topic without any prejudices ;)
I've sat in a mk1 Mini (BMW's) a while ago, and I have to say the interior was quite worn out, and few of the switches had their lights gone. Pretty noisy too, or at least more than what I was expecting.
On the other hand, our Stilo is still noisy as the first day (especially on the outside), and while that's not a good thing, it also mean it's aging particularly well. (9 years, 100.000 km or thereabout).
On the other hand it was only a month in the Delta (IIRC) and it had already had all sorts of niggling faults.
Main mechanical bits have always been OK, though.
For the last few years in a listing made by insurance companies (which tends to be extremely accurate since they have a sizable monetary investment in that accuracy,) the numper of problems in the first 100,00 miles of Ford vehicles has been near or better than the top Japanese brands. But everyone knows american cars are horribly unreliable and can't turn. :rolleyes:
That same listing had Mercedes pretty far down the rankings, too. Maybe it's just the models we get here that fall apart?
It could also be a perception thing.. are those surveys measured on satisfaction or acutual numbers?
[quote=pimento;947833]It could also be a perception thing.. are those surveys measured on satisfaction or acutual numbers?[/quote]
Definitely not 100,000 miles, but here is JD Power's initial quality ranking - based on problems experienced in the first 90 days of ownership.
Porsche leads.
Source, [URL="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/06/17/jd-power-2010-initial-quality-study-domestics-lead-imports/"]Autoblog[/URL] and J.D. Power.
this is not good news for VAG.....
[quote=henk4;947890]this is not good news for VAG.....[/quote]
We have a MkIV Golf...
How does Mercury have so many more problems than Ford and Lincoln?
VAG, Chrysler (duh), and Toyota really disappoint. Those are some bad numbers for two "reliable" brands, and, frankly, what I'd expect from Chrysler.
EDIT: Kitdy, it is named the ShityGolf for a reason.
[quote=pimento;947833]It could also be a perception thing.. are those surveys measured on satisfaction or acutual numbers?[/quote]
Number of reported problems. I hate satisfaction rankings because they're even less accurate and more biased than reported problems.
Yea, even reported problems are dodgy.. you're more likely to report a problem with a luxury car than some cheapo thing you don't care about.