I had a 2001 TDI with the dreaded automatic the transmission. First one went at 60000 miles. VW said since I was the second owner I was on my own. Second tranny started to go at 80000 miles so I unloaded it. Lots of issues with the automatic tranny from those years and VW would not stand behind their product. I am done with VW.

I sold my JSW not too long after it passed 30K miles. Still had a bit of warranty left so got a decent (though not great) price for it. Great car but made me nervous about the prospect of owning out of warranty and at 40K miles you have a relatively expensive DSG service. Will be switching to BMW and hopefully their 2L turbo is well behaved. It will be a lease though so kinda doesn't matter...

Sorry for your loss and congrats at the same time.

Going back to my VW Golf 1986 Diesel which I sold in 1990. I do not miss the failing CV joints, failed head gasket.................so on and so forth.

Once you lose that I'm invincible 50 mpg euphoria the fun is gone. IT WAS 80,000 MILES THE HARD WAY.

I'll never trust a VW again.

Corrected typo

wow, this is good, quite the businessman.

I drove a rented Golf in May for a week and really liked it. Thought a GTI would be a nice, fun little car and considered owning one. Sounds like that would be a bad idea. Right??

My wife has over 80k mostly trouble free miles on her 2010 Golf Two door auto, the next thing up from this car was a GTI. But it's gas not a TDI. She had a new CD player and a new AC compressor put in but they were both warranty. I like driving the car.

Missed the bit about it being a death trap. Why was it a deathtrap?

Because if a car ever stops running while you're driving it, you die.These new models are tied directly into your respiratory system. Didn't you know this? :cool:

My 1986...........(long time ago) blew it's head gasket right around 80k.

Just did the 40K mile service on my wife's TDI. It wasn't too hard but I was a little nervous changing the fuel filter.

My 01 TDI just turned 360,000.

Our GTI was in the shop more than in our garage. All under warranty, thankfully, but it was still a huge POS. No more VW's for us. Which sucks because we've had several.

Having owned a 2002 Camry for over ten years and my wife would have preferred a Jetta I wish we had got the Jetta but not the TDI. At least it would have been fun to drive. I know the quality/reliability is not in the VW but they are more fun to drive.... The problem is the Camry only has 30k miles .....

2014 Volkswagen Passat Gains More Efficient 1.8T Engine - Rumor Central
The 2014 Volkswagen Passat gains a new engine that will return considerably better fuel economy than the car’s current base engine. A new 1.8-liter turbocharged inline-four engine replaces the 2.5-liter inline-five as the Passat’s base engine this year.
The 1.8T engine produces 170 hp and 184 lb-ft of torque, which represents an increase of seven lb-ft compared to the outgoing 2.5-liter engine. It will also be offered in the 2014 Volkswagen Jetta, Beetle, and Golf. The turbo engine is more efficient that the five-cylinder it replaces, and also includes electro hydraulic steering, which consumes less energy than the full hydraulic power steering on the old 2.5-liter.
As a result, the 2014 Volkswagen Passat will return 24/35 mpg (city/highway) with a five-speed manual transmission, and 24/34 mpg with a six-speed automatic. By contrast, the 2013 Passat 2.5-liter managed 22/32 mpg with a manual and 22/31 mpg with an automatic transmission. Although the new 1.8T engine will initially be offered only on the 2014 Volkswagen Passat SEL, by the end of this year it will fully replace the 2.5-liter as the base engine in all Passat variants.

Because the fuel pump can fail anytime anywhere. Around here the entrance ramps are very short. What would happen if your car died when pulling onto the highway or across a busy intersection in front of a heavy truck.

That's a freakin' stretch, bud. Better chance of choking on a pretzel.

I work in the industry at the manufacturer level, and we consistently see German car components being needlessly complex for no apparent reason. "Just because we can" seems to be their reason. Not better, not smarter, not an elegant design solution...just overly complex. Which often times means prone to failure.

Every German car we've owned has been fairly unreliable, with silly designs and complex parts. And overpriced parts, too.

Luckily our 911 is (mostly) devoid of stuff like this, and we rather enjoy it. But it's likely the last German car we'll own, except for possibly a 996 TT which seem to be almost bomb proof. Otherwise, too much trouble. We even have a joking term among my car enthusiast friends for German cars: "FGC...F****** German Cars".

We've always had at least 2 Lexus in our fleet because they are supremely reliable, build quality peerless, are fast and fun (the models we drive anyways) and are cheap to maintain.

Aww come on. You need to try and get out of your bubble more.

Pretty funny that their "new" engine is a 1.8T. You know, since they started using a 1.8T in 1998 and eventually replaced it with the FSI 2.0T. Great little motor though, I had a 1.8T 1999 A4 that had decent pep and easily surpassed 30 MPG.

VW's suck. They still have timing belts when nearly everyone else have gone to chains. It cost @$1k to do the belt every 100k miles.

Our 2010 Jetta TDI quit running when my wife was pulling out onto a busy highway. It was 5:30 AM on the coldest day in Feb. -6 Degs F with a wind. Luckily she was able to coast to the underpass and no truck was coming. VW only covered $300 for the repair. Did I mention they suck.

Our 2002 TDI would die randomly. Have you ever been in a car that quits where ever. It is rather frighting. VW dealer said they couldn't find the problem. So I did the lemon law thing on them. They finally replace the instrument panel and that fixed it.

VW's have been the most unreliable cars that we have ever owned. I like how they ride and the features of the cars but they suck. And like the guy above M-B's aren't much better. My 911 has been very reliable:)

Any vehicle can be considered a "death trap" and suddenly stop - Timing belt, ECU failure, IMS failure, HPFP failures etc.

Almost got creamed in my 2006 Mini Cooper the other day when the Harmonic Pulley separate in two pieces on the entrance ramp of the freeway; felt like a hit a brick wall when I lost all power at full throttle.

None of the VW's I have left me stranded while the vehicle was in motion except for the VW Thing when I ran out of gas (fuel gauge and odometer were out of service)

Porsche left me stranded in motion twice - rear axle let go and a blown fuel pump fuse.

Regarding the TDI timing belt, local indy by me replaces the belt and WP for $750, servicing Audi's is his real cash cow.