How do VW (and Audi) do it?

[Bezza1969]

Chatting to a mate the other day, comparing my current 8 year old trouble free Mazda to my previous troublesome VW Passat and told him I probably wouldn't bother with a VW car in future, particularly as I buy second hand outside of warranty, especially as it was my second VAG car to come with consistent irritating problems. He was shocked and said he had hoped to get one next because they are reliable, well built, blah, blah. I am just wondering how VW manage to keep such a good reputation and image with the general public, whereas Alfas and french cars always slated for poor quality. VWs (and Audis for that matter) independent reliability record in the various breakdown surveys has been disappointing for years now with them consistently lagging behind the likes of Ford and Vauxhall and we've had the pump duse TDI injector fiasco and the 1.4 TSI engine failure problems...so guys how come their image just goes from strength to strength with jo public?

Edited by Bezza1969 on Sunday 26th January 08:42

[Ved]

Marketing

[deltashad]

It's German. Zere for it must be built better.

Got to say I do like the German cars. My brother had a 10 year old Mazda, it died because of the rot. My ten year old Mercedes is only just showing signs surface rust in two small areas. Both will be a cheap fix.

You get good ones and bad ones of any make.

[chr15b]

What he said, had a number of vw's and not had a serious problem. Also had a nightmare one, but that could happen with any car.

[Dave Hedgehog]

marketing


and in the case of audi brilliant customer support, VWs CS is very average

[Hub]

Reliability doesn't seem to be such a problem if you have a really strong brand image, just look at Land Rover!

[gvij]

VW/ Audi are well made cars, end of.
Well I can qualify that by saying they are widely supported with parts readily available at discount by numerous manufacturers. You cant say that about Toyota, Mazda etc Sure they slip up as they launch many untested models/engines/gearboxes(one reason for their great success-humans have no loyalty to anything and want the next model before its even designed) a but when they realise there is a problem they sort it out.
Bottom line don't buy the first year or two of any new engine or chassis and youll be fine.

[Vladimir]

Our rather expensive VW camper bought new in 2012 to date.

1) New rear diff; manufacturing fault.
2) New steering column; design fault
3) Front (aluminium) roof section repainted (very common on the California); design fault
4) EGR valve code re-set. They all do it
5) Radio system being repaired; design fault.

So while I've had stacks of VWs, I do wonder if quality has slipped a little. Oh and my local dealer is currently having to correct a load of paint damage after "washing" our carefully looked after van with what looks like a broom…

I'd say our current and previous BMWs were very well made in comparison. The last BMW (335d) was pretty much faultless over the 5.5 years and 44k miles we had it.

[jimmyt1202]

I completely agree. Working in the trade NOTHING really gives me headaches like VWs and Audis! I also recently had a 59 reg Ibiza Bocanegra 1.4 TSi and in the 6 months I had it:
New PAS pump
3x DSG oil changes (and it still juddered)
6x Coilpacks

This was a 1 owner 40k miles car with Full Seat History. It also drank more oil than petrol and I constantly got the impression that I was waiting for something to go wrong! I sold it while it was running properly

I've now got a 2010 Seat Leon Cupra 2.0 TSi with 22,000 miles and touch wood all is well. It feels a lot more solidly built than the Ibiza

[motor mad]

If you buy a car new and have lots of problems that's one thing. But if you're buying a used car that you have no idea how it's been treated, it's not the cars fault.

I owned a troublesome VW, but I'm pretty sure that's because it had been clocked by the previous owner. It didn't put me off buying another one. I've also owned a problematic Ford which was down to a poorly design engine and to me that's unforgivable.

[NPI]

Dave Hedgehog said:

VWs CS is very average

We have a VW in the family for the first time in many years and, while I do find it quite weird how the car feels a cut above everything else in its class, I'm really unhappy about the limitations with the Service Plan the car came with, and that I feel like the dealer is trying to scam me in every inter-action with them.

One thing that caught me out is the car only came with 1 yr roadside assistance - all the other cars we have come with 3yrs and they get it renewed automatically with each service.

[AnotherClarkey]

It is a puzzle. Most of the VAG brands languish in the very average to poor sections of reliability surveys and are often outperformed by brands like Citroen (which in my personal experience were far more reliable than VW's I owned) yet the image persists. I can only agree that it must be a triumph of marketing.

[Dave Hedgehog]

NPI said:

Dave Hedgehog said:

VWs CS is very average

We have a VW in the family for the first time in many years and, while I do find it quite weird how the car feels a cut above everything else in its class, I'm really unhappy about the limitations with the Service Plan the car came with, and that I feel like the dealer is trying to scam me in every inter-action with them.

One thing that caught me out is the car only came with 1 yr roadside assistance - all the other cars we have come with 3yrs and they get it renewed automatically with each service.

We have a polo GTi which (like most of them) eats oil, all the people we have spoken to at VW, at their CS and 2 different dealers have the attitude of "not giving a flying fk" like a second hand car dealers "you bought it, its your problem" appalling really

Audi on the other hand bend over backwards to sort me out, you could not ask for better service. I was a bit put out when they wanted to do an inspection for modifications before doing some warranty work, but they lent me an RS6 to compensate for the inconvenience so how can you complain (apart from the £200 in petrol i did in a week lol).

[10 Pence Short]

If you want something that feels well built, buy German. If you want something that's actually well built, buy Japanese.

There are of course exceptions and people will have their own stories, but pretty much every type of survey from both sides of the pond over the past 20 years can't be wrong.

Edited by 10 Pence Short on Saturday 25th January 09:32

[Monaro5.7]

I have owned various car and 4 of them German.

2x BMW 3 series and I must admit the worst customer service ever when it was in for a repair.

1 X Audi did not have it long enough to form an opinion but the car was a laugh and sounded great 5 pot engine.

1 x Skoda (sort of German) Great car brilliant dealer could not be more helpful when I came to buy and in the end they told me to buy a car that was not from them as it was to good a deal. They still looked after me when I had the car for servicing and a recall.

I work in the car parts trade and every car have there faults and repair but Jap cars are the best for no going wrong and there bodywork issues are less now. more European body panels we sell now than jap stuff.

[zoom star]

I have a vw t5 my son has an Audi 3 sport,problems,upon problems,I only do short journeys,it's what I do, but I have a van with a DPF fitted,so it seems twice a week, I have to go for a spirited drive for half an hour somewhere,for nothing, just to keep my DPF from throwing a wobbly,and posting engine light faults.
My sons A3 is well, it's needy shall we say.
My son also has a Honda Civic,he has had that around 4 years, and thrashed the arse off it, and it keeps coming back for more,no bills, no horror stories.
We have only had them 18 months tops, the van even less.
My wife's Nissan X Trail, tyres, and a brake caliper in 5 years.
Probably Japanese for me next time.
I think VAG have a better marketing team, than a product.

[VonSenger]

My R8 caused me no problems to speak of but my old q7 was the worsed car ive ever owned! £3500 for injectors that failed, £2600 for inlet manifolds due to plastic gears stripping, rear boot motor failed £400, alternator etc etc. All this at 60k miles. Unbelievably the main dealer said the replacement inlet manifolds also have plastic gears!!!

Never avain.

[Vladimir]

10 Pence Short said:

If you want something that feels well built, buy German. If you want something that's actually well built, buy Japanese.

There are of course exceptions and people will have their own stories, but pretty much every type of survey from both sides of the pond over the past 20 years can't be wrong.

Edited by 10 Pence Short on Saturday 25th January 09:32

That was the case 5-10 years ago but with all the recent recalls, I'm not so sure. Also the Japanese use thin watercolours to paint their cars.

[motco]

A family member had an Audi TT 225 and he said that the interior was the most beautiful he'd seen and was like a luxury lounge in which to sit waiting for the RAC breakdown truck...

[10 Pence Short]

Vladimir said:

That was the case 5-10 years ago but with all the recent recalls, I'm not so sure. Also the Japanese use thin watercolours to paint their cars.

The paint issue is typically defined by the laws on pollutants, which affects everyone. In the 80s the Japanese had a reputation for rust (as did the southern half of Europe- Lancia Beta, anyone?).

The most recent tin-worm-a-holics in the mass market are Mercedes. Which I believe are German.

I don't remember hearing of significant paint issues specific to far eastern manufacturers.