Social Media Influencers and Robinhood

[svelte]

[quote=Coronita]
Friends don’t let friends buy a Volkswagen product. Please don’t.
[/quote]

Cars have come a long way in the last 20 years. There really aren’t many if any low quality cars for sale in the US any more.

Shoot, the worst of the cars now for sale score about as good as the best cars 20-30 years ago.

I have seriously considered VWs a few times but never pulled the trigger. Always found something that fit my personality better, but I certainly see how they appeal to other people.

My grandparents were big VW fans, owned a few beetles. My favorite was an early 60s black bug with a grey interior and grey cloth sunroof. My dad wanted to buy a Karmann Ghia but I talked him out of it and into a Sunbeam Alpine instead. Bet that ended up costing him more money while he owned it, but to me it was way more fun.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=svelte][quote=Coronita]
Friends don’t let friends buy a Volkswagen product. Please don’t.
[/quote]

Cars have come a long way in the last 20 years. There really aren’t many if any low quality cars for sale in the US any more.

Shoot, the worst of the cars now for sale score about as good as the best cars 20-30 years ago.

I have seriously considered VWs a few times but never pulled the trigger. Always found something that fit my personality better, but I certainly see how they appeal to other people.

My grandparents were big VW fans, owned a few beetles. My favorite was an early 60s black bug with a grey interior and grey cloth sunroof. My dad wanted to buy a Karmann Ghia but I talked him out of it and into a Sunbeam Alpine instead. Bet that ended up costing him more money while he owned it, but to me it was way more fun.[/quote]

i don’t trust germany, the whole nation.

vw cheated on emissions.

their cars suck.

they were nazis.

sorry, just never would even consider a german car.

my wife bought the mini, bmw related, over my objection.
damn german cars.

the mini sucks so bad

of course, i dont really trust the usa anymore either.

we are moving toward a strange unsettling authoritarianism.

ok, so no german cars. no u.s.cars.

no french cars, too awful.

italian, no.

volvo? swedes? too expensive.

japan? i guess, ok.

[gzz]

I want a bright green hatchback (or small hatchbacky CUV) with 180hp+. Not many ways to get this, the GTI S was one of them, though the green was so unpopular they killed it.

Golfs are sold in massive numbers in the third world, I doubt they are bad to maintain.

The plaid seats are ugly, but you don’t see them when you’re driving.

I might go for this. In 2020 they upgraded the engine from 130 to 169hp, and that neon blue is my second favorite color.

2019 Toyota Corolla Hatchback

[svelte]

[quote=gzz]
Golfs are sold in massive numbers in the third world, I doubt they are bad to maintain.
[/quote]

I saw this on Craigslist the other day and it really, really called out to me:

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/cto/d/la-mesa-2015-golf-sportwagen-sel-tdi/7182469738.html

Then I noticed it was a diesel and the appeal evaporated.

[Coronita]

I think if you buy a new car, reliability probably doesn’t differ that much. But I can tell even with newer German cars, they are a pain to work on. BMW and VAG use so much plastic in critical components, that if you keep the car for 10-15 years, those things start to get brittle and fail. And the way German cars are designed, it’s often hard to get to those things or just to do really simple things.

My former coworker had a newer VW gti and he was having an oil leak 5-6 years into ownership. I figure valve cover gasket , and told him to get it done. He gets an estimate for $800. Whoa. I thought maybe he just went to a mechanic that was trying to rip him off because how hard could replacing a valve cover gasket be? Well,apparently it’s a big job and a royal pain in the ass, and $800 wasn’t that bad… These VW GTIs don’t have traditional valve covers. they have a “cam girdle” that holds the camshafts in place. So when the gasket leaks, it’s a big job because to replace the seal, you are disassembling a lot.

Now, if this was a luxury car, spending say $800 to replace a leaking gasket in 6-7 years probably is acceptable for a luxury car. It’s an expensive car, you have to pay to play.

But we are talking about a GTI which is suppose to be an economical people’s car. But because of this design, it’s incredibly expensive to upkeep, and the cost to maintain it quickly ends up being more than the car is worth. That’s why VW’s will always depreciate like crazy. Reliability might have improved, but their serviceability certainly has not. It’s as expensive to maintain a VW out if warranty and free maintenance period as it is to maintain as an Audi.

I have learned that as part of owning German cars for the long haul, learn to work on them yourself..Parts isn’t expensive, labor is. Or simply don’t keep them… Lease them and return them and let them be other people’s problem. Or get really cheap German cars like $4000-5000, and just do oil and brakes and ignore everything else that breaks. And finally throw it away a few years later.

If you like how VW drives, I would go test drive a comparable Mazda. I think Mazdas are as close to german car driving dynamics a Japanese car is going to get.

The new Mazda 3s they have over in europe with the new skyactiv X engine is pretty impressive. If I had to get a family sedan right now, it would probably be a Mazda 6. They aren’t as reliable as a Camry, but they drive a lot better and I like the fit and finish better.

[svelte]

[quote=scaredyclassic]
i don’t trust germany, the whole nation.

vw cheated on emissions.

their cars suck.

they were nazis.

sorry, just never would even consider a german car.

my wife bought the mini, bmw related, over my objection.
damn german cars.

the mini sucks so bad

of course, i dont really trust the usa anymore either.

we are moving toward a strange unsettling authoritarianism.

ok, so no german cars. no u.s.cars.

no french cars, too awful.

italian, no.

volvo? swedes? too expensive.

japan? i guess, ok.[/quote]

Man you gotta lot of prejudices!

just saying that reminds me of the movie “The End” when Dom Deluise tells Burt Reynolds “you gotta lotta rules about peein’!”

[Coronita]

[quote=svelte][quote=gzz]
Golfs are sold in massive numbers in the third world, I doubt they are bad to maintain.
[/quote]

I saw this on Craigslist the other day and it really, really called out to me:

https://sandiego.craigslist.org/esd/cto/d/la-mesa-2015-golf-sportwagen-sel-tdi/7182469738.html

Then I noticed it was a diesel and the appeal evaporated.[/quote]

This was the comment about the “valve cover” on the MK6. I’m not sure if they changed the design again but on the MK6 it was a pain and expensive job.

https://www.golfmk6.com/forums/index.php?threads/replacing-valve-cover-gasket-what-else.306679/

Read this thread ..and there’s a dozen or so about these… total clusterfvk.

[svelte]

[quote=Coronita]

read my comment about the GTI. I think for some VWs, forget which ones, they also went from a metal oil pan to a plastic one. So, if you are unfortunate and bottom out on something , it’s no longer just denting your oil pan…..
[/quote]

I don’t know. My cars are babied. I’ve got a 16 yo car that doesn’t have a drop of oil on the bottom side. My mechanic called me out to the shop floor to show me that – he couldn’t believe not a spot of oil, tranny fluid, nothing.

I’ve been driving cars for 4 decades now and only once have I had a major problem with my car – a bent valve on a 1970 car when I had it during the 1970s. And I bought that with 87K miles on it so who knows what it went through before I got it.

Every other car, the worst I’ve had is alternators, water pumps and once a radiator. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but it has made me pretty brave when buying cars.

[scaredyclassic]

[quote=svelte][quote=scaredyclassic]
i don’t trust germany, the whole nation.

vw cheated on emissions.

their cars suck.

they were nazis.

sorry, just never would even consider a german car.

my wife bought the mini, bmw related, over my objection.
damn german cars.

the mini sucks so bad

of course, i dont really trust the usa anymore either.

we are moving toward a strange unsettling authoritarianism.

ok, so no german cars. no u.s.cars.

no french cars, too awful.

italian, no.

volvo? swedes? too expensive.

japan? i guess, ok.[/quote]

Man you gotta lot of prejudices!

just saying that reminds me of the movie “The End” when Dom Deluise tells Burt Reynolds “you gotta lotta rules about peein’!”[/quote]

Rules is rules

[Coronita]

[quote=svelte][quote=Coronita]

read my comment about the GTI. I think for some VWs, forget which ones, they also went from a metal oil pan to a plastic one. So, if you are unfortunate and bottom out on something , it’s no longer just denting your oil pan…..
[/quote]

I don’t know. My cars are babied. I’ve got a 16 yo car that doesn’t have a drop of oil on the bottom side. My mechanic called me out to the shop floor to show me that – he couldn’t believe not a spot of oil, tranny fluid, nothing.

I’ve been driving cars for 4 decades now and only once have I had a major problem with my car – a bent valve on a 1970 car when I had it during the 1970s. And I bought that with 87K miles on it so who knows what it went through before I got it.

Every other car, the worst I’ve had is alternators, water pumps and once a radiator. Maybe I’ve been lucky, but it has made me pretty brave when buying cars.[/quote]

I accidentally deleted the comment about the oil pan. oops..

I think you and I are probably not the majority of the car owners who baby their cars. I change my oil after 2 autocrosses or 3000 miles, my “lifetime” transmission and diff fluid regularly and brake fluid regularly.

The majority of car owners, in this country at least, treat their cars like maintainence free appliances. I think maybe why the same cars in Europe seem to last a lot longer than here is because they maintain them better maybe? Don’t know

I think for me I want a fairly reliable car that I won’t be afraid to tinker with.tinkered Tesla’s are nice cars, just not something I would enjoy because there’s not much you can do to tinker with it.

[Coronita]

So here’s another rant. I recently had to replace a window regulator from an Audi and also from a Miata.

The Miata required to take off the door panel, loosen 8 bolts, take the window out, and remove the regulator.

The Audi?
Needed to take the door panel off.
Then I needed to unbolt the entire window frame and take it out of the door. Then I could remove the window…
Then I needed to drill out 4 rivets holding the window regulator to the window frame.

Because unlike most other easy to service cars that uses normal bolts to secure a window regulator, Audi decided to brilliantly attach them using one time use rivets, and of course the rivets can only be accessed from behind the window frame, which requires you to remove the entire window frame and assembly, and then when you put it back in, muck around with realigning the window frame with the seals so that it seals properly when closed.

And since it used rivets, it meant I had to go buy a rivet gun and find rivets that fit, or pay $2 per rivet from Audi for the Audi rivets.

Here’s the damn thing

So while the Miata took less than 1/2 hour to replace. The Audi took like 4-5 hours to replace something that costs 30 bucks.

Thankfully, my labor is cheap. If this was a $125/hr mechanic…..My tool collection also keeps growing and growing.
I swear. They must do this on purpose.

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