VW reliability compared to...

My wife has a 97 Tercel that is one of those never-fail cars. She loves it to death for its reliability, small size, and simplicity.

We both want a diesel for her next car, but that basically limits us to VW TDI models. I've heard horror stories about VW's recent reliability record and I want some straight scoop from owners.

Frequency of major repairs?
life expectancy?
what models/years/options to avoid or seek?
Any other small cars you can think of available in CA as a diesel?

Thanks for your time. I'm off to consumer reports, but their not always in synch with the actual numbers.

I'm not an actual owner but I know lots of people that are. The big issues around VWs are turbos and electronics. I'm not sure if they have any turbo-diesels here, so that shouldn't be an issue for you, but electronics and non-motor mechanical problems will be. I have a friend with a 04' Jetta GLI and within the first year the locks in the rear seats stopped working right and the rear driver's side door handle stopped working. I think he's also had a check engine light that doesn't want to go away. The engines are generally pretty good quality, but not at the level of Honda, Toyota, or BMW. VW was also very very low on JD Power's reliability survey.

Most of the reliability issues you will hear about regard mk.IV VWs, which are now out of production. I'm not sure whether or not anyone has much information on the mk.Vs yet, and any info for American ones would be incomplete because they are so new. Supposedly VW has really clamped down on reliability and they are trying to build more cars in Germany as opposed to Mexico (German VWs tend to do better then Mexican ones). I'm not sure how accurate this is though.

That said, almost everyone I know that owns a VW loves them despite the reliability. They tend to be a bit more interesting then your average Camry or Corolla.

Yea we get TDI's here...although apparently the Jetta TDI was putting out way too many emissions so they are going to allow it to sell this year but next year they are going to have to re-design their TDI to put out less. It's funny b/c the Low Ego Emissions commericals run here...but the TDI's are putting out pollutant emissions. LOL

So, let's try to put this in subjective opinions...

For instance, if you compare a Civic or Tercel to a Jetta on Consumer Reports, it places the Jetta near the bottom with the Chevy Cobalt and the Japanese cars way up near the top. I also own a 96 Impala SS and a 73 Impala... just to give you a frame of reference of what I'm used to.

Are we talking about, "gee VWs fail once a week," or are we talking about "as reliable as a 96 Impala SS" or maybe "they're worse than a Yugo."

If they're as reliable as my SS which has needed a power steering pump, O2 sensors, a water pump, and spark plugs in 96,000 miles, I can deal with that. If its one of those that I can't trust to drive cross country its a different story.

So, let's try to put this in subjective opinions...

For instance, if you compare a Civic or Tercel to a Jetta on Consumer Reports, it places the Jetta near the bottom with the Chevy Cobalt and the Japanese cars way up near the top. I also own a 96 Impala SS and a 73 Impala... just to give you a frame of reference of what I'm used to.

Are we talking about, "gee VWs fail once a week," or are we talking about "as reliable as a 96 Impala SS" or maybe "they're worse than a Yugo."

If they're as reliable as my SS which has needed a power steering pump, O2 sensors, a water pump, and spark plugs in 96,000 miles, I can deal with that. If its one of those that I can't trust to drive cross country its a different story.
All major car makers have made huge quality improvements in the last 10 years. According to my Consumer reports issue, the worst car of 2006 (which seems to be VW, Suzuki, etc) are better than the best car of 10 years ago.

As Consumer reports says. in the spring car issue, their reliability ratings are relative, that is, they are compared to the average reiliability ratings found for the industry overall, or a particular class of cars, so the ratings are not useful for determing one's overall satisfaction.

However, such improvements are welcome because obviously the new cars are so expensive to diagnose/fix when they do go bad.

Old GM stuff may not be so reliable, but it's very easy and cheap to repair, so it's a bit of a trade off.

As noted above, even though VW's recieve poor reliability marks, you should be happy with it. IMO you can improve your chances greatly by buying as little electronic options on your VW as possible. This means, if possible, no pw, pdl, no heated seats, no power mirrors etc.

It will save you $$$, too.

I can't really say much, my VW was built in Germany, rather than MExico, so of course it'd be more reliable thn a US market Jetta.


That said I think you can safely say that most cars built today will be relatively solid, a VW would not need much for horrendously expensive repairs, there'll be one or two annoying glitches, but nothing as bad as your Impala.

All major car makers have made huge quality improvements in the last 10 years. According to my Consumer reports issue, the worst car of 2006 (which seems to be VW, Suzuki, etc) are better than the best car of 10 years ago.

As Consumer reports says. in the spring car issue, their reliability ratings are relative, that is, they are compared to the average reiliability ratings found for the industry overall, or a particular class of cars, so the ratings are not useful for determing one's overall satisfaction.

However, such improvements are welcome because obviously the new cars are so expensive to diagnose/fix when they do go bad.

Old GM stuff may not be so reliable, but it's very easy and cheap to repair, so it's a bit of a trade off.

As noted above, even though VW's recieve poor reliability marks, you should be happy with it. IMO you can improve your chances greatly by buying as little electronic options on your VW as possible. This means, if possible, no pw, pdl, no heated seats, no power mirrors etc.

It will save you $$$, too.


yea but a early 90s civic or toyota will be more reliable than pretty much any car you can buy today. i think alot of cars are getting less reliable, there is alot more things to go wrong with all the advanced gadgets and gizmos in todays cars. sure gm and dc cars are getting better but they have always sucked. early 90s hondas and toyotas will easily live past the 200k mark, id like to see some modern cars do that.

If you look after a car properly, then 200,000 miles would be an absolute doozey.

My uncle has had 2 jetta tdi models, and put over 200,000 miles on both. He swears by them.

I had an '85 GTI. It broke down quite a bit, and was expensive to repair.
It was replaced with a (then) new Lada Signet (station, err, Estate Wagon)
I loved the Lada. Handled well, (rear wheel drive), big brakes and I got lots of looks at the stop lights. (they were all jealous). And in 10 years of ownership, cheap to maintain, and reliable, after it's new-car teething problems. I'd love to have another, but they're not imported anymore.

We had a 99 Passat 1.8t and although we weren't afraid to drive it across the country, it did have its fair share of problems. My biggest problem with the car was the dealership. They couldn't look at the car for at least 2 weeks whenever I had a problem, which really sucked when the car wouldn't start. From what I've heard, the VW diesels are an overall good buy. It kills me that VW has been selling diesels here and no one else has. Surely they have to comply by the same emissions standard.

My uncle has had 2 jetta tdi models, and put over 200,000 miles on both. He swears by them.

I just got a GTI so I definitely hope that they've sorted out their gremlins.

we've had our VW for 5 years. when we bought it the importer (private import, not through main dealer) hadn't checked it over and the sump wasn't correctly fitted. when doing 70 on the motorway all the oil leaked out, my dad had to stop immediately. we were told by the lacal garage thatif he'd done another mile or so it would've been ruined. but they fixed the problem, fitted a new gasket and tightened the bolts.

after that we've not had a single problem. that said, it's only done 25k miles in 5 years. but even with no oil in it that time after that was sorted it runs fine. same with our audi (audi and VW are one company, VAG and they share parts) it's done 18k i think in 3 years, never had a problem (except the battery running flat when left a long time without being started, like 2 months)

my friend had a TDi 4-Motion, loved it. said it had good torque, good acceleration and never had a problem with it, he drove it fairly hard but never hit high revs with a cold engine, it was run in properly and i think that's what's made it so much better than some of the others.

if you run it in right (which im sure you will) and you take care of it (which im sure you will) i very much doubt you'll have a problem.