New 1:1 Wheels

[FootScoot]

I bought this last week, as my VW Beetle was turning into a money pit, so it was time. :)

[HomeRacingWorld]

Now all you have to do is lower it and some SCC LMP's on there :)

[dreinecke]

What? No Mini?

Love the color!

[TsgtRet]

Scoot, is that a G4? BTW, what Beetle did you have, 1.8, 2.0 or TDI, if it was the 1.8, I understand (former VW service mgr/writer).

[FootScoot]

It would look good lower, but it has independent rear suspension, so that won't become a reality. :cry:

I actually wanted a MINI, but I already had one German based car, and I knew how much maintenance they require, so I got the Vibe GT instead which is basically the same car as the Toyota Matrix XRS. :) The Beetle was a 1.8T, always something happening. :cry:

[ElSecundo]

Yeah, for some reason, Germans get a lot of credit for building quality vehicles, when in reality, they don't. Mercedes, BMW, Audi, VW, ALL require frequent and expensive maintenance, and often break in spite of the good (or exceptional) care their owners give them.

They got a good reputation for building quality European vehicles, as they were being compared for decades against Fiat, Jaguar, Austin, Renault, etc. It's easy to look good in that crowd. And mind you, I'm a European car guy, but I don't confuse 'good driving' with 'reliable'. Americans make much more reliable cars. The way the current European cars drive is fantastic, and their quality is found in the engineering of the performance bits. But for reliability? No way.

[dreinecke]

I love anything with 4 wheels...except maybe the Yugo, Harry's favorite car.

European cars are very nice. I find them wonderful to drive, but insane to maintain and due to their over-engineering, usually expensive to fix.

My BIL has an Audi S4. Awesome car. And it costs about $800-1500 every time he takes it in for "maintenance".

My 1998 Jeep Cherokee has over 182k on the clock. I just put the first new water pump in it since it rolled off the line. I still knock down 19+mpg weekly and that's with a 3.5" lift and bigger tires. I tuned it up about 80k ago and it cost me about $100 for the plugs, wires, rotor, etc. My BIL just paid $750 for essentially the same service at the dealer. Of course, I can't go 150mph and my ride will knock your fillings out, but he can't drive over rocks...

[TsgtRet]

A Vibe, thought it looked to big to be a G4. Yeah VW 1.8 was poorly engineered and was getting lots of "sludge" between oil changes, that along with lots of QA problems from the production line.

Most European cars are over-engineered and when I was a VW Service Mgr it was at a VW/Volvo/BMW dealer and typical service bills on the BMW side topped $1000.00

I bought an 06 Mercury Grand Marquis back in February and I've already put almost 20k miles on it. Comfortable, handles great for a big car (and I don't even have the "cop" sway bars on it....yet :D ). Took it on a 2300 mile trip back in July to Southern Ga, up to Fayetteville NC and back to NE Ind and averaged almost 27mpg while doing 70 plus, running the A/C most of the time, mountains and all. I figure Ford had 30 years to work all the bugs out and the cops found them reliable...... Oh and what was the most popular car in Saudi Arabia till they quit making them? Crown Vic.

I would love to have a European (Fiat, MG, Triumph) as a second/project car but I'd never want to depend on it.

[DAVE]

I love people who knock Yugos. I always wanted to get a junk Yugo and pull some molds off the body. Then
lay-up a fiberglass copy, mount it on an aluminum monocoque, and power it with a Lotus 901E hooked up to
a Hewland FT200. Then go yuppy hunting. Can you imagine the guy having to tell his Porsche driving buddies
he just got his a** kicked by a Yugo?

[FootScoot]

I know just changing the cabin filter in the Beetle was at least a 1 hour job, and most of that time was spent removing things to get to it. I changed the one in the Vibe that took maybe 5 minutes, if that. The 1.8 engines did sludge badly even if you stay on top of the oil changes, and that was using synthetic oil which costs more. I think a lot of that was caused by the turbocharger roasting it. I changed oil every 2000 miles, and it would still be dark when I changed it. :o

[TsgtRet]

[FootScoot]

I knew what I was in for when I bought the Beetle, but I did like it. Pretty good on gas, and plenty of power. I had heard of electrical gremlins in some of them. The car itself was good, as far as things working. I didn't care much for the rubbery coating on the plastic interior panels. It was easily scratched and couldn't be repaired, so needless to say after 11 years it had seen better days. The vinyl coverings on the door panels were coming loose, and the headliner was coming loose, as the adhesive on both had dried up. Just too many things happening at one time. I figured it was time to move on. It was reliable for the most part, and fun to drive, but just too costly to maintain the reliability level. :cry:

[Ronan]

[DAVE]

Sounds like this has become a trash German cars thread. Well, as long as it has I'll add my
two cents. Being a British sports car fan, I have long endured the barbs about how bad
Lucas electrics are. You know, "Prince of Darkness", etc. But the worst electrical system
I have worked on is in my Porsche. The wiring is still cloth insulated and done at a time when
other companies had long since gone to high temp plastic. The fuses are nothing more than
copper foil wrapped around a ceramic core. And my Alfa Spyder Veloce was no better. The
day after I bought it the cigarette lighter burst into flames. And I had never used it. The dealer
replaced the lighter and center consol, and per my instruction left the lighter disconnected. I was
puzzled why they would have a replacement consol in stock. They told me that every spyder they
had sold that year did the same thing. I would have liked to know that when I bought the car. I
would have disconnected the lighter right then.

[FootScoot]

I'm not trashing German cars, but they are quirky. Their fit and finish is excellent, but they do require maintenance above and beyond the norm. I'll stick with the American or Japanese cars from now on, much more reliable. :)