I've had 2 MKV GTIs (a 2008 and a 2009 - both built in Wolfsburg, Germany) and they've both been flawless, save for the sunroof motor in my second one crapping out - which was fixed under warranty. And I found out the hard way how safe VWs are when the first one got totaled in a crash - it was a pretty bad wreck and I walked away without a scratch. I loved the car so much that I bought another one.

And for anyone who considers themselves a fan of VW or cars in general, I strongly recommend checking out the Autostadt in Wolfsburg. It's about an hour from Berlin via high speed rail, it's well worth the trip.

I've had 2 Audis. Both awesome cars....when they were actually running free of problems. I was THAT close to getting a used allRoad last year. But I had to back down since it was almost guaranteed that I'd be spending thousands of dollars every year on repairs.

Audi / VW is Lexus/Toyota. Same cars just with better leather on the Audi/Lexus versions. Maybe the new Passat will be different, but Audis/VWs have always had poor reliability and I'm not holding my breath for this one to be any different.

Since 1982, I have had 3 VWs and 1 Audi and they have all been reliable. 3 of the 4 were German built, 1 was built in the Pennsylvania plant (my first one, a Rabbit) although I didn't know that until several years after I bought it. The first 2 VWs, I put 200K miles each on them in the 8-9 year period I owned each one with only routine maintenance. The VW and Audi I currently own have been pretty much trouble free, too. I know Audis are expensive to fix when they break, but I have only had to put 1 expensive part in mine on 120k miles.

I will admit the Mexican built cars have given VW some bad PR on build quality and that is why I avoided them when I bought my last one. Got a Passat because it was German built.

My Passat wagon, bought CPO, is my first VW and it has actually been VERY reliable. I've had a few recalls, a couple things covered under warranty, and just one actual repair item I've had to pay for (CV boot tear). Otherwise, it's just been routine maintenance, a bad fuse, and light bulbs over the past 5 years I've owned it. Obviously, YMMV, but it's been good for me. I'd buy another VW if I felt it suited me.

Doubtful. If Americans can't make quality American cars, they certainly can't make quality German ones.

Nice to receive a message through the time tunnel from 1983. Americans are currently building BMW and Mercedes vehicles that earn very high quality ratings. So do Hondas and Nissans built in America. J.D. Power ranks Ford, Lincoln, Cadillac and Chevrolet among their top 15 quality brands -- ahead of Toyota, Mazda and Subaru.

Ford is #5
Cadillac is #13
Chevrolet is #14
Mercury #17
Buick #18
GMC #23
Jeep #25
Dodge #26

Not exactly a vote of confidence for American cars. Ford seems to be the exception, it got its act together and Mercury is going away. GM and Chrysler, both lost causes (which is not all that surprising given the govt owns/owned those two companies).

Speaking of diesels, any news on the Audi Q5 diesel making its way to the US market this year?

Their German counterparts leaves something of the North American counterparts to be desired..

Sort of like the NY Steinway vs. the Hamburg Steinway..

I'm not aware that anyone has anything against the JSW. I'm driving one this week (a TDI of course) and it's great. A lot of people have been asking me about it. The JSW TDI may be the closest competition to the new Prius v incidentally that is on the market (in terms of price and capacity and fuel economy).

No announcement yet. Right now, VW and Mercedes are adding diesels (witness the new Passat TDi and S350 BlueTec respectively).

I keep waiting for Audi to add another diesel. I suspect the A6 might appear next in diesel guise but that is a guess on my part.

What happens if you let family/friends borrow the new Passat TDI and they fill it up with regular 87-octane gasoline? :mad:

Why would someone do that and who would be stupid enough to put petrol into a diese?:confused:

My local Shell and Chevron stations have 4 nozzles at every pump. They are arranged in this order, from left to right: (not sure why... perhaps these 3 stations get their pumps from the same supplier?)

GAS(87 regular) -> GAS (93 premium) -> DIESEL (!!!) -> GAS(89 mid-grade)

I can only assume that the genius who designed it decided to arrange the nozzle in order of popularity.
(i.e. most cars use regular, some use premium, some use diesel, with mid-grade gas being the least popular)

The diesel nozzle is bigger and it's got a black handle. (the gas nozzles have three different colors)

Adding to the problem is that many newer Nissan, Chevrolet, Toyota, and Ford cars have fuel filler necks that are longer than usual. Yes, the diesel nozzle will NOT fit into the hole of these gasoline-powered cars. HOWEVER, the newer longer necks allow diesel nozzles to just hang there half way and filling diesel into these cars is possible if the owners are not looking hard enough.

The reverse is even worse.... because many diesel owners get confused by the weird arrangement of the 3 gas and 1 diesel nozzles.

Oh... adding to the confusion... on Wednesdays, the Chevron station runs special where ALL gas and diesel, regardless of grade/type, are the EXACT SAME PRICE($3.48 last Wednesday, for example)

That is weird, and dumb design. Around here the diesel pump handle is seated apart from the other three, off by itself, and color-coded green while the other three fuel types are all red or black.