But if you have tips for the “special care” of your VW, by all means enlighten us. It’d be nice to hear some actual substance to the venom you just spewed.

The FIRST DAY: The alarm control unit failed causing the engine to fail to start. I bypassed the starter cutout and drove it to the dealer, horn honking, lights flashing and they insisted that I had done something stupid, yet four months later they ended up replacing the darn thing. The next one failed about a week after. I gave up, disabled it and bypassed what I could.

Window regulators: x5. I finally looked at how they were failing, replaced the substandard piece of junk weight bearing plastic with a machined aluminum part that I made in the shop. No further troubles.

Engine Cutout: I’ve owned marine diesels most of my life. When a diesel starts it should run forever, unless it runs out of fuel. VW had a big problem with a relay, B109 which was underrated for the current it carried. I replaced it twice at great expense and finally measured the current and put in a properly sized Potter-Brumfield relay. No further troubles. I checked all the relays and most of them were carrying 90-110% of rated current. I replaced them all.

Door Handles: The door handles break off. Easily. I live in a cold climate state. It rains, water freezes the doors shut and the door latches open. The door swings wide open until the cabin gets warm enough to melt the ice out of the latches. I solved the latter problem by placing a small halogen light in the door behind the latch to heat it up quickly. The former I replaced 4 door handles on the drivers side, one on the passenger side. I pulled off the second one in a gas station. A guy in a brand new Toureg at the pump next to me burst out laughing. I was about to clobber him with the door handle when he said, come with me. His brand new (140 miles on it) was missing the same door handle, his third. I finally rebuilt a door handle out of fiberglass composite. No further troubles. For a while I hung a jump rope handle on the door latch and let it bounce like the Clampet-mobile.

Cabin electrical: Constant burning of a fuse. Traced to a short in the right rear passenger courtesy light. Wiring replaced/repaird. Constant burning of the same fuse. Traced to a left rear passenger courtesy light. Pulled entire headliner and have never seen such shoddy wiring, routing and worksmanship in my life. It was truely a fire hazard. Wiring replaced. No further troubles.

Air Conditioner: 4 yes, that’s 4 compressors. In two years. Also, the condenser coil was placed to atract all possible road debris and puncture.

Window motors x 2.

Windshield leaks: 3 windshields and seals.

Tires: VW rims would not hold air. These are steel rims, not alloy. Bought new aftermarket steel rims. No air pressure problems.

Seat adjusters. 5 of those stupid knobs, until I finally made my own out of fiberglass composite. No further problems.

I am a somewhat talented physicist/craftsman. I know how to fix things, do things and make things. Usually they work and look pretty good. I have never had so many problems with any automobile. The only thing good I can say about the Passat TDI is that the engine ran well and the transmission never gave me a problem. I considered pulling the engine and sticking it in an old Toyota Camry with a run out engine (at 386kmiles) when someone offered me much more than the POS VW was worth.

My brother in law runs an ad-specialty supply shop. He made me a license plate that read: If you buy a Volkswagen, Keep your Old Car. You’ll NEED it. I proudly mounted that on the front of the VW. One dealer refused to service it with that plate on it……Truth Hurts.

On NPR, I heard a woman with very similar complaints. Her solution: She gave the car away. Parked it on the public street in front of the dealer and had an essay contest and gave it away.

With all these reliability complaints, documented evidence in Consumer Reports, I’m afraid I can’t believe anything the VW apologists say. VW refused to honor warranty claims, under-engineered this car and used a 25 cent part where a 30 cent part was required. It was planned to be a piece of junk, built to be a piece of junk, and they succeeded. My replacement Honda has not given me one millisecond of trouble, as did its predecessor Toyota.

I figure, that the Passat cost me more in repairs, parts and just plain aggravation than it cost me to buy it in the first place. May it rest in pieces.

The brake light switch went bad and the brake lights stayed on all the time. I replaced the switch, and then got the recall notice. I sent in proof of purchase, and VW denied it.

The coolant temp gauge has a mind of it’s own. It’s under extended VW warranty, but VM won’t take my word that it’s on again/off again, they want to see it not working. But it’s intermittent, and won’t freak out while I’m at the dealership.

It was not running right and the codes showed O2 sensor bad. After becoming a contortionist and changing it myself (and accidently breaking the dip stick), it was no better. Found it to be a broken vacuum line,

The cv boots went bad and I replaced the axles at 56k.

And oil changes cost nearly $50, with GTX full synthetic oil, Bosch filter, and CE detergent.

That’s in one year of ownership.

My daughter has a 2007 Jetta Wolfsburg 2.5 liter and it
runs just great for and has never been back to the dealer for any warranty work.

How you drive and how you maintain your car will make quite a difference over time.

Consumer Reports? Really who cares? I know I don’t count on their opinions. Been driving VW’s since 1974 and have never had anything more than a once and while minor issue.

The biggest beef I have with VW is their casual treatment of the model range for the U.S. market – they can’t seem to get out of their own way. Plus they have a crappy corporate structure that holds them back. A friend drives a new Honda Fit, it’s okay, but I know VW could make it better – why don’t they?