1996 Volkswagen Golf GL review from North America
"Ease of maintainence is not in VW's mind"
What things have gone wrong with the car?
1. Rust on roof, fixed by me with some similar paint.
2. Drive side locker broken.
3. Check engine light on and it turns out that the automatic transmission was damaged. Gear 2 is difficult to shift. $4300 to replace it!
4. Coolant leak. Fixed it for $120.
General comments?
Purpose to buy:
VW is very popular in China. It had good reputation for quality and easy to maintain.
What happened:
I bought this car from a lady who relocated to England 3 years ago. Since the lady had all records of maintenances and repairs, so I think this car will give me a lot of pleasures. For first 2 and half year. It’s a pleasure to drive. Just regular oil change every 3000-5000 miles. One day the check engine light on and the transmission was difficult to shift. The transmission is a sealed type, so I can’t even able to check the level of fluid. Oddest thing is that all the repair shop refused to open the transmission to fix it. They claimed that they’ll need VW computer to talk with the transmission. Nobody wants to touch it. I went to VW dealer; they told me new transmission plus labor cost $4300. So they recommend me to trade this car in. So in summary, the transmission seemed never being serviced till 110k! Discouraged by the information from repair shops and dealer, I decide to try changing the fluid with an “unauthorized” shop. I bough the fluid from VW (which is twice more expensive) and he just used his experience to drain as many as he can and then add the fluid to the level he thought is OK. Believe or not, he only drain half quart of fluid! Which means this car had been driven on freeway without too much fluid!
Conclusion:
If this car is equipment with a non sealed version of transmission then I’ll be much happier. Consider the transmission can be used without too much fluid, I think the parts quality is pretty good. If VW Germany engineers can think more about how to make the maintenance easier and cheaper for customer then I can be a future buyer for their luxury cars.
I don’t think VW has an open mind. People always say “Customer is God”. From this lesson I feel “VW is the God. Customer is the servant”.
I’ll be away from it and not recommend VW for others.
Recommended reviews
| Good to have because of high gas prices, but bad to drive on the road |
|
| Be awre of the automatic transmission! |
| Would you buy another car from this manufacturer? | No |
| Model year | 1996 |
| Year of manufacture | 1995 |
| First year of ownership | 2003 |
| Most recent year of ownership | 2006 |
| Engine and transmission | 2.0 Automatic |
| Performance marks | 7 / 10 |
| Reliability marks | 3 / 10 |
| Comfort marks | 3 / 10 |
| Dealer Service marks | 4 / 10 |
| Running Costs (higher is cheaper) | 7 / 10 |
| Overall marks (average of all marks) | |
| Distance when acquired | 93000 miles |
| Most recent distance | 113000 miles |
| Previous car | Toyota Sienna |
| Date of Entry | 2nd October, 2006 |