Golf suck
kaho729 said:
wow. that's a lot.
but i am also REALLY interested in the new golf which is coming out beginning march or october when gti comes out. do you think it is worth the wait? the redesign appearance of the car knocked me right off my feet the first time i saw it. so sweet. but more $ though. anyone think i should give it a wait? but i love the 3 too tho.
first off, lemme throw my opinion that VW sucks... the thing that actually intrigued me about the maz3 was that it was a hatchback that made up for all the places where my '99 golf was being absolutely evil.
- cheaper for more: I was getting two more doors, leather upholstery, 6-disc changer, sun roof, power everything, more horsepower, cruise, more space, better handling and ride for about $10,000 less than a similarly equipped jetta wagon (what I consider the maz3 a cometitor for) and for the same price as a new golf IV.
- mileage is the same, despite more HP and torque
- mazda doesn't pander as much to brand ******. There is no luxury line for them to shove all of their interesting features or performance enhancements in an attempt to get you to drop another $20K (hmmm, well, there is mazdaspeed...).
now, for more of why VW sucks: all of the over-engineered crap they put on a base model '99 2.0L two-door broke and sucked and cost $400-600 to fix (a monthly payment on a car that was only 4 years old)
- trunk latch was screwed up before I got it (at about 30K).. it didn't know when it was closed and thus remained unlocked for a minute and a half (would be$600 to replace). Mazda has just treated 5th door like... a 5th door, unlocking and locking with the rest of the doors... magic!
- middle rear seat belt jammed on the VW at about 45K. $500 to replace since they'd have to rip the seat apart to get at the unit. Mazda has the middle rear set belt stored up in the rear pillar so it's not even in the way until you actually have someone riding there.
- CV joint cracked and sprayed everywhere at 50K $600 to replace and repack
- ignition module went at 60K (and VW has since replaced it's faulty $600 coil pack with multiple coil packs that fail more often.. much to the chagrin of VW/audi enthusiasts everywhere)
-alternator failed at 70K (yay, $500 for something that lasted until 150 on my 80's toyota)
- finally, security system in the thing started going off while the car was running (shutting down engine) if you let the trunk latch lock while the car was running (the electrical gremlins mated to have a monster) at 90K. I drove it to mazda and just dropped it off thankful that the trade in was inflated to $4000.
After having it for 5 mos or so, the maz3 is actually cheaper (and much newer) with my monthly payment than the golf was with it's monthly repair bill. On a 4 year old car, $600 a month to keep it running is recockulous... especially something that didn't have cruise, power windows, or easy entry into the back seats.
I'm not sure how the MK V's are doing in europe... but keep in mind that VWUSA usually pulls some nasty tricks on the car to make them ready for the american market (adding cupholders... having to retool the engines for american emissions restrictions and apparently worse fuel).. so even if they exhaust pine scent and everyone loves them in britian... they may suck awful given US summers and gas.
I don't think it'll be worth wait... VW made me love them and think I was getting an economy car with a bit of style and then cheated and robbed me with the little crapwagon (well, OK, I inherited it... so I wasn't given a lot of choice to be picky). Every person I've come across who has one is doing the same "I was tricked by cuteness and I have to maintain face or else I'll look dumb" act when I confront them about the myriad of problems they've had. That, or they've just expected to spend that much in maintenance or have their own garage (by far the happier owners).
If you get wooed by the VW redesigns, by all means, enjoy. Just don't let the VW dealer convince you to think you're getting some sort of magical bargain that will run on hopes and dreams... VW's require a lot of love... and if you don't have a garage and all the tools/time you'll be paying other people lots of money to give it the love it needs.
